Keeping Track
Keeping Track
by Dirk Michener
When I first got iTunes I saw the box that says I listened to whatever song however many times. I probably had half a million songs on there and maybe 50 of them had a little number 1 next to them. I was so ashamed about this and didn’t want anybody looking at my computer. I would listen to music intently and make sure I listened to at least 95% of the song lest the little number not appear. If you listened to less than that it said you didn’t listen to it ever.  I guess you probably didn’t unless you listened to at least 95%.
After a while I got sick of doing this and started leaving the music on when I left the house. Coming home seeing the number of “listens†just rise and rise. This made me proud and I didn’t feel so ashamed anymore.
After I listened to every song at least one time I was ashamed again. It looked like I just let my iTunes play for about 37 days non-stop, which is ridiculous and pitiful. I tried removing the display of song-listens but I knew they were still being counted. I began writing it down in a notebook instead. What songs I listened to and the number of times I listened, and the date. I filled up about 30 notebooks before I decided to start storing them in my gun-safe. My daughter saw one in the bathroom one day and asked me what it was. I was ashamed and embarrassed and told her it was something daddy did in junior-high school having to do with basketball.
I love this! I’ve been hounded by those little numbers as well. My boyfriend is a DJ and electronic music producer, and sometimes I worry that he will check my itunes to see how often I’ve listened to his tracks. Sometimes I play them through when I’m not even in the room.