Communal listening - can it work in a virtual world?

[TomSawyer]

Probably already been done with disastrous results, but could you agree to all listen to the same album at the same time - new or classic - and have a live discussion as it plays or would it just turn into a mess? Or could we all listen and post thoughts afterwards? A bit like a book group I suppose.

I'm just wondering whether you can recreate the experience of listening to something together and discussing it afterwards like I used to do with my friends when we were teenagers in a virtual world. It was always a good way to be "forced" to listen to something you wouldn't necessarily have picked yourself. Presumably we all share a love of music even though we can fall out over the merits of cables, mains conditioning, digital vs analogue....

 

[matthewpiano]

There's a great group on Facebook called Thursday Night Is Music Night. Check it out.

 

[TomSawyer]

Thanks, I will.

Interesting that I've only got one reply whereas a post about cables would have attracted 20 or 30 in the same time.

 

[matthewpiano]

Yes, there's no shortage of 'discussions' about cables, formats, and whether some features should even be on equipment, but less related to what hi-fi is really all about - the music.

The 'Thursday Night...' group on Facebook is really good. Once a month (first Thursday) an album is selected through nominations and voting and varying numbers of people listen to it and discuss it. Special events also prompt communal listening Eg. last week, the anniversary of Peter Gabriel's 'So' album. The rest of the time people share what they're listening to and discuss the music. It's very friendly and the only health warning is that it can lead to your music purchases increasing!

 

[DizzyPenguin]

There's also a similar thread doing its round on the Steve Hoffman Music Forums if you're signed up there.