Yesterday, I was reading on Slashdot about a fellow who wanted a replacement for CD Jewel Cases. A large majority of response were along the lines of “Well, just upload the music to your computer, and get rid of those silly CDs”. I had a similar comment yesterday from ellipticcurve, who was saying I should just upload my music to the mp3 server, and not worry about bringing CDs back and forth.
I was thinking about this on the van in this morning. I considered it carefully. I came to the realization that I don’t like uploaded music. Why? The answer is simple. I want something tangible.
Over the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, I ammassed a fair-sized collection of LPs. Vinyl. With great cover art that you could look at. With notes on the back of the album to read as you listened. I bypassed pre-recorded cassettes for the most part: I would buy the vinyl instead, and record the cassettes for the car. CDs are similar: I like looking at the CD art and reading the CD booklets. I’ve kept my vinyl because I still go back to the albums for reference. Hell, I still even buy used vinyl on occasion, and burn it to CD for listening in the office or the car. But I really like the tangible aspect: the album art, the album notes.
I have fond memories of Licorice Pizza or Music Odyssey on Wilshire Blvd, with the large album art hanging on the building. I remember going to those stores (before sneaking upstairs to play pinball at Odyssey) and flipping through the albums. I remember such innovations as the zipper on the cover of Sticky Fingers, the program included with Tenderloin, and the fascinating historical information in some CD booklets.
I’m sorry, but you just don’t get that with downloads and mp3s. Bits, bits, and more bits. But no art. Nothing tangible, to sit back in your bean-bag chair, pop on the headphones, and read while you listen.
And the music they listen to today… it’s just noise.
P.S.: Downloads aren’t great for the artists either. According to another Slashdot article, Weird Al Yankovic recently said he makes far less money when you buy from iTunes than when you buy an actual CD. Weird Al could be losing up to 85% of his record sales income due to the ‘weird’ ways the record companies compute digital sales.
