Granted, shuffling music is not much different from going linearly through music. An array of songs is always consumed one by one, whether you are a careless shuffler, a frequent skipper, a gapless album fanatic, a 400+ playlists junky, a constant rewinder, a grouping expert, or a singer-songwriter yourself. There are simply various modes of listening, of progressing through audio, of wading through emotional airwaves. The terms conflate in meaning and the question simply becomes: How do people feel, when listening to music?
But let's just pretend for a moment that shuffling is something distinct. Looking for feelings from people who feel shuffling, i found various bits and pieces at We Feel Fine. Here are two of them:
From someone on March 23, 2008:
i feel like i am just shuffling things around but i think hip hop will like getting a little sun
From a 30 year old female in Suffolk Virginia, United States, on December 7, 2006:
i feel like a zombie shuffling around with no purpose
I am not trying too hard to understand this. But i do subscribe to Flickr photos tagged with shuffle, and shufflesome. I regularly thumb through recent photos of this sort. It's part of my job. The iPod shuffle shows up in all kinds of situations and today, i have compiled several photos into a collection at weheartit.com. I have selected photos into which you may read a feeling, and left out other photos, which merely show off iPods.
It's a collection of feelings from people who shuffle music. Each photo is tagged with shuffle (because it shows one) and words to describe the feeling state the person might be in. From the sample i have, and from my superficial interpretation of it, feeling sexy, cool and vexed are the dominant feelings. I admit that bland everyday impressions of people walking in the street, with a frown, and a shuffle, are missing.
At least, now i have a place to compile some of the more interesting shots, when i stumble over any.
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