Saturday, January 03, 2009

"You like this song too?"


There was a time in which if one visited a someone's home for the first time one would inevitably look at his or her record collection and try to figure out something about that person through their taste in music. Did you share any music in common? Did you find their taste interesting, intriguing, boring, scary? And wasn't it great when suddenly while browsing one saw that you owned an album in common? It was an instant conversation starter. There was an instant bonding becauseof simply liking the same music. It was a wonderful to be able to have those moments.

Now with music confined to an MP3 player a person's taste in music is not out there for all to see. Music is a more private matter now. No more "Wow you like 'Tea for the Tillerman' too? Great. Mind if I play it"? . Through technology we have gained access to every song in the world, but we semm to have lost some access to each other.

1 comment:

lostfoundagain said...

I remember the record collection that we had when I was growing up. We didnt get to listen to the records often, it was like a special treat. But I distinctly remember that the experience of listening to a record was so much more rich and exciting than listening to a cassette.

The advantage that I've seen in switching over to digital music is that I have so much more access and exposure to all different kinds of music that I never even knew existed before. I've broadened my taste in music and found a lot of old stuff that I really like too. I feel like a more well rounded person because of it.

I also do agree with your statement that technology has caused us to lose some access to each other. We text, and IM, and email, and facebook etc- but we pick up the phone less and less, we meet up for coffee less and less, we handwrite letters hardly ever... and those things do make me kind of sad. In my personal life, I make a concerted effort not to lose those real connections to the people that really matter to me.