A second trip to Rasputin Records today confirmed that I am ready to shed the material excesses of my prolonged 40 year childhood. I walked in with a second full paper shopping bag and returned an hour later to claim my $75+ in cash. I haven’t owned a stereo in over 3 years. In fact, in retrospect, I think I resented having to have one. (Solid state memory is where it’s at, baby!) That should have been a sign to sell off my CDs (at least for starters) a long time ago. As I walked out of the record store, I had a very brief sense of getting one over on the near-future music consumers of America: “Suckers! That stuff will be worthless in 5 years!”. But a cursory glance around the place and a subsequent look at a young (20 something) carefree, grungy couple outside made me realize: THEY are the ones who will continue to buy CDs, DVDs, posters, video games, etc. THEY are the target market. Then it hit me:”Oh my God. This has nothing to do with technology and saving space. This means I’m getting old!!!” Images of a barely half-full CD carousel flooded my memory-the very one that sat in my parents’ living room for at least the past 20 years. Every time I visited with them and glanced at that spinnable plastic box, I would think, “My CD collection will always be at least ten times that. Music will always be of prime importance in my life”. Music IS still a big part of my life. But a man really isn’t defined by what he owns. So bits and bytes will suffice for me now-easily stored, easily moved and/or duplicated. No, AAC or mp3 files are no substitute for CD quality tracks. But with the amount of hearing loss I’ve sustained, it’s not likely I’ll be able to tell the difference in fidelity between my 128kbps iTunes purchases and the tracks I’ve ripped on my own at 224kbps…
Anyway, still 2 more bags to go. I am beginning to feel liberated, like I’ve burned the proverbial bra.