Guess this really only applies to those that store their music on pc but....
When i would make compilation tapes/cds i used to cram every second i could onto it.
Even after i had moved my music to the pc; i re-created those comps as playlists because
i was so used to the flow of them. A few years back though i just began making playlists with no
regard to time constraints. i have a Porcupine Tree playlist thats creeping up on 10 hrs.
Which brings up another question, did you adjust your compilations for each new release?
Can you say OCD? lol

The answer is basically no. I don't keep a ton of music on my computer but I sometimes use Spotify, and the longest playlist I've made there is hovering around one hour. I keep adding tracks to it but removing others. As for CD-Rs versus cassette tapes, I try to fit as much as I can on CD-Rs that I know I'll be playing in the car, but I'm not as fanatical about it as I was in the cassette era. I guess this is because a CD simply ends whereas with a cassette tape you might have to sit through a long silence before it switches to the other side.

Joebase, you mention a playlist of yours that is nearing ten hours. Do you ever play it all at once? For my needs, that would be way too long but I seldom have a stretch of time like that, even on my days off.

I build folders of stuff I wanna listen to on a portable hard drive. My current AGS (Assorted Good Shit) folder has 2,544 songs in it, and would take 149 hrs 30 mins & 25 secs to listen to!

I have my comps on my iPod, and I tend to keep them around 1.2 to 1.5 hours. For my favorite bands I typically have two comps: one with all my faves (which can run several hours) and a shorter one I call "best".

i haven't listened to the epic porcupine tree all the way through in a 'sitting' but i have a pink floyd that clocks in around 7 hrs i've listened to all of during work at night. there's a jefferson starship that runs about 4.5 i listen to quite frequently.

I guess if you can listen at work that does make a difference. When I worked in an office I had a CD with a Dave Brubeck boxed set in mp3 format. It played for several hours and I used to wish it was even longer so I could put it on when I started my day and just forget about it. The job I have now is in a more public area so it's not really condusive to music listening ... dammit!

I still like to aim for 80-min cd-sized playlists, since I still burn discs for friends and family. Other than that, I still think like albums in my head, so usually turn albums into playlists. I find that if I group them all into larger playlists, I just get kind of lost as to where I am on the playlist. But then, I also have 423 songs on an '80s playlist in my iphone for those times I'm on the road with my '80s loving buddies and can just hit 'shuffle.' Of course, that still doesn't stop Chuck from grabbing it and playing 'Jukebox Hero' every damn hour.

I have a truncated AGS folder just for the office (minus really hard-edged stuff, songs with innappropriate language & just falt-out weird shit that I enjoy listening to) that's 1.580 songs, and is good for just under 92 hours of listening time.

One of these days I'm going to buy an external hd for my Oppo, than watch out!

The main thing keeping me from doing so now, is i bought 6 32gb USB drives (one at a time) before I realized i was going to go through that much storage!

If I'm doing a mixtape-type compilation for someone else, I usually try to keep in 45-60 minutes... it's about creating an overall listening experience rather than just taking maximum advantage of storage space.

I'm actually starting a project for a friend's young (5) son, and my goal is to keep it under 30 minutes with individual tracks as close to the 3 minute mark as possible.