Tag Archives: Music

This article took me back to weekends in New York City with my friends. We would spend countless hours pawing through the used record bins of the type of music stores that seem to only exist in dingy, downtown basements. It was long and tedious, and we loved it. You never knew what you were going to find in those bins. Would it be a 99 cent copy of Yellow Submarine? Quality Control by Jurassic 5? Ants In My Pants Parts 1-16 by James Brown (I kid you not)? Every shop was a treasure hunt, and we never knew what we would find. I miss that. Don’t get me wrong; I love the convenience of itunes. I love how it can recommend bands, and make me awesome playlists, but it’s just not the same. I miss the juxtaposition, the element of surprise, the ability to actually take a record in my hands and looks at the artwork. I understand it’s impractical, inefficient, and maybe even nonsensical, but that’s just how I feel. What I want is a real virtual record store, where you can look though bins of poorly organized music, never knowing what you’ll find next. Who knows, you might just fall in love with something that an algorithm never could have predicted you would like. Yet, this hasn’t stopped me from fully embracing sites like Netflix and Amazon. At home I’m a total Netflix Nazi. Everything must be rated, and selections must be approved, as to not throw off future recommendations. I guess I’m torn between my love of convenience and desire to stay rooted to elements of the past. I’m not sure it matters though, it looks like things are moving toward the digital and I’ll just have to learn to accept that.