I painstakingly tore at the impossible CD packaging that held my long awaited album hostage. When I finally wrangled the case from it’s plastic straightjacket, the sound of the case clicking open was pure bliss.
I sat rubbing my fingers over the black glossy pages of the inside booklet and gawked at the centerfold photo: a beautiful, futuristic clear synthesizer.
I slid the bright red disc into the CD player in my car and just started to drive.
Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories not only gave life back to music, but also gave incredible tunes to every car ride of my summer.
On the day RAM came out I could have easily hopped online, typed in my credit card and downloaded the album in minutes. Instead, I chose to wait until the album was in my hands. I wanted to be parked somewhere beautiful with someone groovy by my side to experience their creation.
Many people scoff at the notion of reading a book on a Kindle or tablet; they believe nothing compares to the touch, smell and experience of holding the book in your hands and turning every page. I believe the same can be true for music. Nothing compares to finally holding the album in your hands, anxiously getting it open and letting the sweet sounds fill your ears.
Unfortunately, car companies don’t feel the same way.
CD players are making a quiet exit from cars and forcing us to give in to the ever-moving technology. From Chevrolet to Jeep, new cars are being designed sans the classic compact disc slot.
Via: blogs.automotive.com
It’s highly discouraged and even illegal in some states for people to text and drive, and yet new designs aim to be more distracting than ever before. CD players are being eliminated so that dashboard computer screens can get another inch or two bigger. I would rather hit one button to skip a track on my favorite CD than try and scroll through a music library of 3,000+ songs to find what I’d like to listen to.
Safety aside, this trend highlights how deeply the digital world has changed the way we listen to music.
Does it make sense to import those cheesy old mix CDs your best friends made you in 6th grade? I, personally, don’t think I need a digital version of emo alternative rock on my smartphone, but at the same time, on long road trips, it’s nice to have the option flip through the old discs and take a trip down music memory lane. I may be nostalgic, but to dispose of decades worth of CDs that exemplified exactly what music struck a chord with me at what time in my life in favor of a digital playlist, is the equivalent of tossing out old photo albums in favor of their digital counterparts on my laptop. My collection of CDs seems uniquely personal to me. I can’t say the same about the Spotify channels I subscribe to.
Technology continuously streamlines and simplifies our everyday experiences. You may have ditched your Walkman for an iPod with nothing but a shrug, but are you ready to do the same with your CDs?
If not, it might be a long, quiet drive.
