I was browsing my music collection this evening. When I do that I usually run across something I haven’t listened to in ages and ages and tonight was no exception. This evening it happened to be Pet Shop Boys, “Very”. For those that remember it, or have it, it’s the CD they put out in the opaque orange jewel case embossed with little circles.
Thats when it hit me. I haven’t routinely bought physical music for a long time. Oh, when I lived up in Portland, I would always buy the KINK Live CDs at Starbucks every fall. It benefits SMART (Start Making A Reader Today) and it’s locally produced by the KINK staff and each edition usually has some pretty awesome acoustic tracks on it from some very cool artists.
But other than that, I’m pretty much an iTunes guy nowadays … like a million other people, I suppose.
But I MISS going to the record store and buying physical media. I started thinking abut that tonight, trying to think of what it is that I miss. It can’t be the convenience factor – searching online and downloading is much more convenient and efficient than going to the record store and maybe or maybe not finding the album you’re looking for.
I think its the hunt itself, frankly. I think back to when I was a young man, especially back when we were all buying vinyl, and I remember, if dimly, the charge I would get in finding an album that I’d been looking for. I remember the feeling of “Wow! NEW music!” that would hit me as I placed the needle on the record, or later slid the shiny CD in to the tray.
You usually bought the album because you heard a song on the radio, or in a club, or at a friends house. You might have bought that album for one stinkin’ song! Sometimes that one song was the only thing worth listening to on the album too. Most of the time, though, there were other good songs on the disc and in some cases, there were some real gems hidden away as track 9.
Buying music online is nice, I can’t deny it. The simplicity of finding pretty much anything you want any time you want it and having it in your personal music device of choice within seconds can’t be denied.
But there’s something missing. Wandering around a record store, browsing the bins, maybe even flirting a little with the clerk at the counter (it only happened once … In fact, when I bought PSB’s Very…) spending time reading the song lists, looking at the album art, discovering a completely new artist because the store was playing something cool and you asked about who it was.
Maybe it’s time to visit the local record store again.
Are any still in business?
