Music Material

Since some of my friends have yet to see such classics as The Breakfast Club or Say Anything, every Friday of this month has been dedicated to watching classic 80s teen movies. Accordingly, this past Friday we watched Pretty in Pink. Although the movie was overly dramatic (and thoroughly unsatisfying – she SHOULD have ended up with Duckie), I really enjoyed getting a glimpse at what life was like 25 years ago. I especially liked the scenes at TRAX, the local record store where Andie works. Seeing the endless rows of record sleeves made me nostalgically reminisce about the “record” stores of my youth – Sam Goody and FYE, which have since become virtually obsolete.

I guess my question to you is not if you like John Hughes movies (though you should – they are fantastic!), but if you ever miss buying an actual CD instead of an online MP3. Sure, you can get the album art online as well, but is it the same? Has the experience of music become less personal with the advent of iTunes, Rhapsody, and other digitized music stores? Or has technology been beneficial in that it has democratized music and made it easier for more people to enjoy and share? I would like to think that while there are many benefits to purchasing digital music files, there is nothing like running into your local Sam Goody and picking up the newest Spice Girls album. Sure you have to lug around 25 CDS on road trips, but there has always been a story behind the purchase of a physical CD that I have never had in the purchasing of a digital album. The influence of a physical album can be likened to an old (pre-digital) photo – there’s something about its physicality that makes it real, and thus, more personal.