If you want to talk about how music influences you, you need to use [url]http://magistream.com/42-hall-of-speakers/100659-does-music-influence-people.html[/url].
Some considerations/guidelines:
1. Feel free to post lyrics and video links but keep the embedding of YouTube and other videos behind a cut out of deference to those of us with slow, old 'net access. Do not, however, JUST post these things. Tell us why you listen to it, why you like it, how you found it, what it means to you!
2. All MS rules apply. If you wouldn't show it to your grandmother or couldn't overhear it in a public place like the mall, it probably doesn't belong here either.
Other dialog considerations:
- why you like the genres/music/artists you do
- why you DO NOT like some genres/music/artists
- how you discovered a particular genre/artist/music
- recommendations (music you think everyone should hear or be familiar with)
I'm an avid music listener. I'll listen to and enjoy just about anything with a few exceptions. That means I'm always on the prowl for new kinds of music, new bands, or new-to-me things I haven't heard before. At present I have over 20K songs in my music library, including ripped CDs. It doesn't include the things I have not yet been able to put into digital format like the old 78s and the cassettes. Probably another 10K songs in those media. My collection spans the genres from early country/gospel and classical music to indie, techno, and trance. About the only type of music I really can't stand is modern rap (and there are exceptions to that if the song tells a compelling story and doesn't use the f-bomb too often to tell it).
My favorite radio station is one out of Jones College in Jacksonville. It's been on the air since 1964. I suppose you'd call it generally an easy listening channel except most of the pieces they play are symphonic or instrumental arrangements and I HAVE heard some modern stuff done in that style. Most of it is of the bygone era/big band type or movie soundtracks from pre 1950s and musicals. If you're old enough to know about Lawrence Welk or at least know what the show looked like, you have a pretty good idea what the station plays.
Until I met Pshaw, I was pretty much confined to 80s era bands and old country and western stars. Now I like listening to indie, trance, techno, and Americana artists. Some of my favorites there include Wilco, Winterpills, The Faint, The Decemberists, Ladytron, and about a dozen others.
Another means of finding things I'd like to try is via the Amazon.com free samplers. I have collections of music from all over the world including modern Brazilian pop artists, classical Israeli folk songs, and Lebanese hard metal. I've been a fan of what used to be called J-pop (the soundtracks of anime) since before anime was readily available in the US. A friend who was a sailor and whose most recent port of call had been Japan introduced me to it in its original format and translated. I'm partial to the traditional Japanese drums too as well as the delicate little tea ceremony songs.
Last.fm was a good experience for me until they started adding commercials and shutting the music off ever 20 minutes unless you paid for the subscription (which doesn't offer anything else; you used to be able to make your own playlists and even to download stuff you liked for a minimal fee). It's how I found The Faint and similar bands and it introduced me to Americana and Gothic Country genres. I haven't tried Pandora recently but may go back to it to see how it works now. There's a new service out there whose name I forget which my husband discovered that works the way Last used to. I might try that out.
I rarely buy CDs any more. If I want something, I go to Amazon and buy the track I want, if not the whole album. When possible, I try t buy directly from the artist in order to ensure they actually get their royalties. It's a peeve of mine; I've known a few folk in the music industry and seen how they get cheated out of their livelihood by the very things which are supposed to protect them.
I don't illegally download anything. To me, that's just as bad as what the official companies are doing. Besides, I'm too dang blasted old to figure out how the interfaces work! When Napster was the thing, it was almost too complicated for me. Programs like Frostwire and Limewire are well beyond this old 'yote's ability to make functional.
I also don't download from iTunes. I prefer Amazon. I did a price/comparison check and it's less expensive to go with Amazon. They also tend to have more of the stuff I listen to while iTunes tends to feature television shows (which I cannot download because of the wireless speed) and top 40 stuff which I can't stand. I also like that Amazon's MP3s are compatible with any device; I cannot play my iTunes stuff on anything but an Apple device.
Musical devices: I have a phone capable of storing MP3s on it and I enjoyed listening, though the effect is somewhat tinny without an interface to put it into the car stereo. I have first generation iPod Nano which is still running and will still update. I use that one for car trips and we have a transponder which either overrides the station you put it on or plays to one not being used, depending upon where you're traveling. I am the proud owner of a first generation stereo (as in, this was one of the first devices WITH stereo). It also has a record player. Although tube driven, it has one of the best sounds of anything in the house. It even beats out the Boze speakers for Pshaw's iPod. The stereo in the bedroom is a 1970s model and it too puts out phenomenal sound. I love these old vintage devices; they were built for beauty and lasting as well as sound.
I find that they're really the only two bands I can stand listening to over and over again, since I seem to be the only person I know who listens to music to "watch" what the images they create in my head and not for "the beat". I pay equal attention to the words and the music behind it, and I often try to decipher lyrics. I stopped listening to Evanescence because most of her songs send me into horrible, horrible depressions.
My favorite songs are 
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