subject: What's Better Than Going To The Record Store? [print this page] Among the coolest and most useful parts of technology advances is that you get to see and hear things that you might never have thought possible. One example of this is music downloads, specifically with MP3 music players. Like most people that grew up before the turn of the last century, I never thought that downloaded and digital music as a whole would ever appeal to me in a broad way.
Digital music, such as you find pre-loaded on your computer or in compact disc form is one thing, but to download it and move digital files across multiple devices seemed too farfetched and futuristic to me. I was happy enough with my large book of CD's and the artwork that came with them. Like most people, going to the record store or music store as it may be referred to these days since vinyl has nearly become extinct, was one of the more enjoyable parts of picking up new music.
Digging through the rows and rows of CD's and looking at the artwork and talking to the people that worked at the store and listening to the clips when they were available was all part of the experience. Sometimes you would hear the newest music playing over the stores stereo and ask what it was and then completely change your mind of why you were in the store and pick up something entirely different, spur of the moment.
All of these things were part of the process, and when you unwrapped that CD or cassette tape or even vinyl album, you were never exactly sure of what you were going to hear once you put it in the player. That was part of the excitement and fun of it all, although you would be very disappointed if there was only one good song, the one they played on the radio, which was any good on the album. Like many people, I resisted the change and scoffed at the idea of buying the music via download.
But I have come to see the light, like so many people, of the convenience and variety that you never would have gotten going to the record store. I mean, I can be listening to my MP3 device to Pandora or one of the other music applications, hear something that I had never heard before, something amazing and powerful and immediately buy and download it onto my device without ever leaving my couch. That is truly amazing.
