My pleasure! Let's go by parts: That's right. If their ears work, people listen to music. I get you. You're talking about the casual listeners. These are the people who listen to whatever music is playing on the radio at the moment or whatever is popular right now. When I'm talking to someone and they say "oh, I like all kinds of music" and they don't go in detail (genres, bands, etc), I identify that person as a casual listener. No problem with that, this is how most people start. After that, you get into a single genre. I live in a place where those who care about music are crazy about rock and heavy metal. They listen to the most famous bands of their preferred subgenres. You could say this is the second level of the casual listener, along with the die-hard fan of a single band. Hmm... I think you should take a look at this list I shared with yellowoftops. This is the difference between casual listeners and people who love listening to music. I started that list around 2 years ago. I usually go through the entire artist's discography, listening to the albums front to back. It used to be a single genre for the first 100-150 albums, but then I felt an urge to diversify a bit. Now, I listen to around 2-3 albums a day: if you look at the end of the list, you'll see that right now I'm oscillating between metal and disco. About doing something that 90% of the developed world population does... well, we get a lot of great music with each passing day, and one simply cannot listen to ALL the music out there. I tried finding some bands in common with the people I used to talk about music, but it wasn't of any use: all the bands I knew were unknown to them, and they didn't know any of the bands I liked. After the 300 albums mark, I just stopped name-dropping the bands I liked, it's just so many! As time went by, I noticed my taste got broader and more specialized. In closing, it classifies as a hobby for me because I get a craving for new music whenever I stop looking for new stuff. And there are the "oh, there's nothing interesting out there" cycles every 3 months.Do explain if you can.
most of all people on the planet listen to music in some capacity
whether it's great or small doesn't matter. It's like putting "watching TV" or "shopping for groceries
All are proper activities in which not the absolute majority of the developed world is involved. Hobbies are activities that distinguish you, that make you you, and I can't grasp how doing that thing that 90% of the developed world population does makes you any different.
Thank you for such great detail in your reply. I understand what you mean. Therefore, here's a question to you: I like listening to music so much I do it everyday, for as long as I'm near a PC. I listen to both popular soundmakers and those less popular - not because popularity matters but because I enjoy the sound the produce at the given moment. I have a collection of music that's gigabytes long because I have varying tastes and prefer FLACs to 320 kbps MP3s due to their superior sound quality. I never talk about liking listening to music but I'd love for someone to express exactly what gets them high in the music they listen to. Which category of listeners, according to you, do I belong to?
Looking at these excerpts: And especially at this one: I can say that you care about music. You're definitely not a casual listener. And since you prefer a hi-fi audio format (and perhaps have the gear to play hi-fi music), I'm gonna take a risk and say that you are an audiophile. As I wrote before, casual listening is the starting point. There are many routes one can take in listening to music. You can learn to play an instrument (if you don't know already), review music, play it on bleeding-edge equipment, blast it from your car... it's up to you.I like listening to music so much I do it everyday, for as long as I'm near a PC. I listen to both popular soundmakers and those less popular - not because popularity matters but because I enjoy the sound the produce at the given moment.
I have a collection of music that's gigabytes long because I have varying tastes and prefer FLACs to 320 kbps MP3s due to their superior sound quality
I never talk about liking listening to music but I'd love for someone to express exactly what gets them high in the music they listen to.
I still struggle to understand why some people put "listening to music" as a hobby. It sounds like a petty excuse for having one: most of all people on the planet listen to music in some capacity; whether it's great or small doesn't matter. It's like putting "watching TV" or "shopping for groceries" under hobbies: pointless.
The reason I asked was to clarify the classification you put forth, as well as to get the fresh outside look at my internal workings. Now I see clearer that, indeed, I may have been mistaken in my rash judgement on the matter. That being said, I still disagree with "listening to music" being a hobby. It doesn't fit into my head's definition of a hobby - which is not to say others can't consider it such, and since so many do, I'm very curious still. Why call it a hobby and not an interest (which, in my head, it clearly is)?