Paying for songs, again and again
Music. I now realize that having a physical copy of a performance is an invitation to renewal. That is, I keep getting rid of my various investments, as time goes on.
Like most people of my age, I originally bought vinyl. Musicians are hard to keep around the house, but you can always add a disc to your collection. And so I did. Hundreds of them. Eventually, when I had to move, I sent the collection away to new homes.
The next iteration involved magnetic tapes. Cassettes, usually. And when I moved, I sent them off to new homes. It helped that there were better media available. So I bought a lot of CD titles. Here’ the thing. Eventually, the CD collection went into boxes for storage, and now we are sending them off to new homes. Do you detect a cycle here?
I have no idea what the next iteration will be. It could involve hard drives, with all of the associated hardware. Or, I could accept to sample what I need online. YT, mainly. There is also broadcast radio, but I have not been trying to schedule my listening life that way.
Most of my dumps are due to space limitations, and as I get older, I find less comfort in having a copy in the other room. I do look forward to seeing how the industry will entrap my dollars.
Maybe I would just imagine the music. I can get all the words wrong and no-one will be able to tell. And I can stop trying to imitate a trumpet or base drum.
