The Crash That Inspired Me

Professor · #1 03-04-2006, 06:28 AM

I just wanted to share what happened to me about a month ago, and what has happened since then.

About a month ago, I had a second major HDD crash. I think I had a power spike, and the thing just up and started hissing and creaking and just died. That drive housed my ENTIRE itunes folder, all my personal audio production samples and sets...all my dj music...all my photos. Pretty much everything. It died. Some of you may know, that I am doing this show next week in London...so the crash was particularly badly timed. I freaked.

So let me explain what has come of this. First off, I had to listen to actual cds again. Take the time to stare at my disk collection, find what I want...and put it in the player. This provided me with an interesting "new world"....listening to an entire album, as a piece of art. I hadn't listened to a complete work in probably 3 years...since I got my first Ipod. I've been happily living in "shuffle" world. I had taken about a month and a half and had completely inventoried all my cds into my itunes folder...so when at the computer, I just ran THAT on shuffle as well. Or just chose a particular track from the library....mostly sorted by date added. All of that has changed...partially because I don't want to spend another month and a half re-importing ALL that music again....but also, because of this new connection with my music collection. I have some good shit in there that I never listened to. The Headz comp on Mo Wax, for one....amazing start to finish. Complete Joy Division albums...Luna albums....Underworld albums...I've also been discovering what albums AREN'T particularly great as a whole, that at one time I thought were....Orbital's first album is actually kinda hard to get through beginning to end. Hate to say it, but it's true. But I can put on The ORB's adventure's in the Ultraworld...and just let that one play...

Point is, that because of this hard drive crash, I've sort of gotten closer to what an album should be. And I'm better off for it. Also, that crash forced me to re do my upcoming show. That task was a bit tedious...but it's going to be a MUCH better set than before. And sure, I still need an audio drive, one for professional audio use...but I'm not going to go back to shuffle culture for awhile.

Those of you thinking your music might be dead....just try it...put on a cd you haven't listened to in a while and give it a new chance to woo you.

Another cathartic Dirty confession.

M

BrotherLovesDub · #2 03-04-2006, 08:02 AM

bullshit. 21,000 tracks all searchable, customizable, easy to listen to. if i want to hear the complete album, i can type the album name, create playlist and press play. i guarantee it's quicker than you finding the disc, opening the cd player and pressing play. Take that first Orbital album you correctly noted can't be listened to in its entirity. I can take the bum tracks off and add the diff versions and tracks missing from that era and easily add them to a playlist and hear the Best of Orbital 1989-1991. Much better than the Green album.

there's nothing wrong with listening to actual CD's, but i find the flexibility of having my collection digitized very liberating.

see you tomorrow you jammy bastard.

Professor · #3 03-04-2006, 08:37 AM

fack off. true...there's some lazy invovled in this decision...and also true, organization of digital files is pretty nice. but my point is more about the rediscovery of albums than the pros and cons of digitizing. however, i can see that in my post i'm leaning towards the cons. this crash just helped along my appreciation of the album instead of the shuffle.

lukeyd · #4 03-04-2006, 11:20 AM

i hate shuffle. never switch that option on anyway really

Jafs · #5 03-04-2006, 11:25 AM

That's why we should take care of not having all our stuff in digital. We are in the "impalpable stuff" era.

Your experience shows that, yes, an album is a piece of art first, before being an plastic circle whose we can extract some stuff that hooked us at firsty time, and remember us that even a song that seems weaker in appearance when played single can have so many importance and interest in its context.

BrotherLovesDub · #6 03-04-2006, 04:47 PM

remember 99% of all albums suck. what percentage of the CD's in your collection do you like to listen to from the first track to the last without skipping any song? until you have both your entire collection digitized and your entire collection alphabatized on a huge CD/Vinyl rack behind your decks, you really can't comment on which is better. i'll never sell my CD's but i never listen to them anymore either. the point is, no matter what i'm talking about, i'm right.

smilie fest 06!!!

theviirus · #7 03-04-2006, 05:41 PM

infinite choice leads nowhere.

den · #8 03-05-2006, 01:38 AM

Even after I got an ipod and imported most of my cds, I still listen to albums all the way through. I hardly ever make playlists of different songs. When I want to hear a certain band, I listen to the whole album all the way through. Maybe that just encourages me to listen to albums that I like as a whole.

Professor · #9 03-05-2006, 07:31 AM

all valid points.

Tiger · #10 03-06-2006, 03:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrotherLovesDub

remember 99% of all albums suck. what percentage of the CD's in your collection do you like to listen to from the first track to the last without skipping any song?

u need to get some decent albums bro

i listen to the majority of albums all the way thru, so i can hear it as a single piece of work rather than just a collection of tracks. good albums are better than the sum of their parts and the way an album is programmed can really help or hinder its success.