Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Digital music has screwed me up

Back in the day when I would buy an album, tape, or cd - I would listen to the album over and over learning each song in the order they were on the album. I examined the album cover and liner notes. I read the song lyrics (if available) as I listened to the song. I knew everything about the album.

Now I either buy the cd and rip it immediately to my computer and never look at the cd again, or I download it off itunes. Which means: that often I have very little idea what the album cover looks like and I never see the liner notes, unless it's a cd I bought and I take the time to really examine them.

And the thing that really screws me up is - I like to play the songs on shuffle, which means I have no idea what the track numbers are. I don't know the order of the songs on the cd, unless I really make a note to play the album in order. I have to really pay attention to even remember the titles of the songs. It's totally different from how I used to listen to music - it's completely screwed me up.

1 comment:

Kim said...

Ditto. iTunes has totally changed the way that I deal with my music. Unlike the good old days of carrying my K-tel albums over to my neighbor's house to listen to them (and try to ignore all the places where they skip), I am taking music files and franticly uploading them too all kinds of devices in what seems like total necessity. I remember studying the album covers - and even smelling them! An album was a really special package. Now, it's like screw the packaging! How fast can I get this in the car, on my shuffle and in my iTunes at work?