Thursday – Confessions of a Music Junkie
Jul. 22nd, 2010 03:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ninanevermore.
.
.
My name is Nina, and I am a song-a-holic. I am addicted to music, all kinds of music, and am constantly seeking out new songs to satisfy my cravings. I’ve always loved music, and I blame this on my mother.
I grew up in a house with only one television (in the family room – my mother did not believe they belonged in a person’s bedroom), but with machines that played music (radios, stereos, record players, tape players) in just about every room of the house. Then there was the singing; not only did she sing me to sleep and sing to wake me up, we sang as a family on long car trips. Not like those singing families in the movies where everyone is really good and can harmonize like professionals; we were more like a community theater all-volunteer chorus where the only requirement was that all singers had to be willing to at least make an attempt at carrying a tune. We weren’t great, but we weren’t awful, either. I think this early musical exposure made song-a-holics to some degree or another out of all of my siblings and me.
For years my addiction was kind of under control. The only sign that I had a problem at all was my fairly large-sized CD collection (which had replaced the fairly decent-sized LP collection I had from my childhood and teen years). I own hundreds of those little silver disks in their flat little boxes and they don’t take up too much room, really. It wasn’t so much a problem as it was a dalliance or a hobby. I was in control to it, and it wasn’t in control of me. I could consume music without over indulging.
Then the iPod came into my life.
My husband gave me one for Christmas a couple of years ago. Everyone else in the free world already seemed to own one, but I wasn’t that impressed since I wasn’t sure how to put music on the thing or how it worked.
“It’s big, it’s not one of the cute little ones,” I said.
“It’s an iPod Classic, you can fit a lot more stuff on it than you can on those little ones.”
“But I won’t look as cool.”
"It'll hold a lot more than they will, that makes it plenty cool."
I was skeptical. It didn’t come with a book (the PDF is downloaded from the Apple website), so I couldn’t flip through anything there on Christmas morning to figure out whether I liked this little flat devise or not. If I wanted to put music on it, was I going to have to buy all my music all over again for a dollar a song? What was the point of that when I had enough CDs to retile the kitchen floor with? For almost a year, it sat in a drawer. Then Jeff, in disgust, put some of his music on it. Once I saw out how it worked and learned that, instead of tiling the kitchen floor with my CD collection I could transfer the whole collection my iPod, I wanted it back. Jeff was a big meanie when I told him this.
“No! You had it for a year and you weren’t using it! It’s mine now. I’m not giving it back.”
“But it was my Christmas present! You can’t take back the Christmas present you give someone and use it for yourself! It’s against the rules!” I made Big Wet Sad Eyes at him, which usually works, but the big jerk wouldn’t budge. A few months later, Christmas rolled around and he did get me another iPod.
It took weeks to transfer my CD collection into my iTunes (in part because our old computer was a dinosaur), but I did it. Then I started buying music on iTunes. Then I discovered the world of free downloads. Before you think I took to stealing pirated music, I’ll have you know my mother raised me better than this. What I learned is that to promote themselves, artists often give away free samples. Most weeks, iTunes has four free music downloads: the Single of the Week (usually pop or rock), the Discovery Download (different genres for people to try), a free music video, and an iTunes Latino download. I get them all. Then I discovered Amazon, which offers well over a thousand free downloads (some stay free, some you have to get them while you can). Then I found Last FM. And the Starbucks Pick of the week cards. Pretty soon what has started as a harmless habit – a new song now and then – became a full blown obsession.
Our late computer was really, really old. My husband, like one of those doctors who keeps giving life-saving treatments long after the patient has no quality of life yet to speak of, can keep a machine alive long past the point it should be discarded. Let’s just say that when we bought it, Bill Clinton was in the White House. When it died, I was ready to throw it out the window every time I sat down at it.
“It’s not that bad,” Jeff tried to tell me time and time again. My parents tried to tell me the same thing about liver onions when I was a little kid. When someone tells me to ignore what my own 5 senses are telling me
When our old computer finally bit the dust a few months ago and Jeff had it sort-of running on new hard drive while he built our new-and-improved computer (he brags that this one will last as the last one, which makes him happy but makes me think we’ll be using it long past the point where it’s ready for the landfill), I was unable to sync my iPod or down new music for three months. Count ‘em. I did. Three. I almost went insane. As any fellow addict can tell you, cold turkey is no fun.
“Jeff! When will it be up and running?! I’ve been listening to the same twenty nine hundred songs for weeks now! I can’t take it anymore!”
All those free downloads and I only had twenty nine hundred songs? I’ll have you know that I do have some standards. I don’t favor anyone one genre (though there are a few I don’t like at all) and I will listen to anything once so I can rate it. iTunes lets you rate things on a 5 asterisk scale. For me, it works this way:
I’ve probably purged as many songs as I’ve kept. Maybe more. But I’ve found some amazing stuff I would never have discovered on my own.
A few weeks ago, Jeff finally got the new machine up. At last I could transfer my library over from the dinosaur. I could start downloading music again, and I got busy. Some of my Starbucks Picks of The Week has expired, but I got over it and used the ones that were still good. I played catch up on Amazon (this took awhile). I cut my losses on iTunes, since once you've missed the weekly downloads they go back to costing costing money.
Then the unthinkable happened. On a rainy morning as I was making a mad dash from my car to my office, my beloved iPod fell from my purse and lay in the parking lot soaking up rain, from 8 AM to 1 PM, when I went to lunch and found it laying dead next to my car. I tried to revive it by drying it out, which sort of worked but not really (it will play if I put it on a dock, but it will no longer sync). I started going through withdrawl again.
“I have a birthday coming up,” I said to my husband.
“I’m not buying you another one,” the big meanie said to me, “they aren’t cheap. You should have taken care of that one.” I though he sounded more like a dad than a husband. I waited until his back was turned and stuck my tongue out at him. Then I pouted. Then I bought myself another one with the money in my savings. My birthday is coming up, after all. I'm happy again.
My name is Nina. I am a song-a-holic. My last digital download was on Tuesday of this week. I am currently working through a list of over 200 songs that need to be rated and either purged or assigned to one of my almost 70 playlists (when you have everything from Celtic to classical to country to folk to jazz to punk to metal to soul to world and everything in between, you have to organize the cacophony a bit). No, I have no intention of stopping. I’m not at this meeting to get help, and least not the kind you’re thinking of. I was kind of hoping some fellow addicts could point me in the direction of more cheep or free downloads. I’m always looking for a new fix, you see. I though folks here might be in the know.
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * # * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
.
.
My name is Nina, and I am a song-a-holic. I am addicted to music, all kinds of music, and am constantly seeking out new songs to satisfy my cravings. I’ve always loved music, and I blame this on my mother.
I grew up in a house with only one television (in the family room – my mother did not believe they belonged in a person’s bedroom), but with machines that played music (radios, stereos, record players, tape players) in just about every room of the house. Then there was the singing; not only did she sing me to sleep and sing to wake me up, we sang as a family on long car trips. Not like those singing families in the movies where everyone is really good and can harmonize like professionals; we were more like a community theater all-volunteer chorus where the only requirement was that all singers had to be willing to at least make an attempt at carrying a tune. We weren’t great, but we weren’t awful, either. I think this early musical exposure made song-a-holics to some degree or another out of all of my siblings and me.
For years my addiction was kind of under control. The only sign that I had a problem at all was my fairly large-sized CD collection (which had replaced the fairly decent-sized LP collection I had from my childhood and teen years). I own hundreds of those little silver disks in their flat little boxes and they don’t take up too much room, really. It wasn’t so much a problem as it was a dalliance or a hobby. I was in control to it, and it wasn’t in control of me. I could consume music without over indulging.
Then the iPod came into my life.
My husband gave me one for Christmas a couple of years ago. Everyone else in the free world already seemed to own one, but I wasn’t that impressed since I wasn’t sure how to put music on the thing or how it worked.
“It’s big, it’s not one of the cute little ones,” I said.
“It’s an iPod Classic, you can fit a lot more stuff on it than you can on those little ones.”
“But I won’t look as cool.”
"It'll hold a lot more than they will, that makes it plenty cool."
I was skeptical. It didn’t come with a book (the PDF is downloaded from the Apple website), so I couldn’t flip through anything there on Christmas morning to figure out whether I liked this little flat devise or not. If I wanted to put music on it, was I going to have to buy all my music all over again for a dollar a song? What was the point of that when I had enough CDs to retile the kitchen floor with? For almost a year, it sat in a drawer. Then Jeff, in disgust, put some of his music on it. Once I saw out how it worked and learned that, instead of tiling the kitchen floor with my CD collection I could transfer the whole collection my iPod, I wanted it back. Jeff was a big meanie when I told him this.
“No! You had it for a year and you weren’t using it! It’s mine now. I’m not giving it back.”
“But it was my Christmas present! You can’t take back the Christmas present you give someone and use it for yourself! It’s against the rules!” I made Big Wet Sad Eyes at him, which usually works, but the big jerk wouldn’t budge. A few months later, Christmas rolled around and he did get me another iPod.
It took weeks to transfer my CD collection into my iTunes (in part because our old computer was a dinosaur), but I did it. Then I started buying music on iTunes. Then I discovered the world of free downloads. Before you think I took to stealing pirated music, I’ll have you know my mother raised me better than this. What I learned is that to promote themselves, artists often give away free samples. Most weeks, iTunes has four free music downloads: the Single of the Week (usually pop or rock), the Discovery Download (different genres for people to try), a free music video, and an iTunes Latino download. I get them all. Then I discovered Amazon, which offers well over a thousand free downloads (some stay free, some you have to get them while you can). Then I found Last FM. And the Starbucks Pick of the week cards. Pretty soon what has started as a harmless habit – a new song now and then – became a full blown obsession.
Our late computer was really, really old. My husband, like one of those doctors who keeps giving life-saving treatments long after the patient has no quality of life yet to speak of, can keep a machine alive long past the point it should be discarded. Let’s just say that when we bought it, Bill Clinton was in the White House. When it died, I was ready to throw it out the window every time I sat down at it.
“It’s not that bad,” Jeff tried to tell me time and time again. My parents tried to tell me the same thing about liver onions when I was a little kid. When someone tells me to ignore what my own 5 senses are telling me
When our old computer finally bit the dust a few months ago and Jeff had it sort-of running on new hard drive while he built our new-and-improved computer (he brags that this one will last as the last one, which makes him happy but makes me think we’ll be using it long past the point where it’s ready for the landfill), I was unable to sync my iPod or down new music for three months. Count ‘em. I did. Three. I almost went insane. As any fellow addict can tell you, cold turkey is no fun.
“Jeff! When will it be up and running?! I’ve been listening to the same twenty nine hundred songs for weeks now! I can’t take it anymore!”
All those free downloads and I only had twenty nine hundred songs? I’ll have you know that I do have some standards. I don’t favor anyone one genre (though there are a few I don’t like at all) and I will listen to anything once so I can rate it. iTunes lets you rate things on a 5 asterisk scale. For me, it works this way:
* means I’ve heard it and hated it. It must be purged from my music collection.
** means I’m not sure whether I like it or not. It goes in a special playlist I call “On Probation.”
*** means I like it. It gets to stay.
**** means I like it a lot.
***** means I like it so much I’m going to play it over and over until I hate it (at which time I will knock it down to ***).
I’ve probably purged as many songs as I’ve kept. Maybe more. But I’ve found some amazing stuff I would never have discovered on my own.
A few weeks ago, Jeff finally got the new machine up. At last I could transfer my library over from the dinosaur. I could start downloading music again, and I got busy. Some of my Starbucks Picks of The Week has expired, but I got over it and used the ones that were still good. I played catch up on Amazon (this took awhile). I cut my losses on iTunes, since once you've missed the weekly downloads they go back to costing costing money.
Then the unthinkable happened. On a rainy morning as I was making a mad dash from my car to my office, my beloved iPod fell from my purse and lay in the parking lot soaking up rain, from 8 AM to 1 PM, when I went to lunch and found it laying dead next to my car. I tried to revive it by drying it out, which sort of worked but not really (it will play if I put it on a dock, but it will no longer sync). I started going through withdrawl again.
“I have a birthday coming up,” I said to my husband.
“I’m not buying you another one,” the big meanie said to me, “they aren’t cheap. You should have taken care of that one.” I though he sounded more like a dad than a husband. I waited until his back was turned and stuck my tongue out at him. Then I pouted. Then I bought myself another one with the money in my savings. My birthday is coming up, after all. I'm happy again.
My name is Nina. I am a song-a-holic. My last digital download was on Tuesday of this week. I am currently working through a list of over 200 songs that need to be rated and either purged or assigned to one of my almost 70 playlists (when you have everything from Celtic to classical to country to folk to jazz to punk to metal to soul to world and everything in between, you have to organize the cacophony a bit). No, I have no intention of stopping. I’m not at this meeting to get help, and least not the kind you’re thinking of. I was kind of hoping some fellow addicts could point me in the direction of more cheep or free downloads. I’m always looking for a new fix, you see. I though folks here might be in the know.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-07-22 10:07 pm (UTC)Look up Heath Allyn. You may not have known him in B/CS theatre, but he was a legend. We were in a melodrama together. He's got a good voice and most of his songs are available for download... FREE!!! My fave is "Fall For Me."
no subject
Date: 2010-07-23 01:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-22 11:34 pm (UTC)Do you like song recommendations?
no subject
Date: 2010-07-23 01:57 pm (UTC)If you haven't already, try Amazon for free music. The songs are basic MP3 files that will work on any player. Go to MP3 downloads -> Special Deals. On the side you will see the top free albums (they hand out a lot of samplers) and the top free songs. At the bottom of each list you will see a link to see more or all. After that you can filter by genre to find stuff you might like. You can also subscribe to their newsletter which goes out every Tuesday and tells you what the new free downloads are and gives you links. Most weeks, there are between 12 and 40 options, and the genres run the gamut.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-23 03:50 am (UTC)Sadly, it takes up much more space...
no subject
Date: 2010-07-23 02:01 pm (UTC)I totally get the fabric thing. :)
My mother used to sew, and she had a whole trunk of fabric. Old clothes could be cut up and used to make smaller craft things (pillows, quilts). In her case she was a child of the Depression and did not like throwing away anything that could still be used. Elastic? That could always be put to a new use and got ripped out of waistbands all the time (not to mention buttons and zippers - those things cost money to replace! Why not salvage them from ruined garments?).
no subject
Date: 2010-07-25 04:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-23 08:33 am (UTC)Myself, I am proud of my rut. I listen to the same twenty CDs, have for years. It takes quite a bit to get me to listen to something new.
If you ever feel like being a pirate (I know, it's illegal, whatever) you can download the soulseek client. I'm on there as friendlygiantheart and I have about 18 000 files, including films (my new obsession).
I tell myself what I'm doing is ok because I am not hoarding it. I share freely and I take freely. If I find a new act I love, I try to see them live to give them my support and money. Otherwise, most of the stuff I download is from expired acts, either passed away or retired.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-23 02:07 pm (UTC)