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Don't get me wrong, I've started moving away from Spotify, but not entirely for these reasons. Music to me is mostly one big playlist and a few smaller playlist

by avh02 2y ago

Don't get me wrong, I've started moving away from Spotify, but not entirely for these reasons. Music to me is mostly one big playlist and a few smaller playlists from the same library of my music. And where my music doesn't get randomly yanked because the artist had a fit with Spotify or license issues came up I never understood people's fetishization of albums and "enjoying" an album and all the music app interfaces created around that. I just want a cloud or self hosted version of winamp, where jumping to the next song or queueing it up from my playlist is a hotkey away rather than 12 clicks on a crowded interface. Been moving to navidrome but i expect to eventually need some workarounds to get what i want. Edit: also the poor implementation that is smart shuffle and shoving it down my throat

golergka 2y ago
Depends in the genre and artists, some music fits into separate songs where albums are merely a collection, some is created for an album as the primary artform, with a narrative, themes (in a musical and literary sense) and story. Think about it as an opera. Of course, Nessum Dorma sounds great by itself, but wouldn't it hit different if you hear it in the context of the whole story, with emotional buildup and everything?
kkapelon 2y ago
> I never understood people's fetishization of albums and "enjoying" an album and all the music app interfaces created around that There are concept/themed albums where the songs tell a story and you are supposed to listen them from start to finish. Also several times an album is actually how the artists themselves wanted to release/listen/publish their songs (instead of individual tracks with no relation among them)
gherkinnn 2y ago
> I never understood people's fetishization of albums and "enjoying" an album and all the music app interfaces created around that. Some albums are written to be enjoyed as a whole. A song might set up the next. Listening to an artist album by album gives you an idea of their progression. This might not be for everyone but surely isn't alien.
johnnypangs 2y ago
I think for me listening to a whole album comes from the fact that I’m a “legacy” music user. I used to listen to CDs and cassette tapes. So listening to five different artists meant either making a mix tape or changing CDs five times. So now I’m just used to listening to a whole album because sometimes that was all I had.
a-french-anon 2y ago
I'm going to get a lot of flak for this, but this is peak plebeian. I means to me you don't know how to appreciate music on a deep level, that you solely listen to "greatest hits" or genres/artists too base to be able to (or too commercial to even want to) create an album with an overarching aesthetic vision; not even talking about concept album, just having purpose in differences between tracks while still cultivating a similar sound and atmosphere. I know, I know, this sounds way too pretentious and elitist...
- bezier-curve 2y ago
  As far as flak, I think your point about album appreciation could be interesting if presented in a more constructive way. The tone of your comment comes across as somewhat condescending, which can make it harder for others to engage with the idea.
  - a-french-anon 2y ago
    Sadly, I don't really think the question at hand is complex enough to be more constructive than the single sentence I used. But let's try: could you reduce a movie like "Taxi Driver" to a single scene and keep all of its value? I categorically state "no", but you could probably with sitcoms-with-background-laugh-tracks ("probably", my experience with them isn't very extensive). Basically, some music is made to be digested in small, radio/club-sized pieces and I argue that most of it does so not to fulfill an artistic vision. There are some exceptions, using this opportunity to maximize "streamlining" (I mean, I listen to some Eurobeat, so I fully understand that) and St Exupery's famous "Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away", but that's definitely not the rule. Also, people already drew pretty good comparisons to opera and other stuff that loses too much by being listened on a single track basis.
    - avh02 2y ago
      and all those albums with filler "intro" and "intermission" tracks?
Propelloni 2y ago
I think, in the olden days you would be the guy who has a favorite radio station, tunes to it, and just let it run. That's what I do in the car anyway ;) Nothing's wrong about that. However, there is no need to denigrate other people's preferences with poor wording. You do you, they do they. There is no harm in the way anybody likes their music. BTW, there is winamp-js, which is Winamp in your browser. I think the Winamp clone AIMP has a web-interface, but I could be wrong.
- avh02 2y ago
  i like music from all over - i guess i agree the wording is a bit too on the nose - thinking if i edit and tone it down, but there's been a lot written after it already. The issue is almost every good music application assumes an organization style by artist/album, which in the modern world, may not be how things still work. To me, albums are a suggestion/release unit.
  - Propelloni 2y ago
    Have you taken a look at so called directory players, e.g. 1by1?

by avh02 2y ago

golergka 2y ago

Depends in the genre and artists, some music fits into separate songs where albums are merely a collection, some is created for an album as the primary artform, with a narrative, themes (in a musical and literary sense) and story. Think about it as an opera. Of course, Nessum Dorma sounds great by itself, but wouldn't it hit different if you hear it in the context of the whole story, with emotional buildup and everything?

kkapelon 2y ago

> I never understood people's fetishization of albums and "enjoying" an album and all the music app interfaces created around that There are concept/themed albums where the songs tell a story and you are supposed to listen them from start to finish. Also several times an album is actually how the artists themselves wanted to release/listen/publish their songs (instead of individual tracks with no relation among them)

gherkinnn 2y ago

> I never understood people's fetishization of albums and "enjoying" an album and all the music app interfaces created around that. Some albums are written to be enjoyed as a whole. A song might set up the next. Listening to an artist album by album gives you an idea of their progression. This might not be for everyone but surely isn't alien.

johnnypangs 2y ago

I think for me listening to a whole album comes from the fact that I’m a “legacy” music user. I used to listen to CDs and cassette tapes. So listening to five different artists meant either making a mix tape or changing CDs five times. So now I’m just used to listening to a whole album because sometimes that was all I had.

a-french-anon 2y ago

I'm going to get a lot of flak for this, but this is peak plebeian. I means to me you don't know how to appreciate music on a deep level, that you solely listen to "greatest hits" or genres/artists too base to be able to (or too commercial to even want to) create an album with an overarching aesthetic vision; not even talking about concept album, just having purpose in differences between tracks while still cultivating a similar sound and atmosphere. I know, I know, this sounds way too pretentious and elitist...

bezier-curve 2y ago
As far as flak, I think your point about album appreciation could be interesting if presented in a more constructive way. The tone of your comment comes across as somewhat condescending, which can make it harder for others to engage with the idea.
- a-french-anon 2y ago
  Sadly, I don't really think the question at hand is complex enough to be more constructive than the single sentence I used. But let's try: could you reduce a movie like "Taxi Driver" to a single scene and keep all of its value? I categorically state "no", but you could probably with sitcoms-with-background-laugh-tracks ("probably", my experience with them isn't very extensive). Basically, some music is made to be digested in small, radio/club-sized pieces and I argue that most of it does so not to fulfill an artistic vision. There are some exceptions, using this opportunity to maximize "streamlining" (I mean, I listen to some Eurobeat, so I fully understand that) and St Exupery's famous "Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away", but that's definitely not the rule. Also, people already drew pretty good comparisons to opera and other stuff that loses too much by being listened on a single track basis.
  - avh02 2y ago
    and all those albums with filler "intro" and "intermission" tracks?

Propelloni 2y ago

I think, in the olden days you would be the guy who has a favorite radio station, tunes to it, and just let it run. That's what I do in the car anyway ;) Nothing's wrong about that. However, there is no need to denigrate other people's preferences with poor wording. You do you, they do they. There is no harm in the way anybody likes their music. BTW, there is winamp-js, which is Winamp in your browser. I think the Winamp clone AIMP has a web-interface, but I could be wrong.

avh02 2y ago
i like music from all over - i guess i agree the wording is a bit too on the nose - thinking if i edit and tone it down, but there's been a lot written after it already. The issue is almost every good music application assumes an organization style by artist/album, which in the modern world, may not be how things still work. To me, albums are a suggestion/release unit.
- Propelloni 2y ago
  Have you taken a look at so called directory players, e.g. 1by1?