I find myself in the middle. I take half-hours a day.

In seriousness, I don't take very long to look for what album's next, since I usually go on buzzes. But I sure don't take hours deciding.

Are "advent music fans" people who are really into Christmas music?

I tend to both acquire and listen to stuff via (often rather complicated) "systems." Well, or I alternate that and randomness ever since randomness was more feasible via computers, with random shuffles and the like.

The systems thing is one of my OCDish tendencies. I've done that since I was a kid.

I think that I've generally found my niche(s) in terms of what music I like/think that I have a higher chance of liking. I don't specifically cut genres out completely, but I feel as though I know what my preferences lean towards and I prefer spending my time exploring music that I believe I have a higher chance of enjoying (short term or long term). So, no I don't listen to everything, and despite the hyper-positive "I-listen-to-everything" ideal, I'm not really open to everything either (I try not to openly bash music I don't normally enjoy, but I certainly won't be too enthused to listen to the newest/greatest hard rock or indie folk album).

I used to consume any and every type of music just to see what sticks. And now that I have a general idea, I like exploring the branches that I've found the most enjoyment in. And that's not to say I stick to one specific genre anyway; as much as ambient (or like genres) is what I tend to gravitate to the most, I couldn't listen to it all the time. But there definitely are genres that I have, for the most part, pragmatically cut from my regular listening.

And I too have similar problems as the OP. I find it exhausting to rank artists/albums by my favorites as those change regularly due to mood - not to mention I have a difficult time comparing albums that are vastly different sonically. This just happens due to the immense volume of listening that most of us have, rather than the total number of genres that we regularly listen to.

Damn, Frown answered that for me.

I could get behind someone liking his Mingus work or The Illinois Concert ftr.

Edit: Seriously, **** not being able to delete your posts.

I can't really take to Jazz.

These three tracks were essential for me on route to becoming a fan of jazz music.

For one, I don't mean that I like every single artist. I do like some stuff in every single genre I've ever heard, though. I explained this in my initial post. And I do listen to every single artist I've ever owned something from. Also, I don't really dislike any artists. There are some I'm indifferent towards, but I continue to listen to them, too, because really everything grows on me at least a bit, and tons and tons of stuff I've come to love that I wasn't so enamored with earlier. And I don't dislike Nick Cave. I do like other artists more than I like Nick Cave, though, and I especially often wish that people would focus on artists who I never see mentioned rather than someone like Nick Cave, who is a hipster darling (surely the Big Star thread is next :-p). None of that is inconsistent with what I said in my initial post.