but it's not like I'm listening to this stuff with absolute concentration (I mean, how music these days demands--or even can even withstand--that kind of attention?). Usually, while I'm listening I'm doing something else anyway, so it's not like it's "lost" time per se... the only thing that's really lost is the opportunity to listen to something else, which is not that big of a deal anyway.

You made a post some time ago about "overcoming our over-reliance on music" or something... I didn't agree with the overall thesis that this is a problem that needs to be actively combated but it is something I have thought about for some years. I had a boss way back in the day who disliked television because he felt that entertainment is cheapened in some way when it is supplied via a faucet directly into your home. He felt that entertainment should be a special event, for which you dress up and leave the house.

I've been feeling that way about music for some time. It's too accessible, too ubiquitous to even mean anything... the truth is that I don't even care that much about what is flowing into my ears while I am working. (I guess this ties into your ideas about music not even qualifying as a form of expression anymore--which again, I don't agree with altogether, but I concur with the root of the argument).

I find myself trying to restrict me consumption of music to times when I can really listen actively rather than just have it constantly on as a screen to protect me from my own thoughts.