You Don't Have To Visit This Blog

This is another picture that doesn't have anything to do with this post, but we should all be as happy in the blogosphere. This is going to be another incredibly long and boring post with reflections and no music, so those who just want the music can skip further down.......

On blogs: 'Miss F' left a thought-provoking comment under my 2nd post that made me want to comment on my philosophy of blogging and blogs (remember, I did say 'long and boring post'). She was responding to something I had written on my 2nd post about how it was odd that people didn't comment on older posts of blogs. I wasn't talking about my blog at that point since I had just started, but I was referring to my visits to other people's blogs.

As a non-blogger, I knew I looked at blogs a little differently than other people seemed to, but after having this blog for a while, I became more acutely aware of how blogs worked. By that, I mean that I tend to look at blogs horizontally rather than vertically. I'm glad I made that so much clearer.

What I mean by that is when I visit a blog I tend to think of all the posts as being equal. Like a group of items laid out horizontally in a line on a table. The first post to me is exactly like the most recent post. But based on the way people commented at other blogs, I suspected that they tended to look at them vertically like a stack of items in a pile on a table. They tended to be most interested in the one or two items at the top and had a harder time digging out the ones at the bottom. I only suspected this was true based on the comments of the readers and the bloggers, but I didn't actually give it much thought at the time.

Since I've been blogging though, it's one of the interesting things you notice. The items at the top tend to get the most interest. As a blogger, I can tell by downloads and comments. When I was a non-blogger, I only suspected it based on the fact that people stopped commenting on older posts at other people's blogs. And when they did comment, bloggers seemed to take no notice even on ones made just a few posts back. Back then I had no idea how the whole comment thing worked from the blogger's perspective (I barely understand it now). I didn't know if they were notified of new comments or how it worked at all.

So it confirmed my suspicion of the whole horizontal vs. vertical thing. The whole vertical thing may be more sensible though. Looking at blogs horizontally tends to take a lot longer. What I usually do when I visit someone's blog for the first time is I download the top page (or possibly the whole blog) in an mht format and then read the whole thing later offline. I like to read their whole blog, see what they have to say, and pull out any links I'm interested in (which for most blogs I like may be a pretty high percentage) and then put them in a giant queue of things to be downloaded.

That queue was especially gigantic when I was using the free option of Rapidshare. That's been for the past year or so of visiting music blogs. Only recently did I break down and get a premium account and I've been catching up on the downloading ever since, but I still seem to have barely put a dent in it. I'm not complaining though. That would seem patently ungracious. It's like complaining that you have too much good food to eat. It reminds me of what 'Miss F' said in her comment about music as commodities and objects.

The temptation when you're downloading so much good music is to look at it in a wholesale way and become frustrated when you can't get something that you want. Or when a good blog goes down and you start kicking yourself for not downloading the archives. But as soon as that feeling starts, I always remind myself that with so many good things being shared and with so many good people sharing their love of music, it seems rather petty and somewhat ungrateful to lament over what you don't have. Or to lose sight of music as art and entertainment rather than an object to be acquired. My listening queue tends to be rather large and even if I stopped downloading right now and listened to music most of the day, every day, it would probably take me one or two years to get through it all. So, for me, it becomes very tempting to forget that it brings joy and pleasure and is a solace for the soul; you start to go, 'Okay, I got that one out of the way, what's next?' Though it's easy to snap out of it when you're listening to some great piece of music that brightens your spirits.

I suppose that's also meant as a partial explanation of why I don't post that much music. I don't know how other bloggers do it. As you may have noticed by now, I'm a big fan of other people's blogs. Almost all the links you see on the link list (except for the new ones) are ones that I've been following for quite a while and have enjoyed very much. I used to be able to keep current (relatively speaking) with most of them though I would tend to go through cycles of which groups I focused on. But since I've been blogging, I never seem to keep current on most everything web-related. So that's meant as a blanket apology to all those great bloggers that I haven't said hello to, thanked for or listened to their great music, or failed to acknowledge in some way.

Since I've been blogging, I have even greater admiration for what they do. How some bloggers put out three or four new items a day or make comments on other people's sites after listening to their latest offering is beyond me. I suppose that's why I like to make comments on older posts of blogs since I tend to make them after I've listened to the music and have something specific to say. I still am pretty remiss about leaving even a brief hi or thanks for the music on most people's blogs. But since I started the blog, I see it from the other side. Without any feedback, the blogger has no idea how the music is being received (other than the number of downloads). It's a funny thing though. You somehow have this odd thought in the back of your head that the blogger knows how great you think his or her blog is. That somehow they just psychically know how much you enjoy their blog. But it wasn't until I started a blog that I realized that unless you leave a comment, they have no idea that you're thinking that. It just seems obvious to me that I always liked their blog, but I realized that I never left them a comment.

I noticed that from a lot of other bloggers who stopped by. Like Planet Xtabay or Sounds of Champaign. When I went to leave a comment on their blogs thanking them for something nice they said here, I realized that I hadn't left a comment before even though I had enjoyed their blogs for a long time. I try to make more of an effort to comment now, but I still don't do it nearly enough. So for any reader of this blog who hasn't left a comment here, I bear no ill will and, believe me, I know exactly how you feel.

On comments: Which reminds me. I probably should've made it clearer before, but after that fiasco with my comment moderation, I put in the 'recent comments list' so I can always tell when a new comment appears. I always check the dates of the comments in the list to see if anything recent has been posted. So you can even leave a comment buried in a post somewhere in the middle of the blog and I will always see it. I tend to think of comments like E-mail. If someone took the trouble to leave one, I will always respond to it. The funny thing is though that it took me a while to realize that there wasn't much reason for the person to come back to that entry and read the response! They've already downloaded the music, left their comment, and unless they're asking a question or having a problem, they probably won't be checking back on that particular entry again. But still, I always like to respond anyway.

On the philosophy of this blog: I suppose that was one of the things I imagined when I started this blog. I wanted to create that sense of interactivity. People of like minds sharing their love of music. And with many of the recent posts and comments, it's been very gratifying. People like Mickey who's shared his enthusiasm, Ronan who's shared his love of the movie, 'Theatre of Blood', Lacey & Crazed, Dominic who took the trouble to leave information about the film, 'Une Journee Bien Remplie', Miss F(redda) who's shared her insight, and all the other people and great bloggers who came by. This kind of interactivity was exactly what I was hoping for when I started the blog, so it's been very satisfying.

That's the way I thought of this blog. As basically an extension of what I did when I shared music that I loved or that I thought they would love with my friends. I think most bloggers think that way. They basically want to share what they love with other like-minded people.

I think that's probably also why I think I would feel less comfortable if this were a really high-traffic blog. That might be different from a lot of bloggers, I'm not sure. If I knew tens of thousands of people were dropping by, it might feel less like a group of people enjoying great music and more like a giant marketplace where people came to get stuff off the shelves. But I knew going in that based on the type of music I was sharing and the type of blog I wanted to make that that wasn't going to be a problem.

I know I could get much higher traffic if I designed the blog in a different way. If I put in less text and more covers with every album, if I made the blog less random and focused on one genre of music (or a more popular genre of music), if I put out much more music on a regular basis, if I got reciprocal linking from all the blogs in my linked list, and if I left my address at various high-trafficked blogs, forums, and websites, I think I could probably multiply my traffic by a factor of anywhere from maybe three to ten times what it was a little while ago. (I was actually going to say three to ten times what it is now, but it actually seems to have gone up exponentially lately, so three to ten times that would be abnormally high.) But I'm pretty happy with the steady flow of people as it is now.

Some people may wonder, looking at the blog, that it almost seems designed to drive people away. Posts with abnormally long passages of text (like this one) and long-winded explanations of compilations, some music that's almost buried in the blog, other music that doesn't seem to fit the other genres, individual tracks mixed in with albums, and some of the choices of music (I'm not sure how many people are clamoring for alternative stage music, TV characters singing, soundtracks of modern versions of Candide, or 76 different versions of 'House of the Rising Sun', for instance). But I knew when I started this blog that that was the kind of blog I wanted to make.

I knew for myself that if I confined the blog to one style of music that I would get bored eventually. I wanted the freedom to put up any kind of music I liked (though there's still so much music I haven't gotten around to putting up). I knew this would automatically cut down on repeat visitors though. I knew people would cherry-pick the one or two items they were interested in and then leave. That's why I named the blog 'You Don't Have To Visit This Blog'. I thought I should warn people that it wasn't the kind of blog where you were going to get a lot of the same great material over and over again. I didn't want people coming here if I had named it say, 'Great Music Blog', and then be disappointed because there was hardly anything here they wanted. It was only after the blog had been up for a while did I realize the name could be misconstrued. Someone could take it as being hostile, for instance. Like defiantly telling you, 'You Don't Have To Visit This Blog' because the music's free and don't complain if you don't like it! Nobody's mentioned it, but I bet some people think that's what it means. But it's really just a warning.

On linking: I'm also always stunned when other bloggers spontaneously link to me. I'm very grateful and gratified, but I guess I'm always amazed that they stop by, let alone link to me (though maybe it's because I've linked to them). I know they've probably seen my link on some other blog, but it still amazes me for some reason. I've gotten very behind in thanking them on their blogs and I hope to do it very soon. In the meantime, I can thank them here: A big thanks to Cake & Polka Parade, Digital Eargasm, Loungetracks, Meester Music, Penthouse Safari, Rangeraver (though I think I did thank him on his site, I can't remember), and The Tuna Melt.
Those are the recent ones that I know of and obviously these and the other great blogs who've linked to me are why my traffic's been going up a lot lately.

I've seen a lot of people leave comments on other blogs announcing their own blogs and leaving their addresses, and as a reader I'm always grateful when they do it because it alerts me to a blog I might want to check out. But it's odd; when it comes to my own blog, I always feel uncomfortable doing that. I always feel like I'm using somebody else's blog to promote mine. I think I've only left my address once in a comment, at Lazar's Lounge, but that was when I thought he might want a specific CD I had. Otherwise, I don't like to do it. I figure if they found my comment interesting, they can look up my blogger profile and get to my blog that way.

Also, I don't like telling people that I've linked to them, I guess because I don't want them to feel like they have to link to me out of a sense of obligation. I'd prefer they link to me if they've visited my blog and liked it enough to want to put me on their link list. I suppose that's why I tend to be so stunned when people actually do it even though I've never mentioned it to them, and why I'm so gratified by it because I know they did it because they wanted to and not just because I linked to them (though actually, come to think of it, maybe that IS why a lot of these guys did it......oh, well). So, you know if you see a link in my link list, it's because I really like their blog (or haven't had time to explore it yet, but know it's got great music on it), and not just to get a lot of links up there.

And there are so many blogs I've either forgotten to put up there or haven't been able to check out properly. I keep forgetting to put Loronix up there for instance, but I still haven't thoroughly checked out his blog yet. I know it's got great music though. There are all the other great bossa blogs, rock & pop, soul & R&B, and individual mp3 blogs I haven't had time to explore yet.

On compilations: Yes, I know. Anybody's who's gotten this far is asleep by now. Well, if you put your head on the computer screen, maybe the rest of this will leak in through osmosis.

Just a few things I wanted to mention. I should've mentioned it before, but all the home-made compilations were designed to fit on a 74-minute CD, if you haven't already noticed. I suppose that's why I stopped listing the total time on the posts. I made all of them to time out to a little over or under 74 minutes. I used to listen to all of them on my CD player (though now I listen to most of them on the computer) and I still burn them onto CD's. Though technically, I could make them up to any length, I guess.

They're also designed to be listened to as a whole. Almost none of them are just collections of songs. The order and selection are an important part of it (though I guess it's up to you to judge how important).

And I've said it many times before, but they were made entirely for my own listening pleasure. That's why some of the selections may seem unexpected. Sometimes the choice of some songs by some artists was made because I used other songs on other compilations and didn't want to use them again. So if you were wondering why some obvious choice was left out, that may be the reason.

Also, some may wonder why I don't confine myself to one genre on some compilations. Why did I mix crime jazz and bossa on the same lounge compilation? Why did I jump from a song from the 1950's to a song from the 1980's? Why did I put 'Satisfaction' and '96 Tears' on the same comp as songs from ABBA? Things like that. Nobody's actually said anything, but some may wonder. Well, while on some compilations, I stuck to more-or-less strict guidelines, on others I can sometimes get bored if I hear too much of the same music on the same comp. I think it's great when other people do it on commercial comps or on other blogs. In those cases, I don't know what's coming next, so it always keeps me interested. But when I've made it up myself, I always know what's coming, so I can get a little bored with it if I know it's all the same type of music.

Also, I have to be somewhat inspired to make a compilation. Like the 'Tico To Tico' lounge compilation was a real aberration. I wouldn't normally make up something like that because I usually get inspired to make up compilations if I don't think they're available someplace else. If I felt like hearing a great lounge compilation, there are so many great commercial ones available or I would just head on over to A Taste of Vinyl, Lazar's Lounge, Rangeraver, Planet Xtabay, Rato, or PixelMutt's to hear some great comps.

I usually need an interesting hook or angle to make me want to create a comp or to help me narrow down the number of choices. It'd be hard for me to pick a topic like lounge or pop, for instance, and narrow down the number of songs available. But it's funny; sometimes the focus is so narrow that I can't come up with a full CD's worth. Sometimes it's only a handful. Like I may put up those collection of chimney and fireplace songs someday, but if you exclude the Christmas ones, it becomes a pretty narrow field.

On requests: Feel free to make any requests for things. I probably won't have them, but I welcome them because sometimes I have a hard time deciding what to put up.

And finally, (yes, I can hear you cheering that this post is almost over!), I think there were a lot of other things I wanted to mention, but even I'm getting bored with reading my own writing. So enjoy the rest of the blog if your retinas aren't already burned out from this post!