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We're finally going to settle into a house in a few weeks, having been on the move for a few years, now. That means a lot has been un-boxed. And for me a significant portion of the personal effects are CD's. And I'm really looking forward to getting back with them.
I also have maybe 30 vinyl albums that I started picking up at used-stuff places here and there in response to my wife getting me one of those mini portable record players with built-in speakers. No, it's not audiophile grade. But neither are the albums. But neither do I fucking care.
Right now that fucker's set up in the garage, which has been perfect because that's where I've been spending most of my un-boxing/un-bin-ing and cardboard-breaking-down-for-recycle time.
So fucking glorious! I've some Moody Blues, some Beatles, a couple Zep's. Yesterday I had Linda Ronstadt's "Greatest Hits" going (the album cover alone is sufficient joy and/or satisfaction, if ya know what I mean..).
In a way, the CDs will be disappointing by comparison. I've so many that I eventually had to trash the casings in favor of relegating the actual discs to spindles, which of course blows convenience out the window unless I painstakingly order them alphabetically.
But what I want to do instead is find sheets of pouches right-sized for CDs, and cover walls with those so that all the CDs are "in sight, in mind", so to speak. That would be so fucking cool.
I suppose dust will wreck that plan unless I'm taking a leaf blower to them on a regular basis. Always something in this motherfucking world....
But what I'm describing sounds like a huge dose of musical freedom compared to being perpetually at the mercy of the for-profit crowd running streaming situations.
I dunno. I guess I'm somewhat addicted to having Alexa play things, and it seems pretty good at it, and I think my wife is a "Prime" member, so there doesn't seem to be extra cost or advertising overhead. But I still feel somewhat a dupe/slave in that arrangement.
Another really cool thing about albums/CDs is there were a lot of bands back when I was a kid whose albums I couldn't afford, and so all I heard was their "hits" on terrestrial radio, meaning I've still not heard 90%+ of what they created. So if/when I can find an album for three bucks or whatever, I'm suddenly unlocking and accessing a world that was there all along, but that a fucking paper route couldn't afford.
It's a rather exciting prospect!
I miss the realm of physical media. Starting w/ tapes in 1990 (7 years old), and then CDs in 93, I had many of each. 100+ tapes at one point, 60 or so CDs over time. Streaming media is a no go for me, as I won't pay for Spotify or Tidal monthly, I have Prime, I don't want to mess with Prime stuff. Free shipping is all I really want/need. I download every song/album I want from YouTube on the YT frontend for Android (via F-Droid) called NewPipe, which I can download directly from the app. I look up a song, download Audio Only using the standard/max bitrate (br doesn't matter for me, though I think Hi Rez, cd quality (or even FLAC?) are options w/ NewPipe), and once it is in the Downloads folder, I transfer to MUSIC-MAIN on my MicroSD, and then copy everything over to the laptop every so often, as well. Only 300 songs right now, surprisingly. Seems like much much more. I want this massive glob of MP3s just to resort to, refer back to for long term, though I may dabble with physical media in the future. I'd likely go the "make mixtapes with reckless abandon and obsession" method again, as it worked well when I was a kid, lol.
Records, I want to love them, love the idea of them, I do not love them or want to bother owning them, collecting them, paying for them, investing in music rigs, etc. I was there at one point, gave up that ghost not long after getting into it. Headphones and MP3 suffice for a commoner and bottom feeder such as myself ;)
And the headphones are more broken in now. Will be used all day throughout the day. Right now I have the window open with war birds chirping their territorial hymns in the field just beyond, coffee going, cig going (maybe I can chase them off with some egregious puffs out the window?), and then plugging the drums with different tunes from said MUSIC-MAIN playlist.