With each new favorite I acquire, it takes the place of an old one. I only have so much time on this planet, so I don't often listen to a lot of my old favorites very often. I'm more prone to checking out my favorite songs from those while I explore new albums. Every once in a while I go through a phase were I listen to some of my old favorite albums.

This.

I know plenty of albums inside-out, but the trick is just to listen to something else for a couple months. Then when you come back to the album, even though you know it note for note it's been a long time since you've heard it. It also helps to get into binge mode. If you're just casually listening it probably won't do much, but if you leave a favorite band alone for a long time then just go nuts with their whole discography it's incredibly satisfying.

It also helps if the band actually has some fucking replay value.

The only time I ever felt like this is when I had no variety. Now, I have so much music, so many options, that I never get tired of it.
I agree with what people are saying about taking a break from an album once and awhile. I never listen to the same album more than twice a day, and if it's my first time hearing it (a new release), I'll listen to it about two to three times a week. Then I could go a couple of years without hearing that album again, it all depends what peaks my interest. Also, as someone mentioned, listening to certain tracks in a playlist as opposed to the entire album is another sure fire way of avoiding this issue. When I've collected enough new music (obviously you can only listen to so much in a year), I'll make a few playlists, each with an overall theme, and I'll be content to listen to those songs for weeks because it never gets repetitive and it's constantly different. In the playlist, I sometimes add incredibly fast songs with slow sad songs or sometimes I mix other styles of music with metal songs. It depends who you are, but restricting yourself to only metal could definitely make you sick of an album.

I'm with the majority here. Variety is what keeps everything interesting. If I don't feel like listening to Atheist, maybe I'll put on the Beatles. If I don't feel like listening to Slayer, perhaps I'll put on some Genesis. It really helps me appreciate everything. It's also possible that your musical taste could be changing. There are plenty of bands that I don't feel the same way about as I did years ago.

On the other hand, there are some bands I can listen to frequently and not get tired of. Symphony X and Blind Guardian come to mind here. I have a few favorites, but everything else will change with new releases or the sudden urge to listen to one of my old favorites.

Yeah that happens to me a lot. I buy an album that I want, listen to it a bunch of times, and then never listen to it again. But when I want to go clear out my CD or tape collection, I can't get rid of anything. Sometimes I have to force myself to do it. But some bands like that are Queensryche, Lamb of God, and Darkthrone.

Lately I've been feeling like I internalize music really quickly. Like, once I hear a song or album a number of times it loses it's tension. Good music is supposed to last a lifetime. Maybe I need to listen to some different sorts of music.

Master of Puppets...i listened to it so many times i just cant do it anymore
its awesome but i overplayed (?) it

I think it might be that I have a craving for more melodic stuff, power metal and such, but i don't have much.

Well, I generally tend to go for 3-4 month periods without getting anything new, so I do listen to some albums quite often. Generally speaking, I don't get burnout on albums which I like, and that 'burning out' kind of effect generally arises when I find something better which is doing a similar thing. So, for example, I can listen to albums like OSI's, Sider's, Holocaust's and APSoG very regularly without burning out, but I don't generally feel as much of an urge to listen to Ice Age or Opposite Earth, and generally take a break between each listen to bands along those lines, since I also listen to more major techno-thrash or 'cosmic' bands fairly often already. In a sense, I suppose that I 'burn out' on some albums by listening to albums which are similar but more replayable, and hence having less motivation to hear them often. On the other hand, generally I don't burn out on bands by listening to them too often, paradoxically enough.

That's what happend to me when I was first getting into metal. I listened to the same Maiden, Megadeth, Metallica and Manowar albums so much that I got bored and discovered punk. Years later I went back to them, was introduced to thrash and the rest is history, as they say...

I have a habit of not listening to my favourite albums non-stop so as to protect their longevity. My interest towards one piece of music always wanes over time, but in order not to make it repulsive in the future I try not to listen to it excessively. Allowing it to fade out allows me to enjoy it in the future, sometimes to an equal level as initially.

The massive initial reactions some music gives me can hardly ever be experienced again, however, though live performances may trigger said reactions even after the album version has long since ceased to give me the chills.

Haha, I try to do that as well sometimes. I'm not very succesfull however. If I discover some great new music (band / album) I try to limit the listening time, afraid I might "burn-out" on it. But then again, I love it too much at that time and can't get myself to stop spinning the stuff.

The overall problem get's smaller however, because over time I've gotten into much more different bands and genres so there's much more variety possible. Also the opportunities to find out about and acquire more music have grown massively since I started listening to metal (some 20 years ago); The internet to find new stuff and a decent job to provide for enough funds........