Full Albums vs. Individual Tracks

Mr E

For the last few years I've always loaded my old 4gb Nano with favourite tracks as opposed to full albums (due to space constraints). After repeated (and repeated, and repeated) listens of the same tracks over and over again, I was really getting sick of my music collection. It wasn't a static list, it was being updated with a new batch of songs every few weeks (and songs I was REALLY sick of were taken off).

Then before Christmas, I upgraded to a 16gb Nano and started putting full albums on. Its been a bit of a revelation to me - albums (and songs) that I'd forgotten about are now back in rotation. I'm listening to great albums that I haven't heard (in full) for years. Brings me back to the pre-MP3 age when you had to listen to tracks sequentially on tape, or had to stick with a single album in your discman.

It was a bit of a lightbulb-over-the-head moment for me.

I suppose since space isn't as much of an issue as it was a few years ago, this might be a redundant question, but do you prefer to build up a playlist of favourite individual tracks, or do you just put on as many full albums as possible?

Sútalún

Mr E wrote: »

I suppose since space isn't as much of an issue as it was a few years ago, this might be a redundant question, but do you prefer to build up a playlist of favourite individual tracks, or do you just put on as many full albums as possible?

I always always always put on full albums. Mostly because my taste often fluctuates between favourite songs on albums. And I like to listen to albums as a whole rather than just individual tracks. And often a song that I don't always listen to on an album will gradually become a favourite. And this wouldn't have happened if I'd just uploaded individual tracks.

mercuroman

I think you have to listen to full albums because often the mood of the album, set by the order of songs, can strengthen the impact of a song and the impact of the music. I believe in this so strongly that I don't listen to best of albums, if I want to see what an artist is like, I try and get their best album

Miguel_Sanchez

I'm an album listener myself. The only time I put individual songs on my amazing 4gb MP3 player is when it's the only tracks I have by that artist.

A good album should work as a whole album. You don't get the same effect if you only listen to the singles. And frankly, a lot of the time I find that my favourite tracks by artists are album tracks rather than the singles.

John

I only put on albums, never a huge fan of just listening to one or two songs, mainly because I hate listening to the same thing all the time. Even the same album twice in one day is too much!

noby

In general I like albums, and try to listen to them as a whole. Some genres don't lend themselves to albums as much as others, though. I like a lot of Northern Soul, Motown etc., for example, and they would be more single orientated.
I have stopped buying best ofs though, if there are albums available.
I have a weedy ipod shuffle, which I use when running (I don't run far), but I have individual songs on that usually.

Kold

Breaking up albums is a crime against music for the most and one of the most annoying things about the mp3 revolution. Some albums just need to be listened to in full which is why I'm going to need to retire my 80gb iPod in less than a year I'd say and look to getting a 160gb. I've had to discipline myself though, since my first mp3 player 4 years ago because it was too easy to get distracted 2 songs in and switch, my attention span was being decimated and as such, I wouldn't like the album as much because I'd only judge it on the power of the first 2-4 tracks.