As I said, it took me a long time to adjust to the new ways of listening implied by clever tools like iTunes. A concrete example: what I used to do was exactly analogous to listening to a CD: flick through the long list of playlists until one catches my eye, double click to play. No change there. Later I downloaded a ‘play random track’ applescript and, together with the ‘shuffle’ button, that became my standard way into the library. But sometimes, random can be a bit too random. So now I use iTunes’ search function, which is simple enough. I just free associate until I get an interesting-looking playlist. Then shuffle through the results.
This is really orthogonal to the experience of ‘putting an album on’ – ‘artist’, ‘album’ and ‘genre’ are secondary to mood or ambience. Meanwhile, the whole MP3 universe is still organised into albums – MP3 players even try to locate album cover art when you play a track – but the new ways of interacting with music must imply at least a loss of emphasis on the album. Once we’re accustomed to ‘dialing up’ a mood or a feeling or an era, will we want to buy albums at all? Or will we buy (or rent) an hour of ‘contemplative’ or ‘aggressive’ or ‘Renaissance’ or whatever? Here’s one of my playlists. iTunes search terms were ‘I’m’ and ‘You’re’.
I'm Still In Love With You, Al Green I'm Fricking Awesome, MC Paul Barman I'm Waiting For The Day, Beach Boys I'm Only Sleeping, The Beatles I'm Amazed, The Pixies I'm So Tired, The Beatles I'm Serious, Beenie Man I'm Waiting For The Man, Velvet Underground You're a Big Girl Now, Bob Dylan You're Pretty Good Looking, White Stripes You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go, Bob Dylan I'm Taking My Audition To Sing Up In The Sky, Cap, Andy, And Flip You're So Vain, Carly Simon You're My Thrill, Chet Baker I'm On My Way, Clifton Chenier I'm Waiting For The Man, David Bowie & Lou Reed You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma, David Frizzell & Dottie West I'm Coming Out, Diana Ross I'm Walking Backwards For Christmas, Goons I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry, Hank Williams I'm In The Mood, John Lee Hooker I'm Prison Bound, John Lee Hooker I'm Beginning to see the Light, Johnny Hodges You're The One That I Want, Less Than Jake You're A Friend Of Mine, The Meters I'm not Worried At All, Moby I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man, Muddy Waters I'm Ready, Muddy Waters I'm Like a Bird, Nelly Furtado I'm Depending On You, Otis Redding I'm Leaving You, Otis Spann I'm A Man, Pulp I'm Housin', Rage Against The Machine You're in the air, REM You're In My Heart, Rhonda Vincent I'm Someone Who Loves You, The Roches I'm So Glad, Skip James I'm An Old Cowhand, Sonny Rollins I'm An Old Cowhand (alt. take), Sonny Rollins I'm Gonna Make You Love Me, Supremes/Temptations I'm Still Here, Tom Waits I'm So Glad, Skip James I'm Taking My Audition To Sing Up In The Sky, Cap, Andy, And Flip You're My Everything, Zoot Sims