I was tempted to start this by saying that 2009 was the year I stopped buying CDs, but of course it’s not as simple as that. Labels will continue making packages that are only available in that format, smaller bands appreciate the relative cost of manufacturing CDs (as compared to vinyl [if they offer a physical product at all]), etc.
More thorny, though, are those bands caught “in between” my preferred formats as they’ve switched. For example, I really liked Camera Obscura’s Let’s Get Out of This Country from two or three years ago. And, it being two or three years ago, what I picked up was a CD copy. But this year, they released a follow-up, and I’m not sure whether to commit to a vinyl copy…or go the more cautious route of getting it on eMusic. But CD? That middle thing? In 2009, in so many instances, this has felt silly to me in a way it never used to.
(Camera Obscura’s a recent, one-album, case. For bands I’ve known and felt deeply through several compact disc releases, it gets a bit weirder. These have been “CD bands” to me, and perverse as it sounds, I’d like to keep it that way. I mean, I don’t want to switch format horses at what might be the midpoint of the Decemberists’ library. Ditto for Ted Leo, double for my Johnny Cash — the closest thing to a “collection” of any single artist I have. This is a weird tick that I hope will work itself out…but we’ll see.)
As for MP3s, well. Last night I was looking over The Onion’s year-end top 25 list, and I found myself gazing at the cover of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, sort of basking in the recognition of that icon, letting it trigger memories of the songs therein… And this will sound like the smallest, dumbest thing, but I experienced warm and fuzzy feelings without any follow-up anxiety over the fact that I “only” have that album in MP3 format.
I think the anxiety’s gone and I feel relaxed about it because there are quite a few new albums I’ve experienced this year after obtaining them online. But the important thing is that, once obtained, I still experienced them fully as albums. I think there’s always been a part of me that’s felt paranoid about MP3s, that these shards of song will somehow, by their very fragmentary nature, break my albums apart. But it turns out that this ALBUM part of me is impossible to shatter. Feeling that, I can relax, and turn on to some amazing stuff in the process. Just like in the old days. I guess. This stuff is so obvious to many of you fine people, but what the heck…
[End of rant proper, but...]
A postscript about what I mean when I say “obtained online.” I don’t mean filesharing, because 1) I’m not poor any more, 2) I’m not in a race to hear things before they’re “officially” released, and 3) filesharing software seems clunky, and there’s no guarantee that what you get won’t sound like total shit and/or will have the right credits and/or artwork, etc. In other words, even at “free,” the cost/benefit analysis just doesn’t work out for me.
I also don’t mean iTunes, because while I’ve admitted here to being cool with the format, $.99 per MP3 (or even $9.99 per MP3 album) still seems like a high price-point for a non-physical thing that doesn’t even create spreadsheets. Right? It just seems nuts that something we can all SEE doesn’t need to be warehoused on a shelf…and doesn’t need to be shipped to my door…should cost anywhere near something that DOES. I am merely saying this.
Lastly, I don’t mean Rhapsody. Because while many of my friends, erm, rhapsodize about the service, the idea of relying on an internet connection to listen to music strikes me as a headache waiting to happen.
But eMusic. Oh, eMusic. I pay something like $17 a month to download four or five albums. This is an agreeable price-point, and I really look forward to that day each month when my credits are replenished and I can “pick up” whatever albums I’ve read about and bookmarked. It’s really eMusic’s album-centric site and service that’s eased me into the world of purely digital music. They integrate with Allmusic, they offer plentiful editorial content (“guides” to west coast hip-hop and whatnot), and their selection is crazy huge.
So thanks to them, and thanks to you, and stay tuned for a possible top 10 or two.
