Over the weekend I traded in a bunch of used CDs at Ameoba. It's amazing how much an iPod has changed my whole way of thinking about music. I used to think about the discs, or tapes, and with every album the image of that cover would be conjured along with the music. Now the CD gets used exactly once, to rip the tracks into mp3 format. After that it sits on my shelf. Often I'll never even crack the booklet.

I'm still stubbornly hanging on to most of my CDs for now, though. I tell myself there may be a hard drive crash or something, and I'll need the backups. I think it's just some small part of me that can't comprehend the idea of ownership without a physical representation of what it is I'm owning. I think I'd be just as happy with a small framed certificate that read "The Bearer of This Certificate Hearby Owns The Decemberists' 'Castaways and Cutouts'. Amen."

Some day I'll bring people up to look at my music, books, movies, and art - and just point to a hard drive whirring away. Ain't she a beaut?

--opus

posted by opus  at 3:00 PM