Shuffle mode vs. Album mode

So most of you probably have a big playlist with your entire collection in it. I was wondering whether you prefer to listen to albums all the way through, or just surf the shuffle/random mode until you find something good?

For a while I've been using shuffle like crazy, darting from one track to the next in a 6,000-strong discography of every human emotion ever discovered. Naturally, I've noticed this has taken a toll on me.

You see, I have a lot of free time, and spend most it it listening to music. When I skip from one completely different mood to another, it's kinda draining. Every time a track is finished, I have to gear myself up for an entirely new theme and style, another artist's approach to emotion, something which could require of me a completely different way listening.

So since yesterday, I've started simply choosing which album I want to listen to, and following through until it's time for another. So far it's going great! I think this might actually be healthier for the mind.

So, what are your listening habits? Discuss.

I mostly play albums all of the way through, but I'll also compile playlists of songs with a similar mood and shuffle amongst those.

With albums shorter than 35 minutes, I usually just listen to it normally. If it's longer than that, I shuffle.

You shuffle the tracks of an album, Friendly Foil? I usually listen albums all the way through, sometimes I start somewhere in the middle, but I almost never shuffle them. I do sometimes play my entire library on shuffle, or everything I have by a certain artist, or a series of compilations, etc.

I used to just shuffle my whole library while I played computer games & whatnot, but now since I am either working on music daily or mentally problem solving & generating ideas when I can't, I just listen to albums that I specifically want to influence me. It works well for me, but one of these days I am definitely going to need to take a break and revisit the rest of my library.

In spotify you can create a radio based on individual playlists to discover unknown simliar music. So you keep collecting LP, EP, discographies and similar artists until you run out of ideas and then extend your collection by listening to a radio based on each of these releases / collections. This is even better than last.fm and more intelligent than pure random

album mode only

  On 9/6/2012 at 4:12 PM, eugene said:

album mode only

Shuffle mode for one release and one release only: Gescom's Minidisc. If there's another release suitable for playback this way I will make another exception. Otherwise, I'm an album mode purist all the way, flow is too important to be left to some PRNG algorithm.

  On 9/6/2012 at 3:44 PM, th555 said:

You shuffle the tracks of an album, Friendly Foil? I usually listen albums all the way through, sometimes I start somewhere in the middle, but I almost never shuffle them. I do sometimes play my entire library on shuffle, or everything I have by a certain artist, or a series of compilations, etc.

Well, I've never been a huge fan of the shuffle function until very recently.

For example, an album like Ultravisitor. I like that one, and the tracks compliments each other quite nicely. But, it's just soooooo long. I rarely have the time to sit down for over one hour, and listen to an album like that.The shuffle function breaks up the flow, sure, but at least it enables me to hear different tracks from the album, instead of just the first 30 minutes over and over again.

Of course there are exceptions. Tim Hecker's stuff doesn't really work on shuffle, since the tracks are so well connected.

Also, every time I get a new album, I always listen to it all the way through without skipping anything, in one setting. Everything else is WRONG.

  On 9/6/2012 at 5:03 PM, Friendly Foil said:

Also, every time I get a new album, I always listen to it all the way through without skipping anything, in one setting. Everything else is WRONG.

So it's not just me then! *validated*

I'll listen to albums/EPs as a complete playlist, but if I'm feeling uninspired on what to listen to, a quick punt on shuffle mode usually plays a single track that I'll then jump over to the playlist it's in and play a whole album or EP. I have such broad tastes that like others before me have said, switching genres so quickly as a result of shuffling is too distracting for my listening enjoyment.

Seasonal/time of day factors also come into play, but that's a whole 'nother kettle of bananas.

Full albums 99% of the time.

I may shuffle when hanging out at home if I don't know what I'm in the mood for. I could shuffle for some time and be perfectly fine with that, or I could land on something makes me want to hear the whole album.

I will create mixes for driving, that's pretty much the only reason.

I also have some playlists at home that are genre-specific, that I might shuffle also just at home.

  On 9/6/2012 at 2:34 PM, patternoverlap said:

I mostly play albums all of the way through, but I'll also compile playlists of songs with a similar mood and shuffle amongst those.

This is what I do, I listen to full albums but make playlists by mood/style or record label...

Everyday I'm shufflin'

Almost always album mode. Sometimes when I'm driving or hiking I'll just put on whatever I want to hear and will jump around from artist to artist. I never really got into making mixes for whatever reason, and I've never actually used the shuffle function.

The only time I ever put it on shuffle is if I've got something like a box set of an artist; for things like Charlie Parker's Complete Savoy & Dial Sessions doing this is indispensable, because it means I don't have to listen to 5 takes in a row of a song.

if it's BOC's discography, i always shuffle...

Jumpstyle mode:

well i shuffle as in that i pick different tracks myself, not letting the computer shuffle for me. it's kinda like listening to the radio. i don't often listen to a whole album. i'm more likely to listen to a whole album if i'm listening to it on record though.

album mode

what do i look like man some sort of casual

  On 9/9/2012 at 8:29 AM, vproc said:

The only time I ever put it on shuffle is if I've got something like a box set of an artist

+1

pretty much always listen to entire albums from start to finish (even anthologies and box sets) but when i'm going back to something extensive like the recent daphne oram tapes, i'll do a shuffle.

Album mode. I feel like the artists compiled an album, so I oughta listen to it in order. Makes the experience more meaningful to me.

I do shuffle my library when I don't know what I want to hear, as many people have stated.

Never have gotten into making mixes, with the exception of a couple of "Shitmixes" for my car. But that's just usually a bunch of tracks by many different artists. Doesn't have flow or anything.

For me shuffle became interesting when I realized that I only know 30% of all mp3s on my harddrive and it will take impossibly long to listen to them all especially in album mode.

With shuffle I basically have a last.fm on the go that wastes no bandwidth

Album mode every time. Love my albums.