If you’ve added me as a friend on Facebook, perhaps you’ve been wondering why I have so many artists listed in my Facebook profile. The answer is actually quite simple – I simply LOVE analyzing my music listening habits.

Set aside some time and let me take through my music listening analysis journey…

In fall 2003, the same year I began my university career, I discovered iTunes. Prior to, I had been following all the rave reviews for Mac version and simply could not wait to try it. After my first encounter, I loved it. Some of my friends complained that it was too slow but I always defended it.

What was it about iTunes that I love so much, you ask? Playlists. Specifically, Smart Playlists. Smart Playlists are simply amazing because they enable you to create playlists based on a variety of criteria and they automatically keep themselves updated!

Over the past 5 years, I’ve accumulated over 325 playlists in iTunes. It began innocently enough – creating a playlist for every album. But slowly, I became addicted to creating playlists. These days I’ve got Smart Playlists that capture my top 25 most played songs every season of the year.

There’s something magical about naturally listening to music then proceeding to view a very accurate analysis of your music listening habits.

Here’s how I’ve categorized my iTunes playlists:

  • Full Albums (~150 Playlists): Each playlist contains a complete album with all the tracks arranged in the correct order.
  • Partial Albums (~50 Playlists): Each playlist contains a partial album. Either songs were missing or they were too crappy to be included.
  • Bookmarks (~10 Playlists): Ever listen to music on random and come across a song you complete forgot about? This happens to me all the time, so I ‘bookmark’ these tracks. Each bookmark playlist has 50 songs.
  • Compilations (~30 Playlists): These are the best of the best. Cream of the crop. There are 10 songs per compilation and once a song is placed in a compilation playlist, it does not get removed. These playlists have enabled me to accurately analyze how music taste has changed over 5 years.
  • Genres (~15 Playlists): These Smart Playlists automatically aggregate all my iTunes music into the right genre(s). More on this later.
  • Favourites (~15 Playlists): For each genre, a favourite song is defined as a song I’ve rated 4/5 or 5/5 and that I’ve listened to at least once. As long as I rate my music, these playlists are automatically updated.
  • Top 10’s by Genre (~15 Playlists): For each genre, these are my handpicked top 10 favourite songs.
  • Reflection (~3 Playlists): These are playlists reserved for use during periods of immense thought. When I need to reflect on life, I like to listen to music from these playlists.
  • Smart Playlists (~20 Playlists): These playlists are updated in real-time based on my settings: Songs I’ve listened to but haven’t rated; Songs I haven’t listened to yet; Songs I’ve rated 4 or 5 star but listened to less than 10 times; Songs I’ve listened to over 25, 50, 100, 200, 300, 400 times.
  • Top 25’s by Season (~25 Playlists): Over the past 5 years, I’ve either been attending Univeristy or on co-op every four-month term. These Smart Playlists automatically define my Top 25 Most Played songs during each season of every year.

Sometimes you hear a song from your childhood on the radio and reminisce. Au contraire, the Top 25’s by Season playlists are like reminiscence on steroids. There are top 25 songs for season since fall 2003. I can walk around the same streets I used to years ago while listening to the exact same music I listened to in those times. How amazing is that? You haven’t experienced nostalgia until you’ve experienced intricate playlists like these.

And of course the “eureka” moment happened in summer of 2004 when I purchased my first iPod. Yup, that’s right – every single aforementioned playlist was automatically synchronized to my iPod. Now all these playlists now follow me wherever I go.