1,000 songs
An entry at Engadget today mentions a online survey that says 90% of consumers (well, at least, those surveyed) have no more than 1,000 songs on their computers. Which roughly translates to about 4GB in size -- the same size, as Endgadget points out, as Apple's new mini iPod. Coincidence? Probably not. Apple always gets points for thinking things through when it comes to design and catering to the market, even if it looks like they're ahead of the curve.
I've got about 6GB on my iRiver iHD-120 right now (because I'm encoding at a higher rate than typical) and my song total is just shy of 800. That's about 50 CDs (give or take) which I can't believe is the size of any geek's CD collection and so the key words in this survey may be "on their computer." Fifty CDs is more than enough to cover my daily mood swings; in fact, it should be enough to run tunes more than two days straight without a repeat. So why do I feel like I'm missing something in this piece of data?
I'm in the process of grooming the CD collection at home. It's gotten out of control and I'm weeding out those things which I'll probably never listen to again, and I'm trying to be very stern about it. With the advent of online radio show streaming and other means by which I can listen to certain genres and records casually, being my own radio station isn't necessary any longer. Nor is the insane amount of CDs on the shelves. Nor do I have the time to listen to all this stuff even if I did keep it all.
I mean, really, how many albums do you listen to regularly? Would fifty serve you for the rest of your life? Would a hundred? Could you be happy with just a roster of 1,000 songs? I used to have the collection/acquisition disease -- BADLY -- and I'm trying to break free of it, trying to rescue myself from the ton of shit that I've spent the last few decades acquiring. So the question posed here interests me. Do I really need more than 50 hours of readily accessible music? Sure, I can "archive" a couple hundred more hours at home if I needed to, but do I?
The Desert Island Discs game has always been futile for me. Reducing my musical needs down to ten records has always reflected the mood of the day and has never been able to encompass a lifetime of exile and, with the advent of the multi-GB portable player, it has become somewhat of a moot point. Why bother with ten when you can take fifty? Or a hundred? Or a thousand?
90% have fewer than a 1,000 songs on their computers. These are the casual listeners, weekend junkies who flirt with the drug. I'm not so concerned with what they are listening to, but how. Is this their only means of listening to music? Do they slap on talk radio in the car? Listen to whatever the gym is blaring over its sound system when they work out? Does the totality of their musical collection fit in this 4GB space?
Okay, I don't believe that last question. I'm sure the answer is no.
1,000 is an arbitrary number, much like 10 used to be. It's a number that's been touched by inflation, and it's one that I might be able to attain. I doubt it. But I also wonder, why not?