...That is how long I could listen to all the music loaded on my iPod if I played it continuously. (Add another five days if I listened to all of my audiobooks back to back.) I was trying to calculate the other day if this amount of music was more or less than my music collections in previous formats. Certainly I had more hours of music in my previous album and 45 collection. Maybe not my cassette tape collection. But again, definitely my CD collection--particularly after I wed and my collection doubled.
My conclusion from all this? I need to beef up my iTunes library! But surely, you may think, 4.5 days of music and 5 days of books is enough for one person! Surely!
But actually: No. No, not hardly. I know of folks with twice this amount--three times as much. And there is still music I want. For example, a few weeks back after reading several stories about the "Summer of Soul" 40 years ago, I had a hankering to listen to Aretha Franklin's album "Young, Gifted and Black" (which I have previously owned in album form). Unfortunately, the iTunes store only has a partial album of this great work. (Probably due to rights clearance stuff--though I see that Rhapsody does have the complete album available.) I did not buy this...this travesty, this mutant album. My digital music collection suffers for the absence of the full masterpiece.
Then one day I was listening to John Coltrane play "'Round Midnight" on the local jazz station and remembered a cassette I created as a teenager of all the versions of this song I could find. I titled the resulting creation "12:01 am" and wrote stunning "liner notes" that likely were only read by me and maybe my parents. A quick search of iTunes revealed over 100 different versions! I immediately began doing calculations in my head:...assuming the number of versions I could humanly stand is around 12...at 99 cents a pop...but the Wes Montgomery and Chick Corea versions only available by purchasing the whole album at $9.99 each...carry the 2...
Yes, my digital music collection is lacking.
Even if I bought only the old stuff I used to have, my collection would likely swell to a full two weeks worth of music. And that still wouldn't be "enough." Someday I may be stranded on an island for weeks or months. One day I may lose my sight and find solace in a lifetime of listening to music. Besides the listening, there is joy in just the having.
Yup. Time to beef up my collection.
Posted by perry032 at August 24, 2007 11:26 AM | TrackBackSo much music to have and to hear. I don't own an Ipod and now I don't want one because after you have seen the Iphone, who wants the current Ipod?. The Iphone is the next generation of the Ipod. I digress. One day when I can have my own Ipod, I'm going to collect as much of the music that moves me as I can. Roberta Flack's "Ballad of Sad Young Men", Clarkson's "Since You Been Gone" and so much more. The Itunes collection of my dreams.
Posted by: Aaron at August 25, 2007 04:00 PMIt is never eoungh.. you will always find more and more music to listen to. It is a kind of a black hole :)
Posted by: Ilan at August 26, 2007 07:25 AM