How to properly enjoy music

I've given some thought to the type of music enthusiast I am, and I've decided there are two ways people enjoy music. There's the wallpaper method of music enjoyment, which consists of constantly keeping music on in the background. This is the music aficionado of the iPod generation, and you know him well. He's the guy in your office who brags about his music collection in terms of gigabytes, rather than number of CDs or, dare I say it, tapes (we'll get to vinyl later). His 80+ gig music "collection" would take months of consecutive listening to complete, and exists to set any mood he wants. This type of enthusiast can rattle off a string of obscure artists, but is unlikely to recognize trivial things like song titles, lyrics, etc....

The other side of the spectrum, in Myke's musical classification system, involves the food analogy. The 'food' user differs from the wallpaper user in terms of scope. While a wallpaper user might have thousands of songs on a computer, the food user may have a more modest collection of albums in the hundreds, or even less. This user usually prefers her musical food in CD or vinyl form, where she will put on an album, close her eyes, and enjoy the music like a meal, picking apart sections, and enjoying each selection, the appetizer, the entree, the dessert... This person usually regards herself as a purist.

So which are you? The above types are the on the extremes of the spectrum. At the extremes, these are music snobs. The former, a mavin of style and blender magazine, snubbing anyone who is not aware of the latest 'it' band from rural Idaho, the latter a purist who cannot see beyond the purity of vinyl, who spurns the idea of portable music.

As for me, I'm a hybrid of the two, as are most people. I love my iPod and the freedom it provides me. I'm also an amateur audiophile, listening for subtle nuances in the music, reveling in the mixes of George Martin, or more contemporary mixers like Rick Rubin. I tend to be slightly xenophobic about music, preferring to discover music on my own, rather than letting others thrust it upon me. Thus I slowly discover new music, collecting songs and artists like shells on the beach, and slowly bringing them into my collection. I don't think this is the 'proper' way to experience music, it's just how I do it.