Monday, March 24, 2008

ASK RICKEY!

Rickey received the following email a few days back and figured it gave him a reasonably good excuse to start up an advice column, which, in a stroke of unbridled genius, we’ve decided to call “Ask Rickey.” which we hope kicks off a glorious new era in reader participation here at RwR. Here’s the inaugural post:

Dear Rickey,

I have built quite a sizable iTunes library of music that now exceeds the capacity of the iPod itself. Here's my conundrum - how should one decide or prioritize the music to load? I'm frozen with indecision so I earnestly hope you can post your sage advice.

-Augusto

Well, we’re not sure what level of sageness you’re expecting from a guy whose computer expertise consists of a rudimentary knowledge of GW-BASIC and a skillful hand at “snake” and “gorillas,” but nonetheless, Rickey is glad you asked Augusto. To alleviate your conundrum, Rickey recommends that you cull your itunes library and tell your ipod only to sync up with the highest ranked songs on your computer. Because frankly, there’s no better excuse to nourish one’s fledgling obsessive compulsive disorder than by spending hours upon hours reorganizing their massive itunes library. You know those little stars you can put next to the songs in your itunes application? Use ‘em. It’s rather laborious, but unless you feel like splurging on an ipod with a bigger capacity, this is most likely your best bet.

And now on to matters of taste. Ideally, your Neutral Milk Hotel tracks should get five stars and your Bachman-Turner Overdrive tracks should get one. Also, consider giving high ranks to songs that you actually have a chance of listening to. Yes, Rickey realizes that it’s important that your extensive catalog of Gregorian chants be absolutely complete, but honestly now, when’s the next time you’ll actually play something like that on your stereo? Instead, think about what circumstances under which you enjoy listening to your music in and clear out your cluttered ipod by ranking your itunes library appropriately. You hear Led Zeppelin on the radio every hour on the hour, do you really need those aging lesbians taking up valuable space on your ipod as well? Rickey thinks not. Cast aside the silly hipster notion of possessing a well rounded musical library and stick with the songs you actually enjoy and stand a decent chance of playing once in a while.

And don’t forget to make playlists either: they’re another great way of prioritizing the songs that you know you won’t skip over because you’ve heard them a bazillion goddamned times before. For example, when Rickey is at the gym doing what batshit crazy fitness buffs refer to as STRENGTHENING HIS CORE, Rickey needs an appropriate playlist for the occasion. So Rickey goes with assorted rousing soundtracks while at the gym—think “Last of the Mohegans” OST and a smattering of Hans Zimmer scores and you’re on the right track. Rickey finds that they help to keep him motivated while STRENGTHENING HIS CORE, but again, your own personal tastes in playlists will differ (dear god we hope) somewhat.

So sit down and do some musical soul searching Augusto, and then start ranking the tunes you actually dig rather than the tunes that you think you’re expected to dig. Rickey suspects that should help you to squeeze your musical oeuvre onto your ipod. And if that advice proves useless, Rickey would be more than happy to put up a deluge of snazzy “Win a Free Ipod!” ads all over this site. Free ipods! And all they want is your Social Security number, what could possibly go wrong?

Got a question of your own that you’re just dying to have answered? Email Rickey at manofsteal@live.com.

Stumble Upon Toolbar

4 comments:

Noah said...

If I haven't listened to something in a month, I must not want it.

Alex L said...

I cleaned out my itunes a few weeks ago, still a mass of music there 13.33 days worth actually...

Mike said...

I can't overcome my I-pod OCD. In fact I'm tempted to load the utter shit I left off last spring, simply because I still have a little space left on my 30 GB monster.

6000 songs -- 4000 of which I may know on a good day -- is not enough for me. Give me MORE!

yagmurunsesi said...

Thanks man good job.
renovationdoctors.com
turizmseyahat.blogspot.com
www.yagmurunsesi.org
yagmurunsesiorg.blogspot.com
turkuntarihi.blogspot.com
websitesiyapamak.blogspot.com
saglik-k.blogspot.com
ders-hane.blogspot.com
webmaster-sitesi.blogspot.com