Those of you who've been following this blog since it's early incarnation (back when it was called the much-catchier "Kill Your iPod") know that I've been fairly resistant to digital music. That's all changed now, and I feel I owe you that much of a confession.
I have an iPod, and I love it.
Please know that I didn't purchase it. My friend Eeon gave it to me, either as a bribe or because he's a very nice person. It's a mini in a white silicone case with my pink Monster High headphones. What I really love is the "shuffle" feature. I'm in the process of loading all my music onto it, and I love the randomness of hearing Steely Dan's "Everyone's Gone to the Movies" followed by Billy Idol's "Dancing with Myself" followed by Electronic's "Some Distant Memory."
Part of it is a desire to pair down what I own. I'm in the process of going through my CD collection and trying to figure out what stays and what goes. In the digital era, do I really need Reel Big Fish's Turn the Radio Off if, on the rare occasion when I do listen to it, I'm only going to play two songs before I remember how dumb it is. If ten years from now, if my computer explodes and my ipod melts and I absolutely need to hear "Sellout," I trust that I will be able to find it somewhere in the vastness of the digital universe.
But the great thing about picking through 500+ CDs is discovering music I'd forgotten about--like the Crash Test Dummies' awesome cover of XTC's "Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead" or The Long Blondes "Giddy Stratospheres" or Feeder's "Comfort in Sound."
In order to continue justifying my music smugness, however, I've decided that stuff I don't care a whole lot about is going to be purchased digitally and music I love is going to be purchased on vinyl. No more CDs. I managed to pick up Donald Fagan's The Nightfly, Tom Waits Nighthawks at the Diner and Huey Lewis and the News Sports for $15 bucks total, and I have to say, no digital transfer of Fagan's "IGY" comes close to how unbelievable smooth it sounds on vinyl (it's what they use to test the sound systems at The Beacon theater in NYC, where I saw Steely Dan back in Sept) .
Clearly, I'm not the only person who realizes this (even if I was into vinyl before it's resurgence, as Kill Your iPod readers will remember) because I was crossing through FYE the other day and THEY had a vinyl section. And not just a bunch of old Eagles records--new stuff by Taylor Swift (blech) and reissues of classics like The Clash (yes!).
Smugness justified. Carry on.
I have an iPod, and I love it.
Please know that I didn't purchase it. My friend Eeon gave it to me, either as a bribe or because he's a very nice person. It's a mini in a white silicone case with my pink Monster High headphones. What I really love is the "shuffle" feature. I'm in the process of loading all my music onto it, and I love the randomness of hearing Steely Dan's "Everyone's Gone to the Movies" followed by Billy Idol's "Dancing with Myself" followed by Electronic's "Some Distant Memory."
Part of it is a desire to pair down what I own. I'm in the process of going through my CD collection and trying to figure out what stays and what goes. In the digital era, do I really need Reel Big Fish's Turn the Radio Off if, on the rare occasion when I do listen to it, I'm only going to play two songs before I remember how dumb it is. If ten years from now, if my computer explodes and my ipod melts and I absolutely need to hear "Sellout," I trust that I will be able to find it somewhere in the vastness of the digital universe.
But the great thing about picking through 500+ CDs is discovering music I'd forgotten about--like the Crash Test Dummies' awesome cover of XTC's "Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead" or The Long Blondes "Giddy Stratospheres" or Feeder's "Comfort in Sound."
In order to continue justifying my music smugness, however, I've decided that stuff I don't care a whole lot about is going to be purchased digitally and music I love is going to be purchased on vinyl. No more CDs. I managed to pick up Donald Fagan's The Nightfly, Tom Waits Nighthawks at the Diner and Huey Lewis and the News Sports for $15 bucks total, and I have to say, no digital transfer of Fagan's "IGY" comes close to how unbelievable smooth it sounds on vinyl (it's what they use to test the sound systems at The Beacon theater in NYC, where I saw Steely Dan back in Sept) .
Clearly, I'm not the only person who realizes this (even if I was into vinyl before it's resurgence, as Kill Your iPod readers will remember) because I was crossing through FYE the other day and THEY had a vinyl section. And not just a bunch of old Eagles records--new stuff by Taylor Swift (blech) and reissues of classics like The Clash (yes!).
Smugness justified. Carry on.
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