It's funny reading back cause to me 14,000 tracks actually seems excessive, especially considering I've still got a pile of CDs to rip (see, CDs, I am legal Mr RIAA...).

But the thing is music is important, even vital to me, my life has to have a soundtrack.

As soon as I leave the house, it's headphones on, MP3 player on. I always have my entire music database set on random play and I can't believe the amount of times it threw up a song I'd forgotten about, or a song that means something but I hadn't heard for, I soon realise, FAR too long.

I skip through, I change, I randomly go for a specific track, it all depends what type of mood I'm in, my music is eclectic like you wouldn't believe and it's all right for some time in my life.

It helps music is a huge part of my career, especially now after my last sideways promotion. It's about finding the right track for the right thing.

A feature or trail on the radio can really be made or destroyed with the pick of music, I have to sit there for ages sometimes because I know what the sound is I want to put across and need to find exactly that.

It's silly really because the words are the most important part, but then I've always thought music doesn't detract fom everything else, it complements it, it can be the main dish if that's what you want but more often it's the condiment to life, it adds to it, embellishes it.

Music is emotive and I could tell some horror stories of music people have chosen for things, to some of you it may seem strange, you may think it doesnt matter that much but it really, really does!

I thought getting into a job where I'm constantly cutting, editing, changing music to suit might give me a more negative outlook on it but I still think if you have music in your life, something can go right.

So that's my justification for buying my new MP3 player ;):P