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Today's WaPo had an obit of sorts for Tower Records, the currently liquidating and soon to be out-of-business music store chain. I will miss their Fairfax store that although pricey, always had a pretty decent selection where one could find back catalogue albums not typically stocked at Borders, Best Buy, and the like. While the article reported on the impending closure the main thrust of it was a lament over the impending death of the tangible, physical album due to the multitudinous legal and illegal music downloading mediums. And I sympathize. I wonder how long it will be before market forces make it no longer feasible for labels and distributors to pour resources into the manufacturing of CD's. Even worse, will consumer demand for the physical album dry up altogether?
Not too long ago a friend of mine emailed me stating that he had "just made the leap." He had cashed a check for $1200 given to him by a local record trader in exchange for the entirety of his somewhat substantial collection of CD's. Being a devout member of the Apple/Mac cult and having transferred every piece of music he owned to his hard drive, he no longer felt the need to suffer what he saw as the "burden" of an album collection. I just don't get it. I could believe he did it as it was a long time coming but I could not empathize with his rationale. It seemed wasteful. It seemed betraying. It seemed as if he had somehow lessened the music that he owned.
I love my albums (disturbingly so). I love that with a single look I can absorb with my eyes what would take hundreds of hours to do with my ears. Their presence makes my home complete. I need the ability to reference lyrics, credits, release dates, labels, etc. without having to turn on my computer. And to be quite honest, I foolishly believe that I will marry the woman (or at the very least take her out for a steak dinner) who is seduced by my albums. "What a great collection, you have such incredible taste. Hey, can I get your opinion on this I underwear set I just bought at Victoria's Secret?" Yes it is true, all of my sexual fantasies involve ego-stroking, the validation of my cred, and of course frilly underthings.
So you see I must maintain my albums. I am chained to my compact discs because without them I would doom myself to a life of solitude. Of course some have intimated that it is in fact my weird obsession with such congeries that keeps me single. Paradoxes abound...
posted by Jason @ 7:57 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
I don't think that a desire to keep CDs keeps you single. If you need them in your bed with you when it's time to go to sleep...well, that's a different story.
I'm totally the same way. I have a lot of music on my hard drive, but nothing compares to how I feel about my wall of actual CDs. (Well, except for the way I feel about my 20-or-so records, except for the fact that, as of this weekend, my record player is broken.)
Who told you about that?
Dara, do you have one of those old Fischer Price record players? Because that would kick ass.
I had one of those when I was a kid. It was red, and I used it to play Disney records.
The one I have now is a Sony. It cost about $100 7 years ago, so if it's dead, it's no big loss. Still, I really wanted to listen to my vinyl copy of The Joshua Tree last weekend.
My CD cases just end up tossed on my floor or thrown in my car. Their life span is about a year, if they get lucky. CDs are all good and fun, but kinda a waste of space. I'm a minimalist, so major kudos to your friend for putting all his music on his computer. Less clutter and possesions equals greater happiness.
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