I finally downloaded iTunes v8 (which, sidebar, reminds me of a conversation I had with my boss about my contention that V8–the bevvie—is only consumed by people “over a certain age”. What say you—are you under 35 and do you drink V8, and if so, why?), and it’s good. Per Spencer, I’m going to have keep the Genius sidebar mostly turned off unless I want to drop major scrilla on songs I didn’t know I needed. I also finally downloaded all of the cover art for my albums, and I’m amazed at how much this contributes to my enjoyment of the tunes. Granted, we still all hate CDs, but surely the cover art matters at least a little bit as one component of the album as a whole?
I’m actually on a mission to substantially reduce my stock of tracks. I have about 3800, down from about 4300 at its peak. The technical reason is that I need to free space on my paltry 55GB hard drive (and can’t afford a new computer right now, frown), but the real honest-to-goodness truth is that I don’t see any sense whatsoever in holding onto music that you never listen to, indeed that perhaps you’ve never listened to. I know I’ve downloaded hundreds of songs from eMusic over the years, and I haven’t gone through them all with a fine-toothed ear (or a fine-tuned ear). Every once in a while, and this is rare, I stumble upon a song that I’ve never really listened to before, and I’m blown away. Sometimes, even more rarely, it’s from an album I’ve had since practically forever, like when I realized the song “Goodnight Mr. Maugham” by the totally mediocre band Silkworm had a lyric (“The past is a foreign country / they do things differently there”) that I thought was perfect—for that moment, anyway. But I can just as easily recognize an album that, for the most part, I downloaded in error and don’t need cluttering up my iPod. Stay zen, people.
I’ve been keeping all my music on my ipod, which mostly avoids the space problems. But you’re right: there’s a lot on there that I will never listen to. I still like having it, though, as a sort of ongoing time capsule. The transition from ipod to ipod accidentally killed the “date added” value for a lot of my music, but for stuff after that point I can clearly see the musical fads I passed through.
I keep all my music on my iPod too, but I think that at some point relatively soon, I may switch back to a PC (I can no longer justify paying a $1,000 premium for sleekness, much as I hate the idea of having to deal with Windows Vista). I once did the PC-to-Mac conversion with all my music, and it was a crappy process fraught with errors.
I definitely understand the music-time-capsule thing, though. At some level, though, I don’t *want* to remember that I listened to way too much Tori Amos in high school.
But it’s not just for sleekness! Well, alright, I’ll try to avoid descending into mac zealotry here. But really, a decently built windows laptop will set you back $800. So it’s really more of a $200 premium for sleekness.
I know, I know! My feelings on the matter are complicated. I just feel so bad for not making the most of a Mac’s sweet features and programs. I’m not even sure I want another laptop, since the only time I move it from its desktop location are when I watch movies in bed or when I travel somewhere. Maybe I’ll hang on to this one and get an iMac.
or pick up a 1TB external hardrive… probably less than $200. Imagine how many tracks that could hold!
but then I’d have to keep it plugged into my computer if I wanted to access the songs at any given moment. or keep transferring different batches of songs to and fro.
am i the only one who sees the problem here?
i am under 35 and i proudly drink v8. micki made me do it in the beginning but now i LOVE it. but yes, i agree that their target market is the over 35 set.
V8 rocks.
I have never shopped around for a mac before, somewhat ironic maybe, but while I would never buy a mac desktop, I think they make a really nice laptop.