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Quantity over Quality
Posted at 9:00 PM on July 15, 2008
by Mac Wilson
(4 Comments)
As users of iPhones know, last week saw an epic glitch in the latest version of iTunes. So naturally, when I got a notification last night asking if I'd like to download version 7.7 of iTunes, I clicked 'yes'. Long story short, it now takes me 10 minutes for my computer to recognize my iPod, with no fix in sight (any Mac techies feel free to leave advice in the comments; I use Windows XP). I eventually figured out how to get my iPod, Tony III, hooked up, but not before a disturbing thing happened: my play history for the last 24 hours was wiped out. All play counts and 'last played' were as they were the last time I had plugged my iPod in, the night before. It was as if a day in my life had been wiped off the map!
The point I am trying to make is that this should not have disturbed me, yet it did. You know, back in the Dark Ages (i.e., pre-iTunes), there was no way of keeping track how often you listened to a particular artist, album, or song -- if you liked something, you listened to it a lot, if you didn't, you rarely picked it up. With iTunes, we may have instant access to more music than we would have had before (feel like switching songs? rather than changing the record/CD, just skip to a different track!) but I wonder whether having my listening habits meticulously logged is a bad thing. 'Play counts' inherently bring more transparency: in the old days, you could listen to something over and over and just enjoy it for its replay value, but now, when you see the play count for Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone" rise into the double digits, you start second-guessing your own listening habits.
None of this should matter, of course. You should listen to what you want, on whatever subjective basis you choose. Yet the seductive power of the play counts won't let me go. What's the fix? Do play counts help or hurt your listening habits?
Comments (4)
The seductive power of play counts sucked me into Last.fm, a website even more addicting than Facebook. I check it to analyze charts of my top songs and bands, and to spy on my friends who also have accounts to see what they've been listening to lately. When my computer was out of commission for 4 months earlier this year, I was almost anxious about my lack of ability to update my charts!
My song count currently says that I've listened to NSYNC one more time than Devendra Banhart...hmm....
I am a play count junkie (maybe it has something to do with being a statistician).
I too have a love hate relationship with my play count. I meticulously manage it. I have to listen to a song all the way through so that it counts the song as a listen. I think about how many times i've listened to a certain song, and if i've been "over-listening" to a song or album.
Maybe i'm not managing my music play counts- maybe my play counts are managing my music...
re Colin & Amy:
yes! that's exactly what I was thinking! I had a Last.FM account for my senior year of college, and I would literally break down into hysterics when the audioscrobbler would stop working for any amount of time (it was a stressful time in my life, what can I say).
I know what you mean. I've lost my play counts twice (once when i updated itunes in 2003 and once after my hard drive crashed) it made me wonder each time if all my effort was worth it. But now here i am again. Still being a slave to my play count. I dare not venture into Last.FM
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