Counting Down my iTunes Play Count (VANITY) -- Day #4 of 50

AC's iTunes Directory | 5/20/2021 | Alberta's Child

[Alberta's Child]

I recently purchased a new computer, and over the last few weeks I've been transferring files from the old one to the new one. While doing this I've been combing through some of these files and checking to ensure that they will work with new versions of various applications I commonly use.

One of the things that caught my eye was the "Play Count" number for each of the MP3 and MP4 files I am moving from one computer to the other. As I went through these tracks on iTunes, I decided to rank them in the order of their play frequency to see if there were any interesting patterns in the number of times I've played them over the years. Then I figured -- based on some of the great conversations I've had over the years with Freepers who are music buffs -- I'd take the Top 50 songs on this list and present them here on a series of FR threads. I'll post them here on a new thread that compiles the growing list one day at a time over the next couple of months. I'll probably only post them on weekdays and may miss a day or two here and there, so it will take at least ten weeks to do this.

One of the things I noticed is that these songs do not necessarily show up in an accurate order of preference for me. Sometimes a song ranks high on the list just because I downloaded it a long time ago, and it's been played more times than others that were downloaded more recently. Other songs have been played more frequently because they’re on multiple playlists I've set up over the years -- Iconic Classic Rock, Hits for the Highway, Country Classics, Best of the 80s, etc. Over a period of years it's also possible that longer songs are less likely to appear higher on the list because they're more likely to get cut off before it plays completely -- when I'm playing them in my vehicle and stopping on a road trip, for example -- and therefore not registering as an additional "Play" in iTunes.

Any insight and commentary would be welcome! Feel free to post items from your own "Favorite Songs" list on these threads. You don't even have to post about your favorite song of all time right now. We have fifty days to go -- so take your time and consider posting one from your digital music collection that roughly corresponds to the list I post here. What's ranked #47 in your list of most frequently played songs on your app with iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, etc.? #45? #40? What is it about that song that makes it stand out to you over many years? This could be an interesting series of threads, for sure.

Have fun with this, folks -- and don't forget to make your contribution for the FR quarterly fundraiser!

[SamAdams76]

Back in the 1970s (and well into the 1980s), there was a big cottage industry where pop hits were "re-recorded", usually by the original artists. These re-recordings would pop up on a lot of "K-tel" records for instance. They just did not sound like the original recordings you remember and speaking for myself, I felt a little ripped off.

I don't know if Apple Music plays those tracks on on a Sirius radio station, I recently heard "Annie's Song" by John Denver that was an obvious re-cording. For those who remember the original of that song, there was always a little feedback at the very beginning of that song. That was the telltale that you were listening to the original recording.

Speaking of that ARS song "Imaginary Lover", radio DJ's used to have a little fun with their listeners by playing that song at a slightly higher speed. The result was that it sounded exactly, and I mean exactly, like Stevie Nicks.

Check it out here

[Fiji Hill]

I haven’t downloaded many songs from ITunes. I get most of my digital music from Youtube and convert it to mp3 using a youtube-to-mp3 converter or Audacity. Then I place the songs into folders arranged in chronological order (1950, 1951, etc.). These are then loaded onto flash drives so I can listen to them in my car.

I currently have two music flash drives, one for the 1950’s and the other for the ‘60’s. I plan to eventually do the same for the ‘20’s, ‘30’s and ‘40’s.