The Down Side of Technology

In my most recent coaching session, I was talking about a clip from an interview I had seen. Kurt Cobain was being interviewed by Much Music in August of 1993. In this interview he was asked if money can buy happiness. In his response he mentioned that before his fame when he was broke and didn’t have a lot of money, he’d make trips to the second hand store and look around. He never knew if he’d find anything he wanted or if he’d be able to afford it. Those items he did buy meant more to him than being able to go to any store and buy whatever he wanted.

That stuck with me and I mulled it over in my mind for awhile. It sparked a remembrance from the older days before I had a computer and mp3 player. One of my favorite pass times was going shopping at used music stores. I never knew what I would find but I would always leave my apartment, mind brimming with anticipation of what I might find. The whole way to the stores I would make a mental list of what I was looking for. I never knew what would be there and it was always a joyous adventure to discover new rarities by whoever I was into at the time. Not having access to a computer I never knew what had been released.

Now due to online shopping and music downloads I have gotten so lazy. All I have to do is visit the sites and click to buy. It is either shipped to my door or it is downloaded right to my computer. The only thing I need to do is make sure my debit card has money on it. It is still an adventure looking for music online because I never know where I’ll find the best price and with some of the russian sites I never know what rare, out of print, or bootlegged gems I will stumble upon. However there is a magic in having to get ready, ride the bus, and actively go to the store and spend hours sifting through the just in bins and the countless genres to find what you want. Usually I don’t buy physical CD’s because who has all the space for them anymore and they can easily be downloaded from on line. Another reason for musical downloads is they can be cheeper, especially if the CD is brand new or has just been released. If I stick only to online shopping I will miss out on the artwork and lyric sheets provided in most CD’s today.

Something else I find that threatens by experience, thanks to the cheeper russian sites is I can get hundreds of songs for the price of 2 new CD’s or 3 or 4 used ones. In one day of online shopping I can get overwhelmed by an increasing number of albums and songs. Who can possibly go through all that music? I have listened to all my songs at least a couple of times but what usually happens is there are a few artists or bands that I gravitate towards and I end up listening to them more then the others so I build an ever growing library of music that I barley know. I can’t seem to find the quality time to spend in order to get better acquainted with it all. So much of my musical library I would need to play a portion of it just to know how it goes or remember why I have it. As an American I have been swept up in the idea that more is better. This isn’t always and as I’m learning, rarely the case.

There is countless reasons that online shopping is awesome and sometimes better. If you’re looking for a rare or hard to find CD you would have to wait until one day if ever, it came into the store but with Amazon, ebay, etc; It widens your search to the whole world. Some Albums are still very difficult to find but you have better chances. Another good point of online shopping is purchasing individual songs, gone are the days when you had to buy a whole album not knowing if you were going to like it just for one or two songs. Usually I am able to listen to sound clips and buy only what I want, however the down side of this is that sometimes music grows on me if I give it a chance.

While I love the invention of the iPod and other mp3 players I have lost playing albums the way they were meant to be heard from the 1st track to the end. I seem to always have shuffle activated. Shuffle is a great idea for parties or for experiencing the album in a new way but I have become excessive with its use. I am rediscovering the joy of listening to an album from start to finish.

Who remembers mix tapes and CD’s? This is another pleasure we have lost. It was a joy to compile a collection of favorites and themed music for my own personal use or to give to friends. They can still be made on an iPod in the form of playlists but there is something special about the limitations of figuring out a mixed tape/CD. I only had so much room to work with, while a playlist on an mp3 player is unlimited. Although both have merit I have lost the joy of those collections. I use to make collections of my favorite music and today I only have the track list for one of them from 2000. It is nice to be able to go back and see what I was into at that time. I wish I would have kept more of those lists in my journal to look over.

The hunt for music is still there it has just changed and adapted due to the rise of technology, our ever fast paced culture, and our increasing laziness. Sometimes it’s better to get out and go searching for music the old fashioned way. I have decided to do just that. Starting today I went out and looked for music. I bought two CD’s that I could have gotten cheeper had I done so online but it was fun to go searching in a store. I’m beginning to slow my pace so that I can enjoy getting to know the music I buy better. At least once a year I will make my self one or two mix CD’s of my favorite music for the year. It will be rewarding to revisit those mixes and see how my tastes in music evolve through the years.