Having treated myself to an upgraded system, I’m listening to much more music than I usually do, but have noticed that I tend to listen to a few albums over Andover for a while - few days to a few weeks, with a gentle turnover.
Was wondering what others habits were - do you have a wide eclectic mix, or do you have a few favourites, or what?
I generally play a theme of blues one day, folk another etc. With Qobuz and the great forum input i often just save a suggestion to Qobuz favourites and my evening listening can take a nice twist.
If you lived in Andover, things might be different.
Using Roon I have a filter that shows all the albums I’ve never played (on Roon). I’ve been using this for a month or so to rediscover ones I’d forgotten about. Enjoying most of them, although there are some I wish I could forget about again!
I prefer under Andover.
As for playing music, decades ago I’d play every new record repeatedly for a week or two, then it would gradually start to drop into the mix, as it were.
In the (relatively rare these days) event of me getting some ne record that is exceptional, I still do that. Otherwise i don’t generally play repeatedly, though from time to time different albums in crease in playing frequency.
On a typical day, i can listen to rock, classical, jazz, pop, techno, indie, ambient, metal, drum&bass, bossa nova and world music over the course of a few hours. It’s all over the place for me, i even have a few playlists that shuffle all of the above…
This thread resonates with me because a) I brought my vinyl out of storage, and b) bought myself a TT. I’ve not listened to these records for close on 30 years, even though there is some duplication on cd / ripped.
I’m now working my through my collection. But sitting down to listen to an album is not my usual approach; however, it is revealing. Perhaps I’m really an aligned sort of person? Nevertheless, most of my listening is via Roon radio.
Now that was something I seriously disliked when I trialled Roon, particularly as it was enabled by default without me having any awareness of it. Upon reaching the end of an album, sitting quietly reflecting on the music I had just heard, I was jolted out of my seat by my system suddenly starting to play a track from the middle of some other album, totally out of context, destroying my mood, even though it was something from within my own collection.
But then in terms of listening habit, the subject of this thread, I almost invariably listen only to whole albums: Much of the music I like is written to go together as a complete work, while other music I generally prefer in the order I have come to associate it. Added to that, I choose music to suit my mood, sometimes my choice of next album is in the same vein, maybe same artist, other times I desire a contrast, while sometimes I want a few minutes to mentally leave the performance before starting something else. Even when I choose to play individual tracks, I never want random play, always wanting to choose the next track myself, it often suggesting itself to me during the previous track.
It just shows how different people’s approach to music can be very different, of which software writers need to have better awareness than perhaps some have.
I’ve got really eclectic tastes so almost anything goes. A good sign that I really gelled with my Nova was that I went through most of my music collection during the home demo. I started with my Pink Floyd/Waters/Gilmore/Wright collection then worked through rock, classical, modern classical/fusion, hip hop, dance/techno, drum and bass, funk then pop.
Currently I’m working out the difference between my NAS and USB so seem to be cycling round London Grammar, Lana del Rey, Tron/Daft Punk and Olafur Arnalds a lot.
In general I’m a bit repetitive. I used to have a Deezer account and every month I’d get an email telling me that I’m a boring sod 
Where is that Stevot, that sounds like a good feature. Sure there is loads in Roon I didn’t know you could do. I must look later. 
Unfortunately IB that is a symptom of the trial. A trial isn’t long enough for it to learn your listening habits. Roon radio most certainly improves over time and in my opinion is one of, if not it’s best feature.
For someone who generally chooses music on mood, however much it learns preferences or common pairings, it would never know the mood the person is in unless it had some means of plugging into brain waves. Even if it learnt to play only whole albums not isolated tracks it wouldn’t know what would suit me to play next: I’m sure it works wonderfully for people who like random play, but I generally don’t - for the same reason I rarely listen to music on conventional radio. Different maybe if I put music on as background noise rather than for listening, but I don’t do that at home.
Hence the change in my listening habits since setting up a TT: it forces me to sit down and listen to an album. But such time is a luxury.
I agree that time to sit down and listen is a luxury! But then surely that is what Hifi is for, unlike a boombox for people who want background noise. Owning a decent hifi system is certainly a luxury - one that is rather pointless if not used for the luxury of listening to music!
Interesting that through playing vinyl your listening habit has changed to listening to full albums. I presume that is primarily because it doesn’t lend itself to rapid selection of another track, whether manually or automated? I grew up with vinyl and albums, and for me digital simply added the benefit of playing whole albums without an interruption halfway (or every 20 min with double or triple albums).
I resisted the move from vinyl to cd for many years, but the move to streaming was a much easier decision. My delight in vinyl now, after 30 years or so, is due to the quality of the sound rather than the album experience. Nevertheless, going through my albums now I have recaptured that vinyl experience.
But I enjoy Roon radio because it reminds me to look out vinyl albums to enjoy later .
Surely what you have put on and are listening to, suits your mood…
I listen to a large array of stuff. Normally its put an album on I fancy then see what happens with Roon radio. It often takes me on a discovery journey sometimes not. If it doesn’t suit I’ll switch to something myself. During work it’s always Roon radio if I am not needing sound for editing.
I think it’s Focus -> Played, then click on the green + to change it to red -. If you can’t get it to work I can look again later
Yes, very good question in the original post and it resonates with me as having decent music systems has definitely made me sit and listen to more music and more complete albums as well.
Generally go for mood as the determinant of what I listen to. If I’m working or reading the paper or a book it’s always classical music as anything with lyrics and a beat will distract me.
Rock, electro, disco is for when I’m doing stuff in or out the house - cooking, running, driving etc and there’s also plenty of Miles Davis & Charles Mingus in the collection which usually comes out when Mrs D & I have a drink in the evening.
Interestingly I’ve tended to narrow my rock listening down to core favourites as nothing will ever beat that (in my view) and I just don’t have time to listen new stuff so, as it’s always a bit of a treat to sit and listen to a whole album I’ll always choose an old favourite.
For classical music on the other hand I usually buy a couple of new recordings a month as there’s so many good quality new recordings and re-issues and no two interpretations are ever the same so I’ll happy feed the vice for classical music!
Great question & enjoy your listening.
Indeed. But that is no indication of what music I will be in the mood to listen to when it finishes! I may end up in a pensive mood and want 5 minutes silence, or maybe something to take me further in that direction, or down a different but similar path. Or I may have had enough pensiveness and want to rock. Or I may be wanting to run through the band’s albums in order, or may have been doing that but want a change.