The iTunes Listening Project

Ever since I got my iPod (almost exactly one year ago), I've been adding quite a bit of music to the iTunes library on my computer. Buying from the iTunes Store and the new Amazon downloads has added a lot as well. As we speak, I have 15.4 days of music in there.

So around the end of September, I was listening to a CD that I'd just bought and uploaded, and when it was done, I decided to let it roll onto the next one. At that point, I decided it would be cool to just continue listening until the end of the alphabet whenver I was on the computer. I would then scroll up to the top and start from the A's, so that eventually I would end up back where I started and see how long the whole thing took.

On that late September day, I started with the Paul Motian Quartet (my iTunes goes alphabetically by first name of artist, which I think is the default mode). It took me another month to get to the end of the alphabet (or, to be precise, the numeric 29th Street Saxophone Quartet, which was deposited after Yo-Yo Ma), and, through today, I finished up with Leo Parker and am about to start with Level 42 (this alphabetical thing is nothing if not eclectic). If it took me two months to get from A to K (roughly), then I should be back where I started in another month or so. (I should point out that there have been "detours" where I'd listen to a new CD out-of-order right after I down- or uploaded it, and that I skipped over teaching aids like Jamey Aebersold Play-a-Longs that only get used in lessons--although I did manage to let the Texas All-State Jazz Band Improv CD play in its entirety; I think I may have been on the phone at that point.)

How many hours/days/weeks of music is in your iTunes? Have you ever listened to it all in sequence like this? If so, how long did it take?

Tomorrow, I'll do another edition of the iTunes shuffle, which I've done a few previous times.

Just call it Gridiron Hero: If LSU does well tonight in the BCS Championship, it could be thanks in part to their high-tech practice aid: They've programmed their offense vs. Ohio State's defense into the Xbox and their two quarterbacks play it regularly.

And if we're watching the game, it's time for a blimp shot: Check out these designs for the hybrid airship of the future. (The first one looks a little like an old iMac mouse, if you ask me.)

Tech news we can all appreciate: Sony BMG plans to join most of the other major labels in dropping DRM protection from its recordings.