I 'own' over 1500 albums in
mp3 format and therewith have access to pretty much
everything that is
out there. I am a posterchild for the
RIAA - except for the fact that
I still buy cds, at the rate of about two a month. The same rate at which I had bought music before starting my collection. I'm by no means
rich; I mentally curse every time I pay the
grocer or have to get another textbook - but I still buy CDs.
Why on earth would I waste my money on little plastic discs containing the same thing (I can't hear the difference at 192) of what I download?
Sentimental value. We all have three or four cds that our hands have put into that old cd-player at times of passion, grief, happiness... over and over again. When I look at my INCredible sound of Drum'n'Bass CD, the orange top, inaudible scratches at the bottom, I can't help but remember cast party... driving out to the field, pulling out of the liquor store parking lot, the first track blasting from the speakers... smoking out with the Quarterback and talking around track four... Memories, though faded, return.
I hit play, the cd spins up briefly - and the initial beat sets in. Two measures into the song I can smell the new pack of cloves, feel the cool night breeze and taste the anticipation of a two-hundered people (mostly friends) party. Speeding across the countryside, looking out for cops, parking in the mud and talking to Nicole's dad... All of these things return as, in an almost dreamlike state. Try doing that with an Mp3.
But, like, you could get a cd-burner!
Even the best of blanks (Verbatim Blues in my experience) decay after two years. That, and I can hear the difference of a cd-r and a pressed cd. That, and cd-rs don't play in all cd-players. That, and I like the cover art. =)
dmagoo: Actually, the reason it sounds different is because decay starts soon, and it starts on a binary level. Way before the cd stops reading, individual pits are "worn" (organic matter obeys the law of enthropy) and the sound quality suffers noticeably.