Yesterday I bought a new album. The new one from the Presidents of the USA. I didn’t actually buy the CD, mind you. I downloaded the mp3 album from Amazon.com. Then I set my computer up to stream it wirelessly to my PSP via RSS. All without a physical disc to actually handle.
This century is pretty amazing the way in which the digital revolution has given the average consumer new ways in which to acquire media. You don’t even need a TV set to watch programs. I can watch “House” on my computer or catch up with “The Office” on my cell phone. It almost, but not quite, makes up for the lack of a flying car which folds up into a briefcase, a la George Jetson.
I suppose the point of this is, I remember how happy I was one Christmas as a kid, when my mom and dad gave me a portable phongraph. It wasn’t even a stereo, it was one which could be closed up like a suitcase and hauled around from place to place, but it was full-sized and had 3 speeds. I remember walking to the department store on Saturdays and putting down $5 for a new LP and walking home with it tucked under my arm. I remember rushing into my room where I had my little phono and taking the record out of the sleeve, putting it onto the turntable, and setting the tone arm down at the outer edge of the record. If I took care of the record, it would even actually sound nice for a few plays before dust would get in the groove and it would start popping and ticking, unlike CD’s or mp3’s, which always sound the same, no matter how often you play them. I remember buying a brush which you could attach to the tone arm and it would sweep dust out of the path of the needle. I remember taping pennies onto the tone arm to weight it down to prevent the records from skipping.
I love my computer and all the technology our digital age brings us, but sometimes nothing compares to memories of days long gone by.