I love music! I started my collection when I was a child with vinyl records (you know those big black shiny things called LPs that spun around on a turntable at 33 1/3 revolutions per minute.) The records soon got replaced by cassette tapes. I bought hundred of tapes. Then CDs came into the mix. I held out for as long as I could.
I argued that Compact Discs were an oxymoron. They were not compact at all. They actually took up more room than my trusty cassettes. I could go out with my Walkman and stuff three tapes in one of my jeans’ pockets and four tapes in another. I could then have plenty of music for a day out. I wasn’t even able to fit one CD into my jeans so I kept buying cassettes.
I was buying tapes when the record stores were fazing them out. I owned over a hundred cassettes by the time I gave in to the new format. I realized it was pointless trying to keep cassettes alive and I started buying CDs in the early to mid 1990’s. Since then I have acquired quite the collection.
This summer, I started a project to organize my collection. I rented a CD burner deck that I could plug my tape deck directly into. This way I was able to transfer my old cassette tapes to the CD format. It was a long and slow process, as I had to record in real time and monitor each recording to insert the track divisions. It was worth it though. I now have my cassettes on CD, which is definitely a plus since it has become increasing more difficult to even find tape decks in this day and age.
Here was what my summer recording set up looked like.
Technology moves way too fast. I mean I just got used to CDs and now the format has changed again. I might be one of the last holdouts. I love buying albums. I don’t want to buy music files for my computer. I want the whole experience. I want to open up the packaging, admire the artwork, read the credits, and explore each new album that I buy. With digital music on MP3s, that is missing. The only plus I can see is that it is a lot more manageable. I mean my tapes, CDs, and vinyl take up so much room. But that is a story for tomorrow.
2 responses to “How to Organize My Music”
But think about it from this perspective: if you are a start up band, you don’t have to try to come up with the money to buy, burn and do a design for your CD cover. You don’t have to predetermine how many CDs you want to produce, then be stuck with all that merchandise if your enterprise flops. If it’s all digital, you can just copy your songs to send to someone. Then there’s grass roots marketing (viral markeing) in that you can sacrifice revenue just to get your name out there, like some great Canadian bands have done in the past. (Simple Plan comes to mind, but I’m not sure if that’s acurate info or not.) Sure it costs a lot to make the album in the first place (my friends did it once in their basement) but I’m just saying that additional cost is much lower. And I know you love music Chase. As long as the artists are getting paid, buying music over the internet is a really expedient way for start-out bands to get heard. S
You make very valid points Silverfish. I just think that the whole music experience is lessened in the digital format. It is also getting really watered down now. It seems like anyone can make an album. Everyone seems to be a rapper these days because it is too easy to create and release music.
The quality of the album is something that people don’t seem to consider. Digital music is actually killing the album. It seems to be moving back toward the single, like it was in the past. I grew up with albums and love everything about them. Album cuts are sometimes better than the lead single. And if the lead single doesn’t perform well, you might not hear another one. Plus the album is an art; not just in how the tracks are positioned, laid out, and sequenced, but the art and layout of the packaging as well. It is an experience and it feels great to own the entire package.