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How much of the day do you have music playing?

How much of the day do you have music playing?

  • Total voters
    162
Quadman2 said:
Have read/heard that some just need that background sound going on the whole time while in the house. Began to wonder is this is a good thing? Or bad?

I know that some, can't stand quietness in their lives. Might have more impact now, due to this virus thingy.Curious.

Q
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Indeed some folks seem to NEED media (audio/video) going on in their lives at all times. Like they cannot function without it. I consider it a modern day addiction.

On my end the Covid virus has had minimal affect compared to some. I was already retired so no actual need to go anywhere already..... restrictions didn't change that situation for me.

Ross6860 said:
Pretty much every shop I've been in has a stereo playing all day. It makes the day go faster, plus local news (it's typically radio). Also gives the folks something to talk about during the day other than work or bitching about their wives.

It can also act like white noise. I had a system in my office at work. Not so much to listen to music, but to drown out all the other office hum. The music was a nice benefit.

Lots of folks have systems in their shop or garage that are obviously not set up for critical listening. My old AVR and a pair of New Large Advents serve that purpose in my garage.

Quiet is for study, reading, conversation and introspection. Oh, and hunting and fishing. Otherwise, why not have music?;);)
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We appear to be polar opposites. Music playing all the time while trying to work would drive me nuts. I've tried it but end up turning it off because with it going in the background it makes it difficult/impossible to concentrate on the task at hand. Plus I enjoyed my work.... didn't have a need for the day to go faster.

I don't like drowning out normal daily sounds. They're the sounds of life. (not meaning that to sound as dramatic as it does) I'm in the family room right now and can hear the faint hum of the aquarium, the occasional sound of my laptop fan, ..... and there was a plane flying overhead just a couple minutes ago. When I'm driving I like hearing the sound of the tires on pavement, the engine (maybe exhaust depending upon which vehicle I'm driving) , the sound of the wind.

Quiet brings peace and balance to my life in what can be a crazy and overly busy world. ( Overly busy, another modern day human addiction) And lastly when I choose to listen to music it's because I want to...... I'm not big on making decisions based on "why not" ...... to me that's a weak reason. Better do decide based on WHY.

EDIT: If some of what I'm saying appears confrontational that's not my intent. I just find in my older age that I'm somewhat more opinionated than I used to be and don't hesitate expressing it.
 
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Ross6860 said:
Pretty much every shop I've been in has a stereo playing all day. It makes the day go faster, plus local news (it's typically radio). Also gives the folks something to talk about during the day other than work or bitching about their wives.

It can also act like white noise. I had a system in my office at work. Not so much to listen to music, but to drown out all the other office hum. The music was a nice benefit.

Lots of folks have systems in their shop or garage that are obviously not set up for critical listening. My old AVR and a pair of New Large Advents serve that purpose in my garage.

Quiet is for study, reading, conversation and introspection. Oh, and hunting and fishing. Otherwise, why not have music?;);)
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Comment on the "wives"? Reaction: :rflmao:

I hear you on the garage application. Divided focus can hurt!

As for your take on "Quiet"...100% on board if reading for info. The hunting & fishing...:thumbsup:


Q
 
I hear you Ohighway on the "addiction" aspect for some.

Found a study of university students who couldn't focus while in library settings. They tended to go to their cell phones on the average of 20-25 minutes after concentrated focus. Maybe the same might be said for others in the home who need this external stimulation. A mental soother?

And, maybe, just maybe, there are some who don't want to be alone with their thoughts. Now there's a scary take on things!

Q
 
Ohighway said:
Indeed some folks seem to NEED media (audio/video) going on in their lives at all times. Like the cannot function without it. I consider it a modern day addiction.

On my end the Covid virus has had minimal affect compared to some. I was already retired so no actual need to go anywhere already..... restrictions didn't change that situation for me.



We appear to be polar opposites. Music playing all the time while trying to work would drive me nuts. I've tried it but end up turning it off because with it going in the background it makes it difficult/impossible to concentrate on the task at hand. Plus I enjoyed my work.... didn't have a need for the day to go faster.
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I would say a lot is dependent on what type of work you are doing.

If I'm looking at P&ID's, reading an emissions permit, or working on control logic, I like quiet. This work is more akin to study than "work".

Out on the shop floor there's a lot of "mindless" physical work. Necessary work, but it doesn't require calculus. If you have ever spent 8 hours cleaning bolts on a wire wheel, or grinding parting seams on castings, you'll know what I'm talking about. Music sure helps with the monotony.

No confrontation. Just healthy conversation.:beerchug:
 
From early morning wake up every single day until I switch over to the evening`s selection of a BR, or DVD around 7:00PM dinner time.
Minimum 12 hrs. daily.

I run 2 duplicate WAV. ripped music sources, but separate type playback devices 24/7/365 so all I have to do in the morning as I pass the A/V rack on the way to make my coffee, is select the rack`s 24/7/365 powered Mc. preamp`s input from TV to a aux. input that my DAC is connected to and I have my all day music playing through 4 room`s 24/7/365 powered up stereos providing me good sounding tunes..

I like it this way, and if for some unusually rare reason that I have to work on the A/V rack that distributes the music to most of my house`s rooms, and I`m without tunes, while messing with whatever reason, my quiet house seems dead & lifeless after having it this way for many decades !
 
:D Just came across some who leave classical music on while they are away to work.

They claim that their plants do better with this this genre.

Different strokes for different folks, I guess?:bigok:

Q
 
These days if I'm not in the shower, on the phone, or asleep there is music on. Even when I have to go into the office, there's 30 min in the morning while I'm exercising, 50 minute commute (each way), plus a couple hours in the evening. I almost never sit down for an extended critical listening session, even on the weekends. That's just not super fun for me. The comparison to watching a movie is an interesting one, I don't particularly enjoy that either :dunno:
 
For me it is 8+ hours a day M-F and give or take a total of 8 hours throughout an entire weekend. At work I literally have ear buds in all day. If my ear buds are out, then my speakers are going in my office. Music is the only thing that gets me through each day.
 
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I really appreciate that this veered off a bit into a conversation about background music. There's an old expression "Speak only when you can improve on silence". For me, that extends to listening to music -I only do it when it improves on silence. Which, presently, is a few hours a week.

Ross6860 said:
Brett a said:
As the system got better, it no longer works for background.
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Can you elaborate? I don't get this either.
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All I can offer for an explanation is that the music that comes out of the main system completely captivates my attention and leaves me incapable of focusing on anything else.

Ross6860 said:
Ohighway said:
I don't see the "<30 minutes" and/or "0 minutes" per day. selections. Because that's what it's been for me more and more lately.
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13k posts on an audio forum, but you don't listen to music? I don't get it.
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Ohighway didn't say they don't listen to music, they just don't listen to it every day. Do you think people on film forums watch movies every day?

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Ross6860 said:
13k posts on an audio forum, but you don't listen to music? I don't get it.

Critical listening, maybe only a few hours a week. Music is nearly always on unless I'm in the family room/kitchen area and my wife is home. Then the idiot box will be emitting its blue glow and the HT system will be on.
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Listening to music is only one aspect to being on an audio forum. There's equipment collecting, equipment repair, ..... I am quite fascinated by the vast array of different approaches to audio over the past several decades. Also general camaraderie, hell for several years I even hosted AK get togethers in my home. Met some very nice people.

Also, I would ask you. Do you ever value times of quiet/silence? Times when you don't have music or TV going on all the time ?



Brett a said:
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I really appreciate that this veered off a bit into a conversation about background music. There's an old expression "Speak only when you can improve on silence". For me, that extends to listening to music -I only do it when it improves on silence. Which, presently, is a few hours a week.
Some people think background music is normal, but would think background movies would be odd. What if I told you that listening to music is always like watching a movie, and not something that can be multi-tasked?
All I can offer for an explanation is that the music that comes out of the main system completely captivates my attention and leaves me incapable of focusing on anything else.

Ohighway didn't say they don't listen to music, they just don't listen to it every day. Do you think people on film forums watch movies every day?

.
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While I fully appreciate and agree with what you're saying , I suspect that by and large that's not a sentiment that's gonna gain much traction on an audio forum.

But it does make me wonder. If someone MUST have music (or TV) on all the time , is it enjoyment or an addiction of sorts?

So far there is another aspect that hasn't been raised here. Not listening to music on a system, radio, or TV doesn't mean a person is without music. I got up this morning and for the past several hours have had mostly physical silence, but there have been songs floating around in my head. Very common for me actually. Sometimes it's songs I've recently heard, sometimes an older one pops into my head, other times things that my brain seems to compose out of nothing. I'm sure I'm not the only one who experiences this.


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Highly variable. I can go days without music, sometimes a week even, but other days I'm at 4+ hours. My best listening is done in a quiet house, but I also enjoy a quiet house, if you know what I mean. Sometimes I'm listening from the next room, in a background fashion, and the main system can be engaging even then. Some is done while my wife is watching TV, but there are two rooms between her family room TV and my living room stereo in our open floor plan. Not ideal for 'critical' listening, but I can enjoy the music anyway. But if I want to hear everything, I'm planted in front, often with my eyes closed. My Elvis' 30 Golden Hits album gets played that way maybe once a month nowadays, for instance. But silence is golden, too.
 
With only a couple years left, I want to listen to as much music as I can. I'm averaging 2 Lp's/day so that I can listen to all 400 of them, and then I'll start listening to the 100 or so cassettes, and always have YouTube on while at the PC so that I can keep discovering new artists. When I'm down at the garage, the stereo system is going, when taking 2-3 hour long power chair rides, the headphones are on. I fall asleep with music on and let it run till the timer cuts it off. I have the Sonos unit on the toilet tank so that while I'm taking a shower, I can have my iPhone plugged into it.
 
Hobie1dog said:
With only a couple years left, I want to listen to as much music as I can. I'm averaging 2 Lp's/day so that I can listen to all 400 of them, and then I'll start listening to the 100 or so cassettes, and always have YouTube on while at the PC so that I can keep discovering new artists. When I'm down at the garage, the stereo system is going, when taking 2-3 hour long power chair rides, the headphones are on. I fall asleep with music on and let it run till the timer cuts it off. I have the Sonos unit on the toilet tank so that while I'm taking a shower, I can have my iPhone plugged into it.
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My soul brother...:beatnik:
 
Ohighway said:
Listening to music is only one aspect to being on an audio forum. There's equipment collecting, equipment repair, ..... I am quite fascinated by the vast array of different approaches to audio over the past several decades. Also general camaraderie, hell for several years I even hosted AK get togethers in my home. Met some very nice people.

Also, I would ask you. Do you ever value times of quiet/silence? Times when you don't have music or TV going on all the time ?





While I fully appreciate and agree with what you're saying , I suspect that by and large that's not a sentiment that's gonna gain much traction on an audio forum.

But it does make me wonder. If someone MUST have music (or TV) on all the time , is it enjoyment or an addiction of sorts?

So far there is another aspect that hasn't been raised here. Not listening to music on a system, radio, or TV doesn't mean a person is without music. I got up this morning and for the past several hours have had mostly physical silence, but there have been songs floating around in my head. Very common for me actually. Sometimes it's songs I've recently heard, sometimes an older one pops into my head, other times things that my brain seems to compose out of nothing. I'm sure I'm not the only one who experiences this.


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I certainly enjoy "silence", what few and rare times it is available. It's currently raining, the neighbor is mowing (yes, in the rain), and they have been trimming trees for the power line ROWs around here for weeks.

I'm a fisherman, so a lot of time on the lakes is spent floating, and waiting, in relative "silence". Quiet is a better term. Same with hunting. I can go all day without talk, music, or anything else. I enjoy just looking at the world and floating around. Nature is wondrous. The wind, water, and birds make the music at those times.

Of course, there's not really silence. Silence is not easy to come by. Midnight to 5 AM is pretty close, but I can still hear the HVAC, the fridge, and the ticking of a clock. Those creatures I live with have a habit of breathing, too.
 
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