Meaning
I was thinking the other night about downloading music and what it means for the poor old cd. I am a child of tapes and a teenager of cds - meaning, I guess, that when I was a child (excluding my first Kiss albums) my music came on tapes and when I turned about 14 I got my first cd player and from there on out it was all cds. As a kid I would get actual tapes from the store or tape music directly from the radio…oh the good ole days. It took a lot more patience back then to accomplish that sort of thing. You would have to wait for the radio station to play the song you wanted and be ready with your tape recorder…and pray that your little sisters wouldn’t come in and yell something which would interfere with the recording….because remember for all of you born after 1980 - the tape recorder was taping from your speakers, not internally.
Anyway, where am I going with this…basically I’m thinking about why I love my cds so much and even now when I could easily download new music I still will go and buy a cd most of the time. And I think it’s for the same reason I buy books and don’t go to the library. Because there is a slight chance this book with be so good that I couldn’t part with it. The book becomes the physical thing I can hold on to when I’m finished reading. I can just glance at my bookcase and see it sitting on the shelf and it makes me happy - like getting a hug from a friend. And I love my cds the same way, even when I’m not listening to the music I can see the cd cover in passing and think back on how the music makes me feel. And going one step further, I love physical cds because they come, if I’m lucky, with lyrics and I’m a person who can’t help but sing along. I also love liner and artist thank you notes. It just takes me one more step closer to knowing, or feeling like I know, what the musician was thinking about when they created the music. Because if I love the cd, like I love Chinatown by The Be Good Tanyas, for instance, I want to be able to cram every ounce of them into my brain…and I feel like I get that from buying actual cds.
NOW, I know what you are thinking - A, Krista you are making not one ounce of sense or B, Krista - um haven’t you heard of websites?? And my answer is this - I know I am not making sense, but this is my blog and I don’t always have to and B, but I can’t be on a website all the time. Like, right now I can see my Chinatown cd…I can look at it and see the cover and smile about how awesome the album is…but I also can see behind it my Patty Griffin album that I was listening to along with it and my Wilco cd…all of it…visually and not virtually. I suppose that is what I don’t like…I don’t want all of my stuff to be virtual…I don’t want them all to be stored somewhere that I can’t see. I want them to be sitting in my apartment, next to my books, and my cat, and my shoes….does that make sense?
Can I get an amen?
March 22nd, 2007 at 12:29 pm
I can’t remember the last time I bought a cd. Though I did get the new Shins album for my bday and was very happy to have it in physical form.
March 22nd, 2007 at 3:02 pm
Why Liz? Why were you happy to have it in physical form?? I want to know reasons? What if they just emailed you the mp3s?
March 22nd, 2007 at 3:45 pm
i agree with most of what you said, but i hate storing the actual cds! i hate having to find space for them! and i’m too lazy to organizing them alphabetically when its so easy to organize music on my iPod or computer. also, i’m a creature that gets bored easily and can’t very well listen to one whole album in a sitting. i am the queen of mixed cds. i need to have variety. and again, the laziness thing comes in to place. i hate having to hunt for the next song i want to listen to, and then find that album and then insert that cd…….its just easier to just make playlists.
March 23rd, 2007 at 6:42 am
When I was little we bought 45″s and played them on our record player. We played them over and over again, picking up the needle and putting it, very carefully, back to the beginning line of the song. When you played the song so many times the record wore out and you needed to buy a new one. Then 8 tracks came into being—-I spent many wasted minutes rewinding a song in order to hear it again. Sometimes I would rewind too far and the 8 track would flip over to the “other side” and I would be lost somewhere in 8 track land until my favorite song came along again. Cassette tapes came next, easier to store in your car, but not too much different from an 8 track. Finally, and most wonderfully, CD’s. With the press of a button you could move instantly anywhere on the disc. I still can’t get over it–that’s how old I am. However, no matter how many new gadgets come into being, you can’t take away my memory of laying on the floor of my first apartment in Reston Virginia and listening to Joni’s Blue album while reading the inside of the cover, over and over again, while the guy downstairs banged on the ceiling.
March 23rd, 2007 at 4:22 pm
I like the art on the album covers. I guess it’s why I like getting my New Yorkers (for their covers) and McSwys better than just reading the content online. When someone has made an effort for the packaging to be more than just packaging, then you’re getting something else. On the other hand, I really like not having stacks of cds around. I know this will make you cringe, the same way it would if someone didn’t like having books around, but it’s so much clutter. I’ve always loved music, but not the way I love books. I don’t know why.