Until a few weeks ago I had 131Gb of music on my iPod Classic.

The sheer amount of bloat on it was starting to annoy me. There was some quality control to what was on it as I have well over 200Gb of music. I didn't just allow any old crap on it. And yet plenty of so-so albums were there.

An idea formed in my head. Junk the bloat that you never select to play as actual albums, or are particularly happy to see when it comes up on shuffle. It was an idea that persisted.

Ideally if I had the balls I would have wiped iTunes and started from scratch. Except this time instead of filling it up with everything I wanted straightaway, I would slowly add only five or so albums a week. That way the bloat would never get on it in the first place as I would never get around to (for example) Wild Moon Swings by The Cure.

But I have over a years worth of meta data. I am weak. And so instead I decided to just edit down what already exists.

For the most part I used a simple system called "Give Toss, Don't Give Toss". So if I could say to myself that I had some sort of an interest in an album then I kept it. But if it was there for the sake of it with no realistic chance of it being played, then why keep it?

I like Hazards of Love but I've never given a toss about The Crane Wife or The King Is Dead. So two of my three Decemberists albums went bye bye.

Motorhead had a four CD boxset removed so I'm now down to a one disc Best Of that only goes up to about 1985.

Rammstein have gone from two albums down to just Reise, Reise.

White Stripes are now represented by only White Blood Cells and Elephant.

I removed about five Cure albums.

The Sensational Alex Harvey Band had a 14 track Best Of reduced to one song, Faith Healer.

The Carpenters 1CD Best Of is now reduced to (They Long to Be) Close to You and Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft.

Led Zeppelin lost their 2003 live album How The West Was Won.

Iron Maiden kept all their studio albums but only two live albums, which are disc 1 of Live After Death and A Real Live One (the 90s material, not the 80s disc).

Some artists are too entrenched and respected that I decided to just keep everything that was at least okay. So REM, Pink Floyd, Beatles, Rolling Stones etc avoided having any albums removed. Sure I don't need Monster by REM, but I didn't really see a big enough upside to removing it.

On and on it goes. The gist of it is that a lot of stuff I don't care about has been removed.

I made a few mistakes. But I corrected them. The only loss was some meta data. Three Rihanna albums have been reduced to seven songs (the ones I could actually remember by title). Before the Dawn Heals Us by M83 should never have been deleted. I put back ten or so Rush songs after culling about nine albums (Counterparts, Presto, Hold Your Fire, Vapour Trails, Power Windows, Fly By Night, Rush, Caress of Steel, Roll the Bones and probably more).

I'm now down to 100Gb. That's 30Gb of respectable music that I've removed. And I'm keen to keep chipping away.

I've not missed anything so far. I've scanned through the artist list on my iPod and it's still a massive, long, epic stack of names.

I have a playlist of unplayed songs. It used to be two thirds of my music that had zero plays. It's now one third.

This is the Archos Jukebox 20, the first Mp3 player I ever owned. An heavy, ugly brick of a thing in tacky silver plastic with wobbly push button and blue shock absorber things on each corner. What it lacked in looks it more than made up for in sound quality and the fact it had a line-in and a built in mic so you could record very high quality audio from any source in real time.

I've since got through a few more. After the Archos failed (Battery issue I think) I went for the iRiver H320 which is still to this day the best player I've ever had. A bit chunky, fiddly to use but incredible sound quality and when that finally packed up (battery failure again which I attempted to replace myself..ahem) I was quite shocked when I got my first iPod (Classic 80gb) at how thin and feeble the sound quality was. But I'd gotten used to high capacity and that was the only game it town.

Well, the iPod Classic has finally given up the ghost after 4 years of mediocre (albeit very easy to operate) service. Hard drive failed. It has gone to meet its maker (cheers Mr Jobs).

So, I'm in the market for a new device. Alas, it seems the iPod Classic is still the only game in town if you want more than 32gb of storage. Now I know its a bit silly to carry so much music around but I love the fact its all there whenever I want it and I don't have to be too selective with what gets synced to the device, so lets just take that as a given.

I'm loathe to get another iPod, but there is seemingly nothing else out there. I've read good things about the new Sony Walkman but these are only 32GB and ludicrously expensive for that. I've also heard great things about the Cowon players but alas don't work with 64 Bit Windows apparently. So is it really iPod or nowt?

In theory I could sign up to Spotify and access everything over the cloud via my Smartphone. However, even if I had an unlimited 3G account the network simply isn't up to it and I wouldn't need to go far even in this major conurbation to find myself unable to access my music. The concept is ok but I don't think the network or the battery life of smartphones is up to it yet.

So do any of you tech-savvy/early adopter types know what's on the horizon? How close are we to 3G streaming working anywhere near reliability? I'm aware hard drive based iPods are positively archaic now, but how far are we from portable solid state drives with comparable storage? Or is there some other magic technology in R&D?
What about DAB on a mobile?

At the weekend Mrs Jung and I had a blazing and ultimately very serious row over what music to listen to in the car whilst travelling on a long journey. We both had our iPODs with us and have a lead that allows them to play through the stereo. So we had thousands of songs to choose from, but my playing of It's Immaterial's Driving Away From Home, followed by her playing Moby, and some childish behaviour by both parties, caused our worst row ever.

We have fairly different taste - we dislike a lot of the same bands - but can't agree whether too choose something we both like (assuming we can find such a thing) or think the other might like (which is what I generally try to do, but apparently failed miserably at) or if one of us should choose what they want to play (hence Moby, prededed by Rsdiohead's recent album) and the other should lump it (I hate some of the Moby tracks). Or just travel in mutually resentful silence or listen to the radio where they are unlikely to playmuch either of us likes.

Today we travelled in silence - I didn't even dare broach the subject. Any advice appreciated.

Yesterday the CE of HMV, Simon Fox, said that "within three years technology would become its single biggest product category ahead of both CDs and DVDs. It plans to devote 25% of the floor space to MP3 players, tablet computers and headphones as the CD goes the way of other defunct formats such as vinyl and tapes." http://t.co/wtGH0Oj

This sounds like a counsel of despair. The pushing of music to the far end of the HMV stores, or upstairs, at the expense of technology is what they have been doing for a long time in some stores already, but clearly this has not worked, and meanwhile shares fall below two bob a pop.

Mr Fox quotes three years but already some commentators are giving them 12 months. Is even that optimistic ?

My second ipod bit the dust last week, the hard drive conked out and it was off to the knacker's yard. There was no question that I wouldn't replace it, until...
The very same day my dad emailed from Cyprus, where he and mum have lived for the last five years and said mum's ipod is down and out, can I bring a new one out when I fly later this month?
Then later that same day my wife said I could have her iphone 3 that her mate had been using, if I wanted.
What does this all mean?
I will replace my broken ipod like for like, give that to my mum and use the iphone for myself. The main reason is that I need a new way to listen to music.
My 80GB ipod was always full to the rafters and I was always shuffling or listening to the same stuff. With the iphone, I will have 5-6GB to play with and I will start working through the many, many unplayed albums in my itunes.
I won't be putting twenty Fall albums or tailormade playlists on there that have been hammered to death, this will be my outlet for listening to new music.
So today I have enjoyed, for the very first time, Elvis Perkins in Dearland and Fugazi's 13 Songs. Tonight, maybe find out what the second disc of Cymande's Greatest Hits is actually like.
Feels like a fresh start.

Probability is a rum old discipline.

Sometimes I put my trusty iPod on touch and comes up with nothing but a random slew of tracks from inferior covermount cds.

Other days it pulls a hat trick of breathtaking beauty and pacing. Like just now:

1. Cinema Show - Genesis
2. Heavy Metal Drummer - Wilco
3. Parce Nihi Dominum - Jan Garbarek & Hilliard Ensemble

Anyone else had a breathtaking iHattrick today or lately? Care to share?

First five that come up.
Here's mine.

On the iPod

War Song - The Fugs
Across the Antheap - Andy Partridge
Oh, Lady Be Good - Stuff Smith
Small Hotel - Count Basie
Loose Walk - Sonny Stitt & Sal Salvador

On the Laptop

Lovesick (live) - White Stripes
Smack Dab In the Middle - Ry Cooder
Naked If I Want To - Moby Grape
Easy Baby - Magic Sam
Polly In a Porny - Shel Silverstein

On my Phone

Beat the Time - Edie Brickell & the New Bohemians
I Got To Cross the River Jordan - Blind Willie McTell
Stranger To Himself - Sandy Denny
Street Fight - Alice Cooper
Superhuman - Gus Gus

In my glass is the last of a bottle of Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc.

And you?

So I've been looking into buying a new system for my music, but I need to be able to play CDs, vinyl, and an iPod, and this is proving harder than I had expected, so I thought I would seek the advice of the Massive.
I've got a budget of £300, so nothing fancy, but it should be enough for one unit and a pair of speakers.

Is there anything out there that plays CDs, has a USB port for an iPod, and an aux input for vinyl?
Help is greatly appreciated!

http://www.theage.com.au/digital-life/mp3s/the-death-of-the-ipod-2011032...

Returning home on the tube a couple of nights ago, after an entertaining evening with some old mates and having imbibed several alcoholic beverages, I wrestled my ipod from the bottom of my bag.

Having untangled my rather splendid Bose in-ear 'phones and located the pesky replacement buds that always seem to fall off when you need them most, I located the tune that always seems to be on default in my head when mildly refreshed and wacked it up to 11.

Said tune is 'Metal Mickey' by Suede.

I then spent the next thirty minutes or so of my journey blissing out to this glorious slice of preening alternative rock. I must have played it ten times consecutively.

Updating my itunes library the other day I noticed that 'Metal Mickey' is poised at number 1 in the top 25 most played list, some way ahead of second placed 'Whose Authority' by Nada Surf.

My point after all this prevaricating is that my brain always seems to tune into Metal Mickey after a few beers. Does anyone else have a tune that seems to be in default in their brain when they've had a few?

I bought my first iPod in January 2004 and, as expected, fell in love with it instantly. The firewire connection from my 20GB little beauty to an increasingly unreliable Packard Bell laptop (with 30GB hard drive) worked like a dream and I was soon carrying the edited highlights of my CD collection around the campus of the University of Central Lancashire in my pocket.

A break in New York in 2007 allowed me to upgrade to the 80GB classic from the Apple store on Fifth Avenue which, combined with a change in laptop, meant that I could start putting entire albums on rather than selected tracks and over the past few years that's what I've gradually been doing.

And that's where the trouble starts.

I've re-discovered some great music doing this. My dad's copy of A Trick of the Tail by Genesis is now cemented as one of my favourite albums, as is the Jake Thackray anthology La-Di-Dah. Likewise, my largely forgotten copies of Etc by Lloyd Cole and Homegrown by Dodgy have been given a new lease of life.

But it's the albums that I bought for only one song that are horrific. The worst, most ear-bleeding example revelaed itself on the bus home today. August by Eric Clapton was bought from MVC in Manchester in 1998 solely on the strength of the 1987 single Behind The Mask, originally by keyboardist Greg Phillinganes. It was his version that Goldie Lookin' Chain sampled on Your Mother's Got A Penis, fact fans.

Behind The Mask is a great song. The rest of the album, less so. For instance, have you ever heard Miss You?

The recorded version's intro is the musical equivalent of every sleeves-rolled-up, blow-dried bouffant, cocaine-fuelled party in Florida in 1988.

There's no point to this entry. Just to say that we can safely assume the mid-to-late-80s was not Eric Clapton's creative peak and that I really ought to go back to being more selective when it comes to un-checking tick boxes in iTunes.

Here's an audio test I did. It is very repetitive so you have been warned.

The two page article from What Hi-Fi June 2009 that made me want to do a lossless audio test.

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/3224/losslessvslossypage1.png

http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/6295/losslessvslossypage2.png

Having been part of the gold rush on Friday, I was lucky enough for the FPO to cross the metropolis of Bolton to acquire an iPad for me.

I'm no apple fanboy (I had iriver and archos music players before succumbing to the apple machine), but I am blown away by it. The book reading is great, and the browsing easy and natural, and the apps can be excellent.

I downloaded the times app, which delivers an e-version of the paper every day. To have the paper delivered by 7 each morning, not to have them clogging up the lounge each week, and costing about a third of the cover price is excellent.

So, the question is, can The Word provide us with an app for the mag? I am a subscriber, and would be happy to pay the same price etc., but the option to have the mag with me wherever, and for the pile next to the bed to be removed is tempting. The current e-version of the mag relies on flash, so the iPad don't like it!

Can the massive indicate to word towers whether there would be such a demand?

Been given an iTunes voucher but, since I much prefer CDs for sound and manner/ease of usage

- is there any good music ONLY available on iTunes?

- are there any great bargains anyone can recommend?

With iphones, Spotify, etc how do you keep on top of everything these days?

Personally I like the idea of using the technology and having everything to hand, old and new, wherever I am (whether that's on an mp3 player, usb drive or whatever) but that's not particularly practical.

At the moment it’s a rather unwieldy combination of old cds loaded onto ITunes, the Iphone and the rest on Spotify and portable hard drive.

Spotify is becoming increasingly convenient and appealing (particularly for checking out new stuff) and I also like the idea of having everything 'in the cloud' so I can just access it wherever I want. I don't want to spend hours and hours copying, moving and backing up.

What does everybody else do (or I am alone in being preoccupied with this?...)

Cheers