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zwolanerd

I guess I just like liking things

The Rodney Dangerfield of the MP3 player world

The Rodney Dangerfield of the MP3 player world

Welcome to the newest feature! It’s… not really any different from most other regular features here. In the most general sense, I’m going to talk about stuff I like and stuff I’ve recently experienced. I thought it might be a good idea to lay some groundwork first, though.

See, while I like music, I don’t really know much about it. Not in a technical sense, anyway. You’re never going to hear phrases like “when The Beatles change time signatures here, it’s a change in themes, transitioning from the quicker pace to the slower one reflects a change in attitudes mirrored by………..” and I can’t even carry on with the nonsense I’m spewing there. Ridiculous. I mean, if you get stuff like that out of music, I feel glad for you, son, I got 99 abilities and music breakdown ain’t one. I couldn’t even really sit here and explain the difference between “rock” and “pop,” though I think if I heard a song I could probably tell you what camp it’s in. I’m not so sure genres are all that important anyway, other than a blank to fill out in those “if you like ___________ you might like ___________” things, or “I’m in a mood for ___________.”

I, like most people, like a little bit from most genres. While I once would have adamantly denied liking country or gangsta rap, I have since realized there are songs here and there in those (and many other) genres that I do actually like, so I should probably keep an open mind about dubstep and speedmetal while I’m going on about things, too.

I have two main ideas I’ve been mulling for Music Mondays:

  • Musical Alphabet: 26 letters, 26 groups.  My favorite song from my favorite group representing a particular letter, from ABBA to ZZ Top (because what else would there be for Z?). This could be an all-in-one-list entry, but more likely each letter would get its own.  I thought about doing different lists for different genres, but as I’ve already mentioned, I have a hard time sorting that out so it’s probably better I do a catch-all.
  • First Listen: Thoughts on a first listen through a classic best-selling album. First up will be Meatloaf’s “Bat Out of Hell,” which I purchased several months ago but still haven’t listened to because I’ve had this in mind. These will be albums where, sure, I’ve heard a song or two off them, but never the whole thing in album form. We’ll see how it goes.  There’s “plans” and there’s “reality.”

There will also be new albums and writeups of favorite soundtracks, I’m sure. Plenty to keep us busy.

A few bits and pieces:

  • I still buy CDs, some times from local stores, some times from Amazon. I do rip all of my CDs to MP3s and keep them on a central storage server at my house.
  • When I buy a new CD, it immediately goes to my car. My roundtrip to work and back home is about 45 minutes, so I can listen to an album in a day, normally. Minimum time the CD will be in my car is a week, unless I really hate it.
  • Though I do rip every album to MP3, I only put songs on my player that I really like. I’d rather curate my lists that way than to stuff it full of albums and make playlists.
  • Songs that make it to my player are dubbed “Zuneworthy,” and this is a term you are likely to see now and again.
  • I owned an iPod for about four months and never cared for it. I sold it to a coworker the day the Zune was released and bought a brown Zune, and I still use it to this day. I also have a Zune HD with a touchscreen I use, but I have a whole rant about how touchscreens are a terrible fit for MP3 players that I might post some day if I can put a positive spin on it.
  • I still have the very first CD I ever bought, Mandy Patinkin’s self-titled debut album. My brother got it in a bunch he bought from Columbia House and he didn’t like it. I did, so I bought it from him.

So at this point, cue up either The Stones’ “Start Me Up” or the Black Eyed Peas’ “Let’s Get It Started,” depending on your particular tastes.

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