Music Is My Significant Other

When leading a life of solitude it is essential to find new and interesting ways to keep oneself amused. Currently my favourite game involves setting iTunes to random and, whilst keeping my eyes firmly shut, pressing the skip button and attempting to call out the name of the artist and the title of the song within the shortest period of time possible. I'd say I'm on an 80% success rate at the moment. With my iTunes currently holding 5438 songs, and not having uploaded many of the songs from my youth I'm most familiar with, I don't think I need to start worrying about early-Alzheimer's just yet.
When I was a young boy there were very few details about the music I listened to that I didn't know. As well as having an intimate knowledge of every word and musical note contained on an album, I would devour the liner notes, taking any crumb of information I could - record labels, producers, recording studios, whose grandmother was thanked - I knew it all. However, once I started to obtain a disposable income this dedication became a little more difficult. The music I desired was far too numerous for the amount of time I had to dedicate to it, and so albums had to be treated less as profound elements of my deepest soul and more areas of intrigue. Obviously, some records I discover still have a significant impact on me and their details I am captivated by, however the obsessiveness I displayed in my youth has waned for most of my musical encounters. Although I may no longer need to know who produced or who was the guest trombonist on albums I currently listen to, I am extremely intrigued with my Last.fm page. For those who don't know, Last.fm is a webpage that compiles every song that you listen to on your computer and provides you with weekly and overall charts. It is endlessly fascinating. I can't wait for every Monday morning to see just who won the previous week and how that will affect my overall chart. However, I must admit that sometimes I do cheat a little. Occasionally if I'm not happy with the "balance" of the chart I will make a playlist of certain bands and leave it running while I'm asleep. For example, the new Björk album is rather disappointing. Now Björk has a rather high position on my my overall chart, but due to her new album not being up to scratch I feel that she doesn't deserve this high chart placing. So tonight I will most likely make a playlist of Múm and La Casa Azul songs (the two bands directly beneath her) and have this on rotation during the night in order move them ahead of Björk in the chart and express my dissatisfaction to her.
One may think that having having musical playing all night would effect my sleeping. However, its low purr doesn't bother me. I envisage it akin to having someone lying next to me and breathing throughout the night. In this way I consider it a comforting sound. A makeshift comfort, but a comfort all the same.