This past weekend I tried an experiment where I made a new playlist called “6 CD Changer.” Pretty simple, I chose 6 albums for the week and put them in that playlist and treat it like the CD changer in my car.

I sure did discover a couple of new tunes from the new Green Day and Shinedown that grabbed me whereas I don’t remember too much about them before that.

I actually sold my Ipod fairly recently. I’m planning to get an Iphone soon, but in the meantime, I’ve shifted my at-work/at-home listening to an external hard drive of music. Which led to my recent road trip, where I took CDs along for the first time in a long time. Picking out CDs for the trip, I found myself digging back into my CD collection, and pulling out a lot of stuff that hadn’t been on my Ipod or hard drive – rediscovering artists that I had loved for years, but hadn’t listened to for just as many years.

I actually miss the days (kind of) when I was a kid and had that one album that I would purchase with my allowance, and listen to for a month straight. And yet, whether it is listening to an album straight through on an Ipod instead of shuffling (as you describe,) or rediscovering physical albums in my own collection, it is quite thrilling to reacquaint yourself with your collection, and the memories in life that go with those albums.

If you are in fact, “addicted to vinyl” you can’t ignore the album. Since I got my turntable, I have been doing the album straight shot more than I have been playing my 20k+ song iTunes library…and it has been great. Yes, it can be a pain to get up and go across the floor to filp side A to Side B, but in the end…I like that.

I love the shuffle for parties and playlists when I am on the road. I never listen to the radio anymore. What I used to love about the radio is the serendipitous nature of “what’s coming on next”. Now that is all contrived and overproduced. The shuffle keeps me guessing . I also like shuffle for when I buy a bunch of blues reissues at once. I can throw them all in a mix and get a good listen across all the new stuff.

But…the vinyl has me back into albums. I keep buying albums (most of which I have on CD/iTunes) that are classic albums…i.e. Quadraphrenia, Layla, Harder They Come, “The Band”, etc. That way you get the feel of the scene at the time. I always put on the vinyl knowing I am going to start on A and end on B. Yes…the album is still alive and well.

Here’s my list to date: http://su.pr/1rvo84