Shuffle Repeat. Forever.

I'm thinking back to the days before music came in readily available online doodads, downloaded from whatsit sites using Gigs, or whatever.

I used to know every word to every song on Weird Al's Greatest Hits Volume 2. Don't laugh, it was the first CD I ever owned, and I listened to it a thousand million times. The words and melodies were ingrained into my subconscious, and when provided with the most subtle of cues, I could burst into song if the need should arise. When I had enough cash on me to buy my own CDs, I listened to them constantly, to the point of burning holes clear through the discs. I couldn't afford a ton at a time, so usually there were 3 or 4 in rotation. When they died, I would get new ones.

And I learned all of those songs too. I could recite the lyrics from any song at any time. I could sing the lyrics to from one to the rhythm of another.

I also learned to appreciate music this way. I discerned quickly what I liked, and what I didn't. There was no time for messing about with bands and songs I didn't want to hear, or that I heard once and enjoyed, but didn't consider it a long term thing. I learned that I didn't like listening to sad music when I was sad, because it made me feel worse. I like happy music most of the time, and angry music some of the time. And when I listened to CDs, I could choose the tunes that best fit my mood.

Fast-forward to 2010, when I finally got an iPod, and I started throwing all kinds of music on there. A little farther forward, and I figured out what a torrent was. And now, I have hundreds of songs on a constant, unending loop playing in my car. It's probably playing right now, with no one listening to it, and no one noticing one way or another.

My appreciation for the finer things in music waned. It became background noise, a generally ignored soundtrack. Some of the songs are my personal favourites. Some were downloaded on a whim. People gave me other ones. Most of them, I don't even care about, and I skip right through looking for the gold. As I download more, the odds of me finding something I want to actually hear diminish. It's something like a 1 in 20 chance that I hear what I feel like at that particular moment. When I was buying actual physical CDs, my odds were 19 in 20.

I'm not lambasting digital media, or the ability to rip off the record industry at an alarming rate, and jacking up the price of actual physical CDs. I'm just saying it's changed the way I listen to my music. I suppose I could turn off shuffle, and take it off repeat. I could pick an album on my iPod and roll like that for a while. But it's already on shuffle. And the next tune will probably be good. Well, maybe the next.

And shuffle. And repeat.