Drunken Owls and Other Delights

I can't believe I'm admitting to this, but I've got three shopping bags full of cds that are ready to be brought to Amoeba for selling (or barring that, to be donated to Goodwill or the library). After a stupidly large number of longboxes* full of cds accumulated between 1995 and 2005, we are now down to about two and a half large moving boxes full of cds and cassettes that I can further go through after I get rid of this current wave. As all of our music playing is via mp3 players and my desk PC, and the entirety of our collection is now on an external (and soon to be backed up on a second one), it seems kind of silly for us to hold on to all these cds that we don't play anymore. There's a handful of titles we'll hold onto, such as my Beatles collection, a select number of titles that contain an additional DVD disk, and some of my Eden Cycle cds**. I've already rooted out my box sets, so I'll most likely hold onto those for sometime longer.

There are days now and again when I kind of miss having the old collection with me, but at the same time I'm happy it's not taking up a ridiculous amount of space like it did in the past. I'm much more choosy when it comes to buying things at Amoeba...most of my purchases there now are the used/dollar bin titles that I missed in the past, or imports that I can't find elsewhere, or versions that aren't available online. I'm also buying with the idea that I'd sell it back to Amoeba or donate it later on. We currently don't have a place for them except in boxes and unceremoniously shoved into the Spare Oom closet, so it's not as if I can show them off anyway, which is what you're supposed to do with a music collection.

So! I figure I'll bring some of these to Amoeba within the next few weeks (I'm debating on whether or not to do it during Record Store Day on the 20th--we may go there next weekend so I may do it then instead), get some funds out of it, and donate the rest. Always good to pass on the good tunage when I can. :)




* - These aren't the longboxes of yore that individual cds came in (which were neat to look at but ecologically wasteful), but the delivery boxes we'd get at the record store, which held exactly thirty cds in normal jewel cases. We'd get so many of these that instead of throwing them away, I pilfered a huge handful and used them for my collection back when I was at my parents' house. I think I got rid of the very last of those boxes earlier this year when I had no more use for it and it was disintegrating.

** - Yeah, I know, it's kind of silly to use "because I listened to them while writing these novels" as a reason to hold onto cds, but hey, they're not taking up that much space, and it's fun to have them as a sort of personal connection.

CNN had an interesting article wondering just how long the compact disc format will last. Of course I couldn't let that article go by without my two cents in an RTS post. ;)


CDs didn't arrive in my collection until 1989, after I graduated high school, and the first cd I bought was of course The Beatles' Revolver, one of my then all-time favorite albums. [Fun Fact--the second cd I ever bought was the Young Einstein soundtrack!]. I knew they'd been around since the early 80s (1982, the article says), but they never really blasted off until later in the decade. I think part of that was due to the fact that radios with cd players were still quite expensive at the time, at least a hundred or so dollars and upwards, depending on the size and what else was included. Added to the fact that a lot of audiophiles didn't buy those radios, instead buying the cd player component to add to their multimedia setup. Me, I bought a $200 radio that year that had radio tuner, a cd player and a dual tape deck, basically because I'm a music nerd that needed to use such things for dubbing purposes. There was also the fact that the price was higher than a cassette, something I was quite big on at the time. Thirdly, I was kind of frustrated by the fact that some albums had 'bonus tracks' that were only available on cd--such as Wire's It's Beginning To and Back Again, in which one of the bonus cuts was actually the second single off the album (and, in retrospect, a much better song than the first single). Sure, cassettes often had the bonus tracks, but the CD was one better. Fourthly...I just couldn't really hear the difference between the quality, other than the cassette having the tape hiss and vinyl having surface noise. The sound of music on CD felt kind of...naked, in a way.

All that aside, I grew to enjoy cds in their own way--the packaging, the ease of finding a track, and so on--but it really wasn't until the mid to late 90s, right about when I started at the record store, that I really started collecting in that format. To me it was still the price--it felt a bit much to spend upwards of $15 for an album that I could get for $10 on cassette with little to no difference between the two. Even in the used stores that I would frequent, I could buy a boatload of dollar cassettes instead five or six cds for the same amount. Of course, once I started at the record store (and after I left, when I frequented Newbury Comics), my cd collection grew exponentially. With HMV it was in part due to the handful of promos sent to us on a weekly basis, and part due to the discount. And with Newbury...well, let's just say they really do live up to their "wicked cheap" logo. ;)

By 2003, when I finally owned a computer with enough memory on it, all that changed. Once I realized how much space I had on the hard drive, I decided to start ripping my collection to put on my PC. This wasn't just cds, though...I realized I could also connect one of my radios via the mic jack to the PC and make cassette rips as well. Not only was it easier to listen to during my writing sessions, I could also rip songs I liked from half-baked albums and later resell them to used record stores.

When Emm and I moved out to San Francisco in 2005, all that changed. Thanks to my PC and an external hard drive, I was able to rip a goodly amount of music and get rid of the rest. That was a definitely a move I wouldn't have even entertained a few years previous, but given that we'd have a finite amount of space in the apartment, I figure I'd better get rid of a few.

The funny thing now is that our cd collection is now hiding in a few boxes in the closet of Spare Oom, instead of proudly displayed somewhere on a bookshelf or somesuch. Our entire music collection is now stored on two external hard drives, the primary copies of the tracks on my PC, where I can get to them easily. I play everything currently on the Windows Media Player (whilst I wait for an upgrade of Media Monkey that won't bork out my PC in the process). I mostly download now, but I still do buy cds every now and again, mostly from Amoeba over in the Haight, and at Newbury when we visit New England.


All that said...


Do I think CDs are going the way of the buffalo?

Honestly? I'm not sure. I don't think so. They're definitely not going to disappear outright like 8-track tapes. Vinyl is still around, as are cassettes, but in much lower numbers. There will always be a family out there who isn't tech-savvy and has no real reason to go online, and continues to enjoy listening to the radio and the cassettes and cds. There will always be some place for them, at least in the immediate future.

However, I do believe that the music industry will definitely need to rethink a lot of what they've been doing over the course of the last few decades if they want to keep profiting off it. The price of CDs has always been an issue--sure, there's the cost of production, packaging, and so on--but really? Nearly twenty bucks for an album after all this time? Especially when smaller DIY labels and indie stores are doing it so much cheaper? Unless they seriously rethink their profit margin, the consumption of cds is definitely going to keep declining. Especially when you can download the same album, sometimes with non-physical-copy bonus cds, for much cheaper online, at a variety of places. Some labels are even adding a free pdf of the packaging for the collector in us.

It's all about how to sell music, really. I posted about the rise-fall-comeback-noncomeback of singles a few times already, and I still think that though they were prematurely phased out in the mid-90s, it was probably for the best, given the mood of the music scenes. The late 90s saw quite a bit of album sales, whereas the singles didn't quite cut it anymore, as they'd apparently outlived their usefulness. And for the most part, the music industry, for all the good they may do in promotion and generating hype, never quite grasped each consumer mood change that came along--they always seemed about six months or so behind.

To put it bluntly, the life of the cd isn't going to be anywhere near as huge as it was ten to fifteen years ago, mainly due to the internet. Getting music online is currently the ultimate in convenience--sampling songs before you buy, downloading just the one song instead of a handful, much easier storage, I could go on--and it's tough to compete against that. No amount of special tchotchkes and limited editions are going to change that, at least not right now. That's partially why the RIAA is so against online music--they don't know what to do with it.

Still...as said, I still see vinyl, because there are the collectors out there, and the deejays. There are still cassettes out there--even the blank ones you can still buy at your local Walgreens. The same remains for the cd, because it's become so ingrained. They just won't be as huge as they once were.

Back again! We spent a LOT more time outside today than we'd expected, which I suppose is a good thing, but I'm exhausted! Bad news is that I still need to do the laundry today, as we'll be out most of the day tomorrow. Good news is that I've already started it (nobody else was doing theirs, so I got to spread it out into three machines so everything gets cleaner and drier in the end).

So! For the Amoeba run? $135.00 in store credit. Spent $21.39 over that. What, you expect me to have credit left over?!??

The Spoils:

DVDs-
Escaflowne: The Movie (anime)
Kiki's Delivery Service (anime)
La Fille du Regiment (opera)
Doctor Atomic (opera)

CDs-
The Smithereens' Especially for You, Green Thoughts, 11 and Blow Up (all either in dollar bin or cheap)
Throwing Muses' Hunkpapa, The Real Ramona, University and Limbo (ditto)
Len, You can't Stop the Bum Rush (dollar bin)
Plain White T's, Big Bad World ("used new" bin)
Indigo Girls, Poseidon and the Bitter Bug (ditto)
The Ting Tings, We Started Nothing (ditto)
Chris Cornell, Scream
thenewno2 (George Harrison's kid Dhani), You Are Here

Guess which stuff was bought specifically for emmalyon!! :p

I was quite happy to get the TM stuff, as I'd somehow talked myself out of buying them last time I was there...I think I just need The Fat Skier, House Tornado and Red Heaven (oh, and a few tracks from their last cd that I didn't rip for some reason, but they're on eMusic), and I think I have a full discography, minus any possible remixes or b-sides. Once that's done, then I'll move on to the Belly (just need King, actually) and most of Kristen Hersh's stuff and I've got it all. Obsessed, me? Nah... :p

I'm also happy with the Smithereens...had all these on cassette at one point, so it's good to have it on cd now. I think I'm just missing one album from them, but I'm not sure what. Same with the Len cd...I had that on tape but not on cd, and it's a great silly album.

---

Let's see, what else...had lunch at the sandwich place on Cole up the street from Haight...they always have great stuff there, with BIG portions. I had a roast beef panini and Emm had a falafel wrap that you could bench press with. And third cups of coffee for both of us there as well (to be technical, they were glasses of coffee, but it was damn tasty!). After that, emmalyon professed a hankering for ice cream.

Not just any ice cream, though...but Bi-Rite Creamery ice cream. If head58 and lynxreign ever visit us, we will most definitely bring them here, as this stuff is SOOO GOOOD. It was worth the wait outside to get it, as the line was going out the door. After that, we spent some time across the way in Dolores Park, relaxing and reading (or in my case, working on some Angela Death stuff). Our only problem with that was the two stoners/Gas n' Sip Crew Dudes sitting nearby that played some really crappy blues/folk on an even crappier radio, but it was bearable...it was too nice out to complain! :P

And just when we thought the day was over...TO THE LIBRARY! We decided to go today rather than tomorrow, and Emm picked up some more reading material. I was good and didn't take out any cds, considering I had the entire list above in my backpack at that point. :p And an uneventful trip on the 47 bus home, and here we are, completely exhausted but happy.

And now I have to switch the laundry loads. *sigh*

So yeah--a lot busier of a weekend than we expected! ;p

Bought a few cds at the B&N at the mall, and thought we'd spend some time listening to them. Alas, it seemed that was not to be:

1: PC is playing cds as if the cd is scratched, or as if the disk drive is in dire need of cleaning. Or as if the PC is just not acting right. I'm thinking it's the second one--that it just needs cleaning.

2: Cheapo cd radio thing that's been on our bookshelf for years reads the cd, but refuses to play it. The thing is old and I've had problems playing cds on it before, so maybe it's time we sprung for another one.

3: Big CD/radio thing in the bedroom is not reading cds, when it has in the past. I think that one just needs some cleaning as well, as we rarely play cds on it.



I tell you, this is further proof that I am made of magnets. Pretty much any radio or PC I use doesn't just stop working; it stops working in a strange way, usually while I'm trying to use it for entertainment purposes, which frustrates me to no end. *sratches head*

Craptastic weather out there again today...windy, rainy, overcast...good thing we went out yesterday, because today looks like it's going to be a day for staying inside. Not to fear, we've got the Daytona 500 to watch (as well as a dvd performance of Tosca that Emm took out of the library), and I don't have anything pressing to work on. As long as I make it a point to get some writing work done, it won't be a bad day. :)

Depending on the weather tomorrow, we may go to Amoeba, as we haven't gone there for quite some time. I'm still surprised at how infrequently I've been stopping at music stores. On the other hand, I've been doing a lot of online downloading (again, thank you eMusic and elsewhere), which of course is cheaper and takes up less physical space. Still, I may go through the cd collection today and see what I can pare down...I'm sure there's some in there I can trade in, even if it's for a buck or so.

Speaking of paring down...we still need to go through more of our books, particularly the hardcovers and nonfic books. Once we're through everything we'll do another Great Book Giveaway. Not sure when it'll happen, but I'll let everyone know as soon as we're good with the list. :)

...and back to writing. I admit I've been lazy the last few days, partly due to being busy with work and other things, but of course the weekend is always a good time to recoup and start over again. I'm probably two or three scenes away from finishing the dreaded Chapter 2 of CFMWH (which is proving to be more frustrating than I expected), but it should smooth out on the next chapter. This book is very unlike anything I've ever written, for many reasons (including never having written a time travel story before), so this one has definitely been an interesting experience. Frustrating at times, but also fun. Learned quite a bit as well! More on this at the oter LJ later on today if I have the time.

OH! And chances are I might be able to get a LOT of writing done this week, as tomorrow I've got the day off (President's Day holiday), but also Wednesday as well. I'm taking that day off because the building management is supposed to FINALLY come in and take a look at the crack in the wall and the broken window. Of course I knew they were going to say "we'll be in sometime between 9am and 4pm," so even though I'd have been working from home that day, I figure taking the whole day off would make more sense so I don't have to stop what I'm doing. So in the meantime, I can power up the PC and get some work done while I'm waiting. That's the plan, anyway!

More possibly later...have a swell day, kids! :)

Currently Own and Have on Heavy Rotation

--Coldplay, Viva La Vida, or Death and All His Friends (damn, this album ROCKS.)
--Elbow, The Seldom Seen Kid (right up there with Cast of Thousands...really good album, this)
--Ben Folds, Way to Normal (h58, I think you need to hear "Effington" :p )
--Beck, Modern Guilt (one of his non-hit, weird-but-great albums)
--Sigur Ros, (random Icelandic lettering here) (louder SR, but still great!)
--Rob Dickinson, Fresh Wine for the Horses (reissue, but still awesome from the Catherine Wheel singer)
--Duffy, Rockferry (yeah, what can I say, she's my girlfriend. ;) )
--Wire, Object 47 (YES. New Wire sounding like Ideal Copy-era Wire. SWEET.)
--Goldfrapp, Seventh Tree (very mellow compared to the last few, but really good)
--Hooverphonic, President of the LSD Golf Club (I LOVES me some Hooverphonic!)
--The Gaslight Anthem, That '59 Sound (I can't tell if I'm listening to Springsteen or the Replacements, but I LIKE IT)

Currently Need to Buy/Download

--UNKLE, End Titles...Stories for Film
--Mogwai, The Hawk is Howling
--Weezer, Weezer (the red album)--I can't believe we don't have this yet.
--The Replacements, random Rhino reissues


I still feel like I didn't listen to enough music this year. And it's a year ending with 8, dang it! I need more suggestions for great albums before the year's out, people!!! Help a guy out here!! :p



Oh, and might I add that eMusic is still the best $29 a month I've ever spent for 100 songs? ;)