How do you decide what to listen to? Same old stuff?

Any particular genre you're looking for?

How do I decide what to listen to?  Hmmm . . . let me think . . . I guess when I think I need to listen to a new amp or preamp, I go to the 'amps/preamps' forum of A'gon and read up on what gear folks are listening to & how they feel about it; on the other hand, when I am trying to decide on what new tunes I should listen to, I browse the 'music' forum of A'gon to see if there's anything interesting I should check out.

When I hear a new song I like or I pick up a suggestion from this forum I listen to their catalog and use the related artist feature on Qobuz or Tidal and spend some time listening to all sorts of new artists.  I also look at and listen to new album releases on both services.  This may not appeal to you since it doesn’t sound like you want to spend the time roaming around.  I usually know within a few minutes whether I like an artist or album.  You can always start a thread here asking for recommendations within a specific genre.  That might help cut down the time you spend looking for new things to hear.

+1 @immatthewj I forgot about that forum.

AI is your friend as well if you ask for some suggestions of artists within a genre.

If you like jazz this thread just popped up

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/which-jazz-artist-s-influenced-your-musical-taste

Thats why streamers are so awesome.  You can sample any genre for just a few dollars a month.   Best entertainment value for the money 

I listen M-F at least 15 hours a day so this is a tough one for me too. I use ROON so that helps.

I also have an incredibly FM radio station out of Santa Monica, KCRW. I have 3 tuners to listen to them for short bursts since they are an NPR station, and it is mostly news during the afternoon. However, when music is on the DJ’s are so amazing and play whatever, they feel at the moment. I tend to monitor the stations playlist on my computer as I listen and mark down a lot of runes to dive deeper into later.

Another thing I like to do is stream a great album and then keep ROON Radio on. ROON Radio picks up from that and gives me several hours of great music. I think ROON Radio curates based on your listening. Since I listen so much and to a wide range of tunes the ROON Radio must use that input to curate a pretty amazing set.

A couple of days ago I discovered a blues musician named Walter Trout. It was through ROON. A great discovery and his last 4 albums are getting heavy rotation at the moment.

Playlists

Folders (down to Albums)

Genres

Radio

5.1

What feels right?

I listen to music 2 to 3 hours every nite. My exercise room is right off of my listening area.  I sit in the sweet spot when I take breaks. 

Some nights I listen to stuff that I know and like. Sometimes, a friend makes a recommendation.  Or, I surf Qobuz.  I've found some really good stuff that way. 

Right now, I'm listening to Voices by Kalle Wallner. Lead guitarist for RPWL.  Pretty cool album.  

One of the awesome features of Roon is the radio station you can create using one of your favorite songs. I’ve discovered a ton of good new music thru it. Take advantage of it if you’re a Roon user. 
Most of the streamers have that feature as well although I find Roon to be the best at this. 

I get a couple of emails a week from various sources talking about new songs and/or albums. I also read a message board about a former band (Rush) and there are frequently threads about new music. Plus I do a lot of reading about all kinds of stuff and sometimes run across music info.  

I check out the back of Stereophile and The Absolute Sound. Some of my audiogon buddies have made some outstanding recommendations. I listen to some of the internet radio stations on Qobuz. I check out the new releases on Qobuz. I check out the different genre categories on Qobuz. I am constantly inundated with great new stuff. 

In what areas do you make choices easily and efficiently?  Pay attention to the strategies you are using successfully, and apply them to the “challenging” subjects.  For example, when you choose which shoes or pants to wear, how do you do it, what is the process you go through, to get to the end result?  By limiting your pool of options (movies, wine, music) to two, three, or four choices, making a selection may feel less overwhelming.  Make sense?

I have 'Release Radar' and 'Discover Weekly' on my Spotify. I also listen to Spotify Radio stations of artists that I like then they add artists/songs that are in the same genre---some I've never heard before. I've discovered a lot of new music and new mixes etc of old music. 

I’ve just completed installing IKEA Kallax shelves for vinyl and CDs in our home office, enough to hold about 1,000 LPs and CDs.  I’ve decided to create a system that will allow me to make selections based on genre/mood: for instance, Jazz/Mellow/Upbeat/Experimental  A-Z.  Rock, Folk, Blues, and Classical will be also get subsections pertinent to my moods for each of them too (as much as space allows).  Because, like the OP, I can't  always readily determine what fits the moment or mood.  If my physical collection gets too familiar I can more easily supplement from streaming (Tidal for me), and/or make new purchases based on artists subsections by browsing record stores and magazines like Absolute Sound and others.  I love collecting physical media, LPs, CDs, Books, and Film. its challenging finding space for it all, but its my personal heaven away from the mundane, and my home is the envy of all our like-minded friends when we get together to cozy up to talk books, watch films/shows, and especially listen to great music on the main system. 

If you want surefire like, stick with what you know you like. 

If you feel adventurous, try new material, with the understanding that you will NOT like most of it, but you may make a cool new find. True for wine as for music.

I don't stream, but rather use bandcamp recommendations by artists whom I like, and also from YouTube discussions. Again >95% is not to my liking.

If I can’t decide I use Roon random play.  Or  Roon radio.  I do this a lot. 

+1 mapman.

I have a large library of both Qobuz, Tidal steams, and at least 3k cd rips, Roon shuffle/random play either within genres or total collection. More than enough music here for a lifetime.

For new additions, mostly get this from my local university student radio station or another university affiliated classical music radio station.

Listen to a great human based radio station like Jazz FM 91

Radio Paradise, sometimes I just randomly scroll through all my albums in Roon until something catches my eye.  Check out the What's on your turntable, in your cd player, etc. threads.

For me, radio is on for my mornings, got a couple stations that I like. Mid-day is usually a couple of records, what ever moves me. For the evening, cooking dinner, or hanging out, put on a Tidal playlist. I really like Tidal's "My Mixes" or I use one of their "personal radio stations" just pick what general mood I'm in. 

Learned that playing records while cooking dinner is just a bad thing!! Don't suggest listing to vinyl when cooking. My system is vintage, so no remote anything. with my streamer (not vintage ) it has volume along with control over content. That works well when not in my music room. 

ROON algorithm is absolute king. All of my new music is discovered via ROON radio. Highly recommended and free trial available

I have a radio/streaming station that plays the music I favor and curates very well. I hear new songs I like and listen further on Quboz.

I often run into that dilemma and just put on a playlist. Sometimes that leads to listening to more from a particular artist or album. 

I check the Tidal "My Daily Discovery" often and I've been very lucky with that. It took a while for it to learn my tastes but it is worth checking.

Heartily endorse Radio Paradise. Good for both finding new stuff and just listening, period. 

Play FIP in the background. Something will come up

I have yet to explore Qobuz playlists so can’t comment on how effective they are in finding good new music.  But I will say this — last summer I was at my friend’s house and he was playing various Spotify playlists and I found myself constantly diving to my phone to Shazam new songs I’d never heard.  If I was on a mission to find interesting new music I’d absolutely explore these Spotify playlists because they were absolute gold. And again not knowing if Qobuz lists are worth anything or not. 

I listen to a bit of a variety including classic rock, some types of jazz, fusion, misc. but for the biggest part I’ve always loved progressive rock. Especially the old stuff so I listen to a couple of great prog rock stations “ProgRock.com” and “Morrow.com” which are international internet stations.  I have the apps on my phone (which links in the car) and web links on my media pc’s.  They play a huge mix of vintage and modern prog rock.  Whenever I hear something I think is interesting I do a screen shot of what’s playing and look it up later.  This works great when I driving. I’m always finding interesting new music on these stations.  And like any station, you hear things you like and things you could care less about or even can’t stand but these international internet stations open the doors to a world of music.  I’ve found bands I really love from Sweden, Poland, Germany, France, etc. that I would never have found otherwise.  Some don’t even sing in English but the music is amazing.  With prog rock most of the song is instrumental anyway.  🤣 

I too really like Radio Paradise. They point me in the right direction when it comes to "new" music.

The Agon forums are a good place to start. For example, I listen to Jazz, so I go to the Jazz For Aficionados forum.  There are several people there who are fonts of information. 
 

What’s your pleasure??

@yyzsantabarbara 

Wonderful suggestions.  I like roon radio and have a lifetime membership. I should give it more of a chance to inspire me.  

That's a lot of music you listen to.  How much of you listen to is new versus old.  Must be very deep reservoir. I would imagine you revisit the deep areas quite a bit since it probably relates to the 60s 70s which is where most of the value is. 

I do recall there are actual Radio stations available via roon, classical stuff comes to mind, that are surprisingly good..  Actual radio stations still exist out there and a lot of from foreign countries and the quality is very very good.

of the 300 or so albums I have in my library on roon, and so many are classics from the past.  They are amazing listening but I do acknowledge and admit that I'm tiring of some of the stuff as good as it is and was.  That's OK I think.  It's hard to admit that to myself at times it feels a bit like sacrilege.  

@emergingsoul I listen to about 25% new and the rest oldies. I tend to go by genre or time period. I go on benders where I may listen to soul music from the early 70's or alternative from the 90's. Heavy Metal has also made a surprising comeback and that is usually 70's and 80's.  I also listen to a lot of music out of Africa.

In my lifetime there has never been a better time to listen to music I am so lucky that I have great gear to listen, but even if I did not, the amount of music available is incredible.

I take note of posts like this and songs that reviewers note on YouTube.  I then search them on Qobuz and listen.  If I like it I note it as a favorite.  That builds the favorites list I play later on Qobuz.  

@harpo75 
Sounds like you and I have similar tastes in music.  I use to be a metal head but it’s been mostly prog rock, fusion, and jazz for the last 5 or so years.  There are some great resources on YouTube like the Prog report, Sea of Tranquility, etc.  SOT has some prog/fusion focused shows that are entertaining and informative.  Especially on Fridays a show called The Professors Picks.  I find tons of new music there.  I will definitely check out your internet radio stations.  The Scandinavian proggers have really been impressive putting out lots of great music!  
 

There are also many other YouTube channels and websites covering different music genres that are a wealth of information.  The forums here and elsewhere are also good resources.  I use Amazon music and they often cultivate excellent stations based off of my picks.  I’m sure the other streaming platforms do the same,  maybe better than Amazon.  Overall, I’d say we are in the best of times to be able to eat our musical cake and enjoy it too.  
Happy listening 

So many sources to find good music to listen to and then when you get beyond all that you can actually listen to hopefully good music.

Why can't I just be a Taylor Swift fan and make my life easy.  

subscribe to a magazine that covers the music you listen to. The writers will introduce to the younger, newer versions of what you currently listen to. It will open your eyes to what is out there.

Noooo....I like all that other stuff....

What attracts me to listen is something that is mastered/pressed really good. I guess the same applies when I stream, my initial motivation to listen is to hear something that sounds great. 

I had a sealed Chili Peppers Stadium Arcadium for a long time but just did crack it and wow! I think it just might be the best recorded album in the discography at the moment? At least that's what I want to hear first for a time now.

Streaming lately I was blown away by the energy from Smashing Pumpkins Siamese Dream. After a lot of research suggesting the first perhaps four vinyl presses are thought to be better than what's available digitally, I'm looking forward to receiving a NM purple copy soon! 

This is going to sound a little nuts, but here’s what I do:

I build playlists for single track listening from my library (Roon combines my music with Qobuz music that I have added to my library) by selecting the same track number and then adding that track number on every album, alphabetically. For example, I am now building out my playlist called "Track 7". I do one letter at a time, so I start with The albums that begin with the letter "A", then "B", etc. After "Z", I begin a new playlist, "Track 8", and so on. If an album only has 6 tracks, it will be skipped from playlists after "Track 6".

I know it sounds crazy, but this forces me to listen to everything over a long, long, period of time. It avoids repetitiveness, and eliminates the "what do I listen to?" question.

Every week, I spend time on Qobuz sampling the new releases, and adding those I like to my library. This means that, someday, when I get back to "Track 1", I will have to delete the old playlist and build it anew.

Enjoy the insanity!!!!

+1 for Radio Paradise.  Listen to it all the time. then hop over to ROON and make a favorite

For Internet radio, I love Sheena's Jungle Room, a stream from WFMU.  Great variety, many obscure, funny, or outrageous tunes.  You will want to have Shazam open whenever you listen.