Note from the Listener: Rules to Listening

In case you were wondering, I have set a few rules for myself concerning how I go about listening to these albums, that way I don't cheat, and you don't feel cheated:

RULES:

1) All music will be listened to in headphones, the same headphones - Perhaps it's simply that I have a bit of hearing loss from playing music my whole life (as well as doing things like listening to ungodly amounts of albums in a relatively short span of time), but I find that I have a much easier time absorbing music through headphones, especially if it's my first listening. Also, being that I will be listening to all of these the same way, using Rhapsody for pretty much all of it, I will be better able to judge audio quality and production value of each record. (The headphones I am using for the project are Sony MDR-ZX100 Studio Headphones, in case you were wondering, which, although inexpensive, I like quite a bit.)

2) If I absolutely must take a break in the middle of an album, no more than one hour can pass, or I have to start the entire record over - This is not a review of songs, this is a review of albums as a whole, a cohesive unit. Too long of a break, and you lose the feel and atmosphere of the record as a whole.

3) If I absolutely must take a break, I cannot listen to any other music before I start up again, or I have to start the entire record over - (see the explaination for Rule #2)

4) I can't do anything that would distract me from fully absorbing an album while listening - There are things I know will actively distract me from giving a record a proper listen, such as reading while listening, having a conversation aloud, etc. - if I'm not paying attention, I have to start over.

5) No skipping - this is pretty obvious, but I'll say it anyway - I can't skip any albums. Even if I get to an album like "Dark Side of the Moon", which I have listened to well over a hundred times, I have to listen to it again, and review it. When I get to an artist I despise with all of my being, I have to sit through the album, from start to finish. No cheating.

6) No breaks of more than two days between listening to albums on the list - One of the cool things about doing this, for me at least, is comparing all of these different records, so taking long breaks between them would disrupt that.

7) On a day I am listening to the albums, I must listen to at least two - again, for comparison's sake.

If there are any other rules you think that I should add to these, let me know, and I will seriously consider them. Thanks again for reading, and back now to the project.