I’m lucky to get to see live music every week, small venues in Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn. But for daily listening it’s mostly streaming these days, although I still have a lot of CDs. When I’m outside it’s on headphones connected to the phone, a bit easier than the old walkman. No rewinding or tuning into a radio station needed… but I miss making mixtapes. Playlists just aren’t the same.

I used to live out in the wilderness ~180km from my nearest friends and family. Driving to visit them on winding roads along the coast and through hilly, forested countryside. Expansive, beautiful views that constantly changed with the weather and seasons, blasting my favorite tunes and singing along at the top of my lungs without bothering a single soul. Absolute bliss

On headphones, connected to my DAP with ~1k favorite tracks on shuffle.

Tidal, wireless headphones before bed. I feel that music hits the most at this time, when I’m all by myself.

I’m a simple man, I’m happy with Spotify/Youtube/Bandcamp and my cheap-ish Sony headphone plugged directly on the mobo.

Spotify. has a good majority of what I need and the ~10% of music that isn’t on there I can get off SoulSeek

Mostly Spotify as background noise when I’m working or whatever, and 6Music when I’m in the kitchen.

70/30 Spotify to vinyl split for me recently. Streaming for convenience and recommendations, vinyl for the albums I really like

I mainly use Spotify now a days.

I like their “radio” feature under every artist so you can find similar music you might have otherwise missed.

I put that on headphones and play some competitive online games, best nights

In my car in traffic whacking the steering wheel with drumsticks. I can’t drum but I like to pretend.

For albums I love, I’ve been collecting vinyls and have an Audio Technica record player with a subwoofer and some bookshelf speakers to play them on. I think I’m up to 20 now.

Otherwise, I mostly use Spotify nowadays, and honestly have been listening to full albums more often the last few years. I’ve also started doing the 1001 Album Generator deal the last few weeks, which gives you a new highly acclaimed album to listen to every day. It’s been cool to listen to a lot of things I never heard before.

Depends on mood more than anything these days. Used to love exploring for hours on end, but as I’m getting older it’s just not happening anymore and I don’t feel the same rush. At least, not as often. Saying all that, there are some ways that I still find very enjoyable:

1. I’ve sometimes decided on a year in music, fairly randomly, and made it a goal to listen to what I can. The hypothesis being that great songs/albums might be hidden in plain sight due to poor/lukewarm receptions, or simply overlooked.

2. Used to explore subreddits like /r/listentous, which was run in a very fun way and led to some amazing discoveries. Finding a subscriber which matched your taste could make the hunt a bit easier.

3. Spotify honestly have some pretty neat features, and you can stumble upon some pretty great playlists too if you’re lucky.

Realised about 3/4ths of the way that I may not be answering your question, but I didn’t want my hard work to go to waste. I love listening in the car or when doing some dull work around the house with a headset, or just blasting it through the speakers. Preferably albums or playlists with some thought behind it.