Saturday, February 12, 2011

And you kept us awake with wolves' teeth

I still indulge regularly in a pastime that grows quainter by the day: buying CDs. I use an iPod and that kind of thing, but I still like the hard copy of something in my hand. It's why I doubt I'll ever take to using a Kindle, or such things. Given that any music you like can now be found for nothing if you know where to look I've recently taken to viewing the exchange of money for music as almost an act of charity or benevolence. More grandly, I am a patron of the arts rather than a consumer these days. But the other day, teaching a class of 15 and 16 year-olds I said something about buying a CD and they were genuinely astonished, and then confused. They saw it as having no more point to it than collecting stamps, or trolls. And maybe it doesn't.

These were Peruvian students, but it's a pretty universal thing. Current 16 year-olds are unlikely to have had an interest in music that began in a time before pervasive internetness. The only teenagers you really see in record shops here are in HMV and they're in the games section. It's funny, you think you're moving along with the world just fine (albeit at your own pace) and then, suddenly, you're not.

7 comment(s):

Kitty Catastrophe said...

I'm with you on that entirely. I love having the actual CD and looking through the sleeve artwork, reading the thank yous and all that lovely analog stuff.

Andrew said...

Exactly. I also think you're more inclined to be patient with an album when you've bought the CD, as it's this live thing sitting by your stereo saying "Give me another go!", instead of being another file on a laptop.

Jo said...

Yes, totally. You used to really live with an album, now you just have it one file.

I don't do either at the moment, really, having left one behind and not caught up with the other. I miss music.

I dropped by Annie's house today, Andrew, ooo, I would like to live Round There. And buy live I mean mean, own a house with a beautiful designer kitchen extention, of course.

White Rabbit said...

It breaks my heart that the CD section in my local music shop has been swapped with the gaming floor and that DVDs have taken over most of the space.

Andrew said...

Jo - You dropped round Annie's house? While she's in China? Perhaps I shouldn't ask.
I like living Round Here. And by living I mean renting a very small basement flat.

White rabbit - Yeah, that happened quite suddnely, didn't it. I think it's the case with most recors stores now. i went into HMV one day and actually thought they had done away with music entirely at first. Turns out it's tucked away meekly in the basement now, as though the very notion of buying music is 'specialist'.

Jo said...

!

For shame. I was delivering a gift of Valentine's Day cupcakes!

http://conorh.tumblr.com/post/3292925366/i-have-the-best-girlfriend

Megan said...

You think you're not moving with the times? My reaction to that post was mainly "The fuck's a Kindle?". Le sigh.