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iPod Do You Find Yourself Bored With Your Music Since Getting Your iPod?

B

Bali Cockfight

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 17, 2002
117
0
Chi Town
I guess it's the easy access to my music that's making me bored with it. I have just over 3000 songs and I find myself skipping over songs frequently. Maybe I have to be in a mood to listen to my iPod but that's the reason I bought the iPod; add music to my life to fit whatever mood I am in.

*sigh*

Lately, I have just been listening to internet radio stations because I don't feel like pressing the skip button on my itunes or iPod.
 
What I do is rate my songs and then build a smart playlist that contains only the top-rated songs. I'm guessing that at least half of those tracks are second-rate filler tracks from your ripped CDs. (For me, the ratio of great stuff to crap is somewhere between 1-in-5 to 1-in-3.)
 
I know what you mean, it can be too much of a good thing. I find the same problem with all digital music because it's so easy to collect such large amounts of it and have it so readily accessible. I have 24,000 tracks in iTunes and still find myself getting a bit bored with it every now and then. :eek:
 
This is not happening to me (at the moment).
One good feature aboute large-sized players is that you can store on them very different kinds of music. Just for every mood you're in or for every moment of the day. So you can easily jump from Chopin to Tom Waits to Beach Boys depending on what you feel.
I remember in my younger days travelling across Europe with only a knapsack and a Sony Walkman. I had to choose 11 tapes to go with me for a month, and that was really an hard work!
Now I can appreciate much more what it means to have 100 different records just by the hand.
English is not my 1st or 2nd language, hope it's clear.
 
Do You Find Yourself Bored With Your Music Since Getting Your iPod?
Click to expand...

Cant really say. I didnt have a lot of music before I got my 1st iPod and I didnt listened to music often before iPod :)
 
My current iTunes library stands at 9,500 with upto 100 tracks added every week.

I do go throught periods of skipping lots of songs, but I put that down to indescision rather than boredom.
 
Bali Cockfight said:
I guess it's the easy access to my music that's making me bored with it. I have just over 3000 songs and I find myself skipping over songs frequently. Maybe I have to be in a mood to listen to my iPod but that's the reason I bought the iPod; add music to my life to fit whatever mood I am in.

*sigh*

Lately, I have just been listening to internet radio stations because I don't feel like pressing the skip button on my itunes or iPod.
Click to expand...

I have to say no, I'm afraid.

On the contrary, I find that my iPod helps me to listen to more than the same album over and over again. I can load it up and randomly select music that I haven't heard in ages. I love this.

Me and my iPod have a symbiotic relationship.

David
 
Used to have this problem until I started...

Bali Cockfight said:
I guess it's the easy access to my music that's making me bored with it. I have just over 3000 songs and I find myself skipping over songs frequently. Maybe I have to be in a mood to listen to my iPod but that's the reason I bought the iPod; add music to my life to fit whatever mood I am in.

*sigh*

Lately, I have just been listening to internet radio stations because I don't feel like pressing the skip button on my itunes or iPod.
Click to expand...

....shuffling - I guess it's easy to quickly pick out your favourites on any album. I tend to find I then ignore the other tracks over time. It always surprises me when I shuffle tracks and discover stuff that I really like but had ignored previously. Found loads of great stuff this way!!:D
 
i have 3500 on the ipod, and i only loaded the best of type situation. and i do get just a tiny bit bored with my main playlist. but then i just make a new one. lately i find myself searching out a particular album. as long as the ipod keeps working, i love it.
anyone else notice that shuffle isn't a exact science? i swear i hear the same song a few times in an hour or two, out of a playlist of 400 and some.
 
That's one thing I love about the nano. I have to think about what I put on it, so occasionally I take 20 minutes to remove stuff I've grown bored of and clear the space for something new.
 
bartelby said:
My current iTunes library stands at 9,500 with upto 100 tracks added every week.

I do go throught periods of skipping lots of songs, but I put that down to indescision rather than boredom.
Click to expand...

my library is just slightly larger and growing as well and i'm not so much bored when i skip tracks as either indecisive or being picky.

the top rated songs is a good idea. i have one of those playlists and its always a good listen.

in fact since getting an iPod my general interest in music has skyrocketed and i'm finding more and more i like in a greater diversity.
 
I don't get bored with my music though I tend to only listen to the same 200 or so tracks out of the possible 13,000+ I have. Though when I am in the mood to hear irish drinking songs or bluegrass or The Presidents of the United States of America its there at my finger tips.

The thing that I find that I do less since having an iPod is making playlists in iTunes. Before I'd make a fairly good mixed CD for my car and listen to it for a few weeks and then make a new. With the iPod I normally just pick songs as I go instead of making a playlist. Though even then I normally just listen to new CDs I just bought or local FM radio while in the car.
 
I always find myself getting bored without music, I live off music.

That was before I got my 5.5G iPod, I never really used my iPod Mini that much as I could only fit an 8th of my music on it...
 
dynamicv said:
That's one thing I love about the nano. I have to think about what I put on it, so occasionally I take 20 minutes to remove stuff I've grown bored of and clear the space for something new.
Click to expand...

I feel the same way about my nano; dropping from a 20GB iPod to a 4GB nano, but having a 14GB library really makes me think about what I want to listen to, and has helped get me interested in my music again. Podcasts are starting to creep in, too, now that I've found some that I like. :p
 
I'd have to say I'm more excited than ever about my music since getting the iPod.

I find it really helps to take the time and organize your music properly, adjusting the info for each song when needed, and having a variety of different playlist options available. I took a long, rainy weekend of last year to do this with the songs I already had. And now, the one thing I immediately do with any song/album I download or import is change the "genre" in the info setting (and year, if it's not accurate -- usually only a problem with "Best Of" albums or reissues). I find the pre-assigned genres given to songs way too limiting or incorrect, and I either change them to how *I* see them, or add more if I feel they fall within more than one genre. Then I also assign a "mood" to them, like HAPPY, LAID BACK, HARDCORE, ENERGETIC, SAD, STRANGE, PEACEFUL, or whatever.

And from there, I can then make hundreds of different smart playlists using any combination of one or more of those genre/mood keywords. So I literally have a playlist for any kind of mood I'm in. And since I didn't handpick the playlists myself, and I'm using the power of smart playlists to choose the songs for me, I'm often surprised by what I find sometimes (I of course ALWAYS have it on shuffle mode). So I'm getting songs to fit a particular mood I'm in, but not necessarily knowing which songs to expect -- it's a really cool way of listening to music.

Some more fun smart playlists to make are ones done by year. Pick the year of your graduation, and suddenly you're taken back to that time of your life. Or go back further to your childhood. Or just flashback to 2000.

Definitely take advantage of the power of iTunes' many features! And if you're STILL bored with your music, maybe it's time to just get more. Use the handy features of the iTunes Music Store and browse the "just for you" section (which recommends music based on previous purchases), or the even more useful "listeners also bought" feature -- which has made me discover dozens of new bands that I now consider some of my favorites.
 
I understand your sentiment, but my suggestion to you is to pick out songs you are currently digging and put them into playlists.

I was never bored with my music when I had an iPod, specifically because I could immediately listen to just about any song that crossed my mind. Imagine if you could have any cuisine that you were craving instantly delivered to wherever you are. That would be ecstasy.

That's what the ipod is like for music.

My ipod was stolen though, and I have yet to replace it. (On principle, I can't pay $400 for the exact same thing I already bought last year. I'm waiting for the G6 ipod.)

Believe me, I am much more bored with my music now. I can only listen to what's on the radio (which is awful, particularly here in DC) or whatever of the 10-15 CDs I can fit in my car at once. If I have a craving for something, I have to wait until I get home, make a playlist, burn a CD, and then remember to take it with me when I go out to the car next. I don't have anything to listen to music at work. (We're not allowed media players on our laptops.)

Man I wish Apple would just make that new iPod already.

Edit:
Rojo said:
Then I also assign a "mood" to them, like HAPPY, LAID BACK, HARDCORE, ENERGETIC, SAD, STRANGE, PEACEFUL, or whatever.
Click to expand...

WOW! Great idea. I didn't know you could assign a mood -- is there an actual field to fill in named "Mood"?
 
I think Rojo is talking about the "genre" field, removing Rock Blues etc and placing Sad or whatever else. It's a beautiful idea.
 
Yep -- as sofila mentioned, I put everything within the genre field and then make smart playlists from that. "Grouping" or "comments" would work too. As long as you're consistent with where you place your keywords, and how you spell them (and try not to use more than one mood word that means basically the same thing).

If you categorize ALL your songs this way, then your listening experience becomes amazingly powerful. It can take forever to do this if your library is huge (like mine was) -- but I can guarantee you that it's worth it!!
 
bluebomberman said:
I guess you can just use the Comments field.

EDIT: Actually, the Grouping field would be even better.
Click to expand...
Build some smart playlists around either of those and you're golden.

I find the iPod has really rekindled my love of music, both the stuff I've had for years, and new stuff I discover by chance.

Like some of the others, "shuffle songs" and a smart playlist that brings a random selection of 3 of 4 start tracks I haven't heard in a while to the iPod makes for plenty of entertainment value.

That said, I mostly listen to podcasts on the iPod these days (~2 hours/day, with only 15-30 minutes of music thrown in for good measure.)

B
 
bluebomberman said:
What I do is rate my songs and then build a smart playlist that contains only the top-rated songs. I'm guessing that at least half of those tracks are second-rate filler tracks from your ripped CDs. (For me, the ratio of great stuff to crap is somewhere between 1-in-5 to 1-in-3.)
Click to expand...

llol Thats almost the same ratio of when a Bob Dylan song pops up when i'm on shuffle
 
I do skip tracks sometimes, but just because of my mood...

If I always skipped a track, I'd delete it from my library.

That keeps my iPod Crack-A-Lackin'!
 
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