Why I’m still listening to CDs

I love music. However when I was a poor college student I couldn’t afford to pay for albums–digital or physical. So once I got a job I subscribed to Rdio and later Spotify. The value proposition seemed almost too good to be true. You can listen to pretty much everything anywhere for the price of an album every month? Unbelievable.

But when bought a new car about 10 years ago I did something strange. The car came with a very basic audio system, which meant no USB ports or bluetooth for streaming. I figured one day I’d get around to replacing it with something fancy, but there’s no rush. In the end I never did.

Instead I started buying CDs again like it was 1999. Even though I already paid for Spotify. Even though I’m into minimalism and dislike clutter. I do like some sweet cover art though.

As someone who usually listens to random songs on shuffle mode it was refreshing to get through an entire album from start to finish, as the artist intended. I also enjoy the ritual of picking an album for the ride and being constrained to what’s on there instead of being spoilt for choice in my digital Spotify library. Maybe it’s part nostalgia, part laziness but I see no reason to change for now. I realise it’s silly to spend money on albums I technically already have and I don’t plan on collecting a large amount CDs anytime soon–they all have to fit in the glove box, so curating is key.

Anyway, a while back I was pleasantly surprised when I came across this article about CDs, cassette tapes and VHS and I’m happy to see I’m not the only one still attached to discs.