Ask Lemmy

Things I do:

• Maintain a large database of music, though primarily for archive purpose
• Write software for listening music, though it is far from done
• Maintain some overengineered smart playlist
• Occasionally search and purchase new albums

It's primarily Vocaloid, so that's probably why I can't listen to it and focus on something else at the same time. Also probably why I can't tell the difference between bad and good headphones. Some are meme songs too.

I can't live without it. I would be always unmotivated and unproductive without it

𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐛𝐮𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮?

I don't care much about the earbuds. I just buy the wireless earbuds with the longest battery life . To me it's all about the artistic sound of music

𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐛𝐮𝐦𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐦 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐳𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭?

With the amount of music I own. It's too hard to pick music . I simply have one long playlists with all the music I own that i play in order. If I encounter a very good song from a good artist thanks to musicale paroral queues I can pause the library playlist listen to the full album then when finished resume to the last played song from the library playlists

𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐬/𝐚𝐥𝐛𝐮𝐦𝐬/𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬?

No, arguing about the best albums, debating other opinions with obsession simply ruin the enjoyment of listening to music

𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜?

I used to but with 2000 artists I listen too I stopped

𝐓𝐋;𝐃𝐑 𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮?

Music is artistic audio content

A lot, helps with emotional release.

Music is such a lifesaver that I should've found out about earlier. Like... after your parents yell at you, it would help a fucking lot to just let the sounds soothe you, or more like let you release your anger and sadness being being a "burden on your family".

I actually haven't listen much to English "Songs". Like I mostly listen to video game music, sometimes even games I never played.

Like I like FTL music, Multiverse Mod music, Undertale, Deltarune, that one main theme of Detroit: Become Human, Stardew Valley, some random TV show theme songs, the Terminator theme, Anime Openings and Ending songs.

A lot of random classical music. Canon in D on a Piano.

A few random soundtracks from Life is Strange True Colors.

As for "songs" with vocals, my favorite are the 70s/80s/90s era Cantopop (Cantonese Popular Music) songs by 黃家駒 (Wong Ka Kui) and his band Beyond, especially 海闊天 ("Boundless Oceans, Vast Skies")(it's like in the top 20 of Chinese Music Videos) and 光輝歲月 ("Glorious Years")(song made in honor of Nelson Mandela), but as well as various others like 劉德華 (Andy Lau).

I first got interested because my dad grew up during those eras and I just decided to go googling. But, nowadays, it's kinda conflicting on my emotions tho, since Cantonese reminds me of my parents yelling at me... so I kinda have to suppress my traumatic memories a bit to actually enjoy it. My brain automatically makes the "Cantonese = I'm about to get yelled at" subconscious associations lol. So I guess listening to this is a bit of desensitation therapy kinda of lol. As for Mandarin... it kinda... it kinda always sounds weird to me, even tho I am a native speaker of both Cantonese and Mandarin.

But TLDR: For the most part, I just love listening to Anime songs and Video Game Soundtracks.

Music kinda helps with depression, otherwise I'd just feel so "empty".

I just grab the audiofile with a youtube downloader, and like put it in a folder. Maybe I should go archiving these things, but I've been procrastinating lol.

As for headphones, just some random cheap one under $100 made by those mainsteam manufacturers like Anker. I hate wires cuz it's so annoying when it touches your neck, like sensory issues lol.

Not really an audiophile, and my stuff breaks too often, so I don't wanna ever spend $200 again, just cheap ones will do. ("Boots Theory of Economics" doesn't apply, I broke an expensive one before lol, there was barely any difference in quality, like I can barely tell the difference between a $200 and $100 one.)

Kinda rambled a lot, so idk if I typo'ed anything lol.

Music is everything to me. From playing the clarinet, to listening to frank Sinatra.

I love it. We all need it.

I love music. I can keep a beat fairly well, but I'm no musician. I listened to music quite often just to hear it in the background. As a kid growing up, it was like that. Seems to me, there was always a radio on in the background if we weren't watching TV.

I listen to most anything. Except for newer pop country or rock-country. I'm just about to hit 50, so my taste jumps around a bit. From Tool to Kenny Rodgers. Neil Diamond to Weird Al. They Might Be Giants to Deftones. Roy Orbison to Metallica. Talking Heads to Attila.

I'll put music on if I'm: doing the dishes, taking a shower, at work, diving, cooking, mowing the lawn, house chores.

It would most definitely suck the day I can't listen to music anymore!!

I usually only listen to music when I'm doing something else, like driving.

I listen to a lot of game audio or background music though I couldn't tell you who the artists are, only what game/movie they're from.

I think that puts me into the 'not really a music person' category.

I deeply care about music. It is a part of my everyday life.

I don't have high end devices to play from but I have different speakers, earbuds, or the car to play wherever I want basically.

I usually just make a random playlist of all the songs I own and go from there. Sometimes I want instrumental sometimes I want to sing. Just depends on what I feel like. I have lots of different tastes from The Calling to Beethoven. All the way to Sabrina Carpenter.

I listen to music by itself all the time. It is a different activity than just in the background. But I am also a singer so many of my song choices I actively sing to. I also sing in a choir and other events along with karaoke.

I talk about favorite music all the time with friends and family. Whether it's how it makes me feel to seeing if they have heard anything cool recently.

I search for music constantly. I usually want to own my music so I use places like Bandcamp to purchase music. But I also have music from cds, online, or stuff from myself and my choirs.

Tldr- Music is definitely art that I believe can find someone at the right time to make them feel something.

• Audiophile
• Gear whore
• Music is high art (our highest)
• Collect all I can
• love reading about musicians, their history, thinking about lyrics, concert tours, songwriting, covers etc...
• love all music from around the world all time periods I can get my hands on.

I care about music. I look for new stuff I enjoy. I listen to albums. I think about the lyrics. I see bands live when they tour. Sometimes I make mixes with a theme.

I used to ask people sometimes if they made mixes, and if so where they fell on the spectrum of "these are some songs I like" and "each songs inclusion and ordering has been carefully considered".

I don't just hit shuffle or let an algorithm wander through music. Songs are like spells and different tunes evoke different feelings.

I don't relate to people when they say they like "all kinds of music" or "I listen to a dozen new songs every day". That's just not enough time spent with those new songs to form any sort of bond, for me.

I only have a couple friends who have what I call an interoperable relationship with music. It's not that we like the same music, but that the music we each like, we like in a mutually comprehensible way. Like I can say to my friend, "oh this song could go right next to that song because xyz ", and they'll be like "oh that's good. abc fits in with them, too".

My other friends, talking about music, at most I get a "cool song, bro".

Music is almost a daily thing for me.

It's either to listen while I'm doing something I want to focus on, ie work, hobby.

Just for recreation ie find new bands, watch guitar/bass/drum covers

I also listen to analyse certain elements of songs ie bass lines, riffs, drumming, keyboarding etc

I had some workers doing some work at my house not so long ago and one guy asked the other if he knew this song and he's replied, I'm not really into music.

I was a bit taken back, to me that feels like a soulless life but each to their own! Life would be boring without music imo

I generally will always have a song in my head. Current track: Suffer in truth by Meshuggah... Why? I dunno just woke up with it playing lol

Do you care about having decent enough devices to enjoy it or do you just buy the cheapest pair of earbuds to silence the world around you?

I can't afford truly high end gear, so I try to get the best possible; currently, it's a set of pebble speakers and some sony headphones that I think I lucked out on because they sound amazing. I have some clunky monoprice headphones that are like honey for my ears, but the cord is broken and I can't solder it together again. *I've also spent a considerable amount of time finding FLAC copies of everything I wan to listen too, which has been really easy to do once I found a certain, respectable website...

I have a bit less than a terabyte of music that I add too sometimes if I come across something. I have it all backed up an external drive, which is really the only reason I bought it.

Do you have favorite albums or do you just hit play on a random playlist and zone out?

Right now I've been consistently listening to Zoe Keating, all her albums are great imo. Honourable mention to LCD Soundsystem, Ólafur Arnalds, Bonobo, OK Go, Odesza, Hump Back, Bombay Bicycle Club and Big|Brave (in no real order).

Do you ever listen to music just to enjoy it and nothing else?

Sometimes, but mostly it's while doing other things like homework or shit posting.

Do you talk with passion about your favorite songs/albums/artists?

Not really, I've never met anyone that cares enough.

Do you spend time searching for music?

I sometimes find bands I like posted on the main music comm for lemmy, but usually it's not my vibe, even though I could say it's good. I would say that I'm satiated at this moment of time.

re: art vs. content: I'm not sure of the distinction you're making. Can you explain what you mean?

Great question! Music is important to me, but the sound quality isn’t something I fuss over.

I think the right music can entrance any situation, so I like exploring a lot of different genres to see if there’s something I like.

I’m currently trying to build the best Christmas music list (trying to get some of the mainstream stuff mixed in with a bunch of really deep cuts so it’ll keep the list from getting stale through all of December).

Music is art, and some songs can allow the composer to speak directly to your emotions.

I generally like music, some kinds more than other kinds. I'm especially fond of novelty music such as Weird Al.

But I don't usually go out of my way to listen to music. Not even when driving. (But my wife sometimes does which I enjoy.)

But really it's just not a big part of my life.

I didn't start listening to music until I was 15 and even then I only had a few mp3 files given to me by friends. It still took me another ~10 years or so to figure out my own music taste.

I don't have a favorite song or artist and don't talk much about music with anyone. In general I use it as background noise to help me focus when working on something.

I would say that I do care about music quite a bit.

I'm currently using more expensive earbuds from Truthear because my sister's ex boyfriend bought me a pair last year for Christmas and they sound great but I normally go with brands like Sentry that offer decent sound for the price.

For the second question, I kind of unintentionally do both. Right now, I'm listening to music from Eternal Nocturne by Dobu Usagi (AKA dBu) and I'll be listening to some of their other albums until YouTube recommends me music from other Touhou artists like 暁Records, Sound Holic or A-One. YouTube seems to recommend music to me that's related to what I'm currently listening to, so it makes sense that I'm currently getting recommend videos from Eternal Nocturne with a few from other albums like Necromanza and Scarlet Rapsodia or the other artists I mentioned. When I'm away from home, I use my android devices to listen to music during the car ride, where I just have a bunch of random music I've downloaded over the years and I mostly use MPV to listen to them but I do have VLC on one device because MPV doesn't work properly on that device for some reason.

For the most part, the only time I listen to music by itself is just when I'm in the riding in a car.

Maybe sometimes. I do like to talk about some of the music I listen to. I wont go into specifics because that's not the topic for this post but for example, with dBu, their music sounds like a mix of music from Mega Man and Castlevania because it has that gothic/orchestral rock/metal with some techno sound to it. I also like 暁Records, Sound Holic and A-One because of the variety of music they make. I just really like Touhou music, if you couldn't tell.

I do sometimes look for music but I temporarily had to stop because my external hard drive got full. I asked for a new one in my Christmas list so I hope I get it.

I've never really thought about that last question before but I guess both.

Care a lot. I've been playing music since I was 5, 40s now, listening just as long. I admit to being an audio snob and enjoy high-end setups, but I can be happy with a decent pair of ear buds too (my nice setup is in storage, and I'm dying withoPlaylist.

Music is 100% emotional for me. Whether it's playing, writing or listening, it has gotten me through many boughts of depression and brought me down from highs of anxiety. It helps me process a lot of emotions I have trouble expressing.

My tastes tend to skew hardrock/metal but absolutely have a wide range in tastes. I do tend to prefer listening to whole albums vs individual songs when possible, but when streaming I keep it on new release/band recommendation playlists.

1: MDR 7506 2: I have favorites which change constantly. 3: Sure 4: Yes 5: Yes TLDR: Yes

1. I have the nicest listening devices I can afford to enjoy my music but on the go whatever works is sufficient.
2. I have a plenty of favourites but I mostly listen to internet radio streams. Those are usually defined by genre or are just regular radios that play random stuff you can’t control
3. Doing nothing but listening to the music is the best way to listen to music. Unfortunately real life is usually too busy for that.
4. I don’t really have super favourites to the degree that I passionately talk about them but I do passionately advocate for art generally
5. I keep a note of artists and albums to search and then I will occasionally download their stuff for my archive

I think music is art although there seems to be a lot of “music” being made purely for content purposes these days, especially now that ai music is starting to invade streaming platforms. So I guess perhaps some new music is just content slop

Decent enjoyer. I don’t care much about the highest quality hifi sound systems, but I don’t want bad sound systems either.

I rather listen to full albums rather than individual songs.

I don’t really search much for music anymore. I know which artists I like and follow them. Sometimes I diversify with new music though.

I get sad every time people block me from becoming a musician or at least learning music. It's a path I definitely would have taken if it hadn't been knocked out on arrival each year.

Same as you. I do all things with music in play. And most days I have to strangle it from being pep in my step.

I even detune vehicle choices because I get too excited when the song matches the vehicle, haha. I do my best to not drive other people's cars accordingly.

I maintain like a dozen playlists with specific vibes. I constantly try to discover new music, whether through algorithms or active searching. When I find a really good album I'll just sit and listen, maybe doing something that doesn't require concentration.

There are bands that I really like that I bring up all the time. When I find a new one, I'm telling everyone who might like them. There are some I'll listen to over and over, and some I ration to try not to burn out.

I like great art, but I'm also down with meme music and other goofy shit.

I had a somewhat shitty youth, and music was one of a very few things that gave me enjoyment — I'd say it did a lot for my mental health. I thought I was ambivalent or even disliked most music, until I discovered proper alternative music, both electronic and rock, instead of what my parents and grandparents listened to, and what played on the radio. With the advent of internet access in my part of the world, something was playing on my computer pretty much 9-to-5. I read Wikipedia and other sources about artists and music in general, and know the difference between deep house and Balearic house.

Perhaps the fact that Nurse With Wound and Black Vomit were my favorites for long night walks through the city for a while, illustrates my attachment to music quite graphically. I'm also not irritated by the sound of MRI machines.

I used shitty headphones, treating them as expendable, until buying Sennheiser by chance for office work because they reportedly isolated external noise (which was untrue about that model). That's when I learned how the bass guitar actually sounds and that there are good bassists besides Bill Laswell and Jah Wobble. Consequently, I try to use decent headphones and speakers now.

I try to discover new (to me) music more-or-less constantly, although I've finally gotten old and don't really know what's been happening in alternative scenes in the 2020s. Since I've heard plenty of musics, new stuff doesn't quite catch the ear that easily anymore, but once in a while I add something to my personal collection.

I don't use algorithmic recommendations, aside from Last.fm in the past and Bandcamp's ‘people also like’ now. Mostly I have a long list of artists I've read about, or flip through recommendations in topical communities.

I thought I've heard most genres and tricks and would just be rifling through them back and forth, until I randomly came across Mamaleek. Not only they have amazing atmosphere and effortlessly combine disparate genres, but they switch up the sound on every album while somehow retaining the signature mood. This was like hearing good music for the first time again. No one else is like them.

Do you ever listen to music just to enjoy it and nothing else?

Don't really know what else I could be doing with music. The exception is when I'm looking for something to recommend to others.

devices: I prefer high-quality audio equipment but if I don't have it to hand I'll listen on what I do have... or just sign out myself

album / playlist: I have favorite albums, I have favorite playlists, but my favorite way to listen is via a nested tree of smart playlists that automatically rotates in music depending on how highly I've rated it, how recently it's been played, and how many times total it's been played.

Do you ever listen to music just to enjoy it and nothing else?

That is the only way I listen to music.

passion: yes, to the point of getting in trouble with my wife

searching: yes, I spend about a twentieth of my listening time on new music hoping to discover favorites

I like many different, amazing types of music.

I care about Creative Commons music.

Professor Kliq, Aydio, DML grunfeld, Dusted Wax, Xera Lliendes, NIN, Grace Valhalla, ChillOhm, Toucan Music.

I care about these tunes, because I feel that these artists have shared a little more with me.

i don't care about music.

I care a fair bit about music, but in a way that's likely very unpopular around these parts.

I'm a fan of AI-generated music. I've got about 600 songs I've generated over the years and almost all of them are about things and are in styles that I personally find relevant to my interests and life.

Some of your other questions are rendered moot by this. There's no albums or artists for these songs. I've loosely grouped them into a few giant playlists based on the sort of mood they fit. I listen to them while doing things like walking my dog. I don't use particularly fancy earbuds or other hardware, though I made sure to get decent speakers for my computer for while I work on them to make sure they're high quality at their source.

Since most of the songs are personally meaningful to me, if only because they scratched a very particular itch I was having the day I generated them, I care about them. I don't expect most of them would be of interest to other folk. I mostly don't share them since they're for me and anyone else can easily generate their own custom stuff, though I've made some public when they've struck me as particularly amusing or interesting.