Records

The Satisfaction of modern records

This morning I entered 4 download codes from 4 records I recently purchased. This isn't what I like best about records -- what I like best is how they force you to actually sit down and listen to music -- but it is one of the most satisfying aspects of modern vinyl. It's really nice and convenient to just open iTunes and download an album (or song) but then what do you have? I would much rather wait for a good cloud-based music service to be available (rdio is good, but not what Lala was or what Spotify would be) than download a song to a single computer (or device) and then go through the hassle of putting it on multiple other devices and computers that I use throughout the week.

With a record I know what I am getting. I am getting an object that I put into my record player and it works. It does not work in my iPod or CD player or computer... just the record player. I expect to listen to that music in one place; my living room. It's nice to download the music and have the option to transport it, but really, if I want to listen to it at work or at home I will usually just play it off of Grooveshark. I know this isn't the model for everyone... in fact, most people would rather download the song once to their iPhone and play it through the built-in speakers or plug it in to their stereo. That's cool (expect the built-in speaker part -- music should never go through those). The end.

P.S. The currently downloading song in the image is Mumford & Sons' Dharohar Project which you can listen to here