CDs?!?
At Jen's urging, I"m going through my packed CD shelves (I've got hundreds of them) to clean up some.
As a long-time semi-pro DJ, I acquired a lot of CDs that I never hugely cared for, and we only have just so much space. It's not that I've given up on the format; I recently doubled down on physical media, picking up a new CD player of decent quality, and I've got it (along with our turntable) hooked up to speakers in our dining room. It's not that I'm a snob about format; I probably blew out my ears too badly, while DJing, to distinguish fine differences. But besides the tactile joy of a physical artifact, there's something special about being forced to listen to an entire album, disabling your own ability to easily skip around.
I'm discovering during this process that I have a lot of CDs with music I could not replace. And I don't just mean, "I can't still buy this CD"... I mean, digital versions of a lot of it don't exist. I always did listen to weird music, and I've got a lot of rare stuff or obscure remix singles. It's kind of scary, but it's also a reminder of our own lack of permanence. I'm sure plenty of great music has already been lost forever. The world will be fine without a couple of weird goth remixes.
I can't quite bring myself to toss some of them in a wastebin, though. And let's be honest: nobody wants a bunch of weird ass obscure CDs that I was the only one listening to in the 90's, much less now, so I can't even give them away. (So far, Flan by Dogbowl has beaten out The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown for "Weirdest," but give me time.)
As a long-time semi-pro DJ, I acquired a lot of CDs that I never hugely cared for, and we only have just so much space. It's not that I've given up on the format; I recently doubled down on physical media, picking up a new CD player of decent quality, and I've got it (along with our turntable) hooked up to speakers in our dining room. It's not that I'm a snob about format; I probably blew out my ears too badly, while DJing, to distinguish fine differences. But besides the tactile joy of a physical artifact, there's something special about being forced to listen to an entire album, disabling your own ability to easily skip around.
I'm discovering during this process that I have a lot of CDs with music I could not replace. And I don't just mean, "I can't still buy this CD"... I mean, digital versions of a lot of it don't exist. I always did listen to weird music, and I've got a lot of rare stuff or obscure remix singles. It's kind of scary, but it's also a reminder of our own lack of permanence. I'm sure plenty of great music has already been lost forever. The world will be fine without a couple of weird goth remixes.
I can't quite bring myself to toss some of them in a wastebin, though. And let's be honest: nobody wants a bunch of weird ass obscure CDs that I was the only one listening to in the 90's, much less now, so I can't even give them away. (So far, Flan by Dogbowl has beaten out The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown for "Weirdest," but give me time.)