iPod Has your iPod reduced your music attention span?

No, I'll usually decide within the first 30 seconds whether I want to listen to something all the way through.

I've got about 2,500 songs that I really like on my iPod and a few playlists to pick up rarely heard or ones I last heard a while back so I'm fairly confident I'm hearing everything every few months.

Since I usually listen to music in album format, I prefer to listen all the way through. I guess my music attention span has actually leangthened, because now I listen to albums as opposed to songs...

emw - you're not crazy - I do the same thing -unless I'm listening to audiobooks of course. I have found that the "album experience," is lost for me. Maybe it's because I'm older and don't have/find the free time to kick back on the couch and listen to an album while pouring over the liner notes. Maybe it's because, like you, I have thousands of songs on my iPod that I want to listen to. I have noticed this effect though and was just thinking about it the other day while driving home

Applespider said:

No, I'll usually decide within the first 30 seconds whether I want to listen to something all the way through.

I've got about 2,500 songs that I really like on my iPod and a few playlists to pick up rarely heard or ones I last heard a while back so I'm fairly confident I'm hearing everything every few months.

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I usually do the same type of thing, unless I'm listening to a specific album or artist.

I do that sometimes...

this is what happens to me a lot - I'll be listening to a song, which will remind me of something/someone/somewhere, which will remind me on another song.

now pre-ipod, that other song I thought of was probably at home. post-ipod, that song is only a few clicks away.

So now I find myself switching to that other song...simply because I can. and becasue it's so easy!

m-dogg said:

I do that sometimes...

this is what happens to me a lot - I'll be listening to a song, which will remind me of something/someone/somewhere, which will remind me on another song.

now pre-ipod, that other song I thought of was probably at home. post-ipod, that song is only a few clicks away.

So now I find myself switching to that other song...simply because I can. and becasue it's so easy!

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Ahh, the beauty of ability to control.

emw said:

2) Since I generally run in random mode, sometimes I may not be in the mood for the music.

3) I know that I can go back to the song any time I want, so it's no longer as "precious" to me to hear it all the way. This is what I think is most likely.

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Those two points you raise ring true for me.

Deryk

I almost always listen to albums all the way through. But it's actually better than that because I can now listen to something like Mahler's Seventh Symphony without having to change the CD to hear the last movement.

Actually I listen to more music than ever, so it's increased it. I would never dig out an album just to hear a song, but thanks to iTunes, I now listen to a whole album when I went looking for just 1 song

emw said:

I don't know about the rest of you, but I've recently noticed that when listening to my iPod, I frequently don't make it through the song before advancing to the next tune. It's not that I don't like the song, I just decide halfway through or so that I've heard enough of it for now. I have a couple of theories as to why this may be:

1) Quite simply, I can. I've got 4500 songs on my iPod, and I want to listen to them all.

2) Since I generally run in random mode, sometimes I may not be in the mood for the music.

3) I know that I can go back to the song any time I want, so it's no longer as "precious" to me to hear it all the way. This is what I think is most likely.

Has anybody else noticed this, or am I just crazy?

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Guilty, I often find myself doing the same exact thing on my iPod Mini.

Yeah, I'm like this as well - I find myself skipping over my favourie songs all the time. Also, I'm sad to say that I rarely get through an entire album in one go these days. Pretty much the only time that I'll do this is when it's playing on my stereo on the other side of the room and I'm too lazy to go and change the disc!!

Still, I love going to live concerts where you don't have much choice but to listen to all the songs!

EDIT: Something else I've just thought of: anyone else find themselves listening to the same song over and over again - I'm doing this a lot since I got my iPod.

Need Help

I can't stop doing this !!! I didn't even know I was doing it until my wife noticed.

I find a song and push play and let the iPod do all the work, I listen to more music now since every album is in one place.

not really, i sort my playlists by mood, so i have mellow (dylon, neil young, van morrison, dusty Springfield), skateing (The Prodigy, jet set radio soundtrack, chemical bro's), traveling (wide variety from ash to ZZ top), feel good (mainly film soundtracks like lock stock 2 smokeing barrels) and a few others.....

i hit shuffle music and then the skipping begins! i usually hear a song and skip 3-4 before i get to another one that i like, i do have fun discovering songs i never knew i had that i totally dig now.

I have 33gigs of music and i've realized that a lot of it i don't necessarily like. i almost want to delete it but i can't make myself do it.

i used to listen to whole albums...not anymore. if there's a song i like i just buy it on itunes.

I am more selective with songs now. Instead of listening to a full album, I only listen to selected songs.

I find that I stopped using my Ipod because Ive heard all the songs and am tired of them. Why not just turn on the radio and hear something new...actually the Ipod sounds like a better idea. Hum...

Guilty. I get in moods where nothing sounds like what I want to hear. I'll end up jumping 10 songs to get one that feels right.

I still say the iPod needs a "smart shuffle" where based on what songs you listen to all the way through and what you skip over it picks different genre's or artists for you to hear next.

Yea i do it all the time..... and before i know it my battery is dead from changing all the songs frequently

Perhaps someone needs to coin a term for this before a psychologist does. MADD, Music attention deficit disorder?

rainman::|:| said:

Perhaps someone needs to coin a term for this before a psychologist does. MADD, Music attention deficit disorder?

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isn't MADD taken (mothers against drunk driving)

Yes, I'd say I've become somewhat addicted to playlists played in shuffle mode... I often experience pangs of guilt for rarely listening to albums in their entirety, when I used to be a huge proponent of albums and their importance as cohesive entities...

I think it all goes back to that lost art of yore: the Mix Tape!

I used to love putting together Mix Tapes back in the day... it was a true art form... stringing together a random mix of songs on the fly and then popping it in the tape deck, never quite sure what gem was coming up next... until you'd heard it 50 times or so, and then you just got sick of it.

With the iPod, you've got perpetual mix tapes at your disposal, and you can skip over whatver you want without having to do that annoying fast-forward.