TELEVISION/VIDEOS: Holy Stockings, Batman!

MOVIES: 15 Films In 15 Minutes

sI got this from a friend on Facebook - OlderMusicGeek

The Rules: Don't take too long to think about it - fifteen films that you've seen that will always stick with you. List the first fifteen that you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes. - PS, If I tagged you, it's because I'm genuinely interested to see your list, cuz I think you might have good recommendations that I haven't heard before. :) Plz tag me back.



1. Star Wars: A New Hope (The most important film to me personally, not 100% sure why!)

2. It's A Wonderful Life (What can I say? I relate to Mr George Bailey!)

3. 2001 (one of the first films to really blow my mind)

4. Eraserhead (The film that has probably blown my mind the most. Still have no idea what it's about!)

5. Yellow Submarine (A great fun film with great music. It was kind of mind-blowing for the age when i first saw it!)

6. Wizards (Can't say I like it as much in my 40s as in my 20s. Bbut in my 20s, I went to every showing of that movie I could - Remember this was before vcr's and dvd's - That was the only way to see a movie!)

7. High Fidelity (Totally relate! Being the music geek i am!)

8. Wonder Boys (Again, I relate to both the kid and the old professor. I was/am like each!)

9. (500) Days Of Summer (Just an awesome film about boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy moves on.)

10. Bladerunner (Just a beautiful, well-made film, great message, great blend of film noir and science fiction.)

11. The Wizard Of Oz (Family would go to grandpa and grandma's to watch this cus they had a color tv! And fond memories of my daughter and i watching it!)

12. A Christmas Story (Do i have to say anything?!)

13. Fantastic Planet (Just another film that blew my mind when I first saw it. Still like it now, though not impressed as I was a teen)

14. Rust Never Sleeps (Another midnight movie of my youth. A great concert movie by Neil Young.)

15. Pink Floyd's The Wall (Great well-made movie with great music.)

MUSIC: Song Of The Day - Halloween Edition: "Boris The Spider" By The Who

This is from me, and NOT some reprinted material. - OlderMusicGeek

Well, it's that time of the year again. Which means it's time for Halloween music. This song is dedictated to The Blag Hag aka @jennifurret on Twitter aka Jennifer McCreight!



A link to other Halloween music

MUSIC: My Quick Thoughts On Yellowbrick Magazine's 8 For 8 Show At People's

This is from me, and NOT some reprinted material. - OlderMusicGeek

I and my friend, Sassy Witch, went to The 8 For 8 Show (8 bands for 8 bucks) sponsored by the Yellowbrick magazine.. And I didn't have my phone with me to send tweets and Facebook updates, so I scribbled my thoughts on a piece of paper. And The Sassy Witch decided to add hers too!

The first band, Goodbye Kai, I thought were a good, but not great band that were driving. The Sassy Witch said they were very energetic, but not her cup of tea.

Sassy Witch liked the second band, Happy Go Lovely, which we both thought were very 70s-ish. In fact, their lead singer with his curly blond locks would look perfectly fine in a 70s rock video!

The third band, Bella Verona, was slow noisy generic indie rock with six members including two guitars and keyboards. I thought they would have sounded better in a stripped down quartet. But Sassy Witch thought they were the best band yet, but would be better in a quieter genre.

A Past Unknown were interesting! In fact, The Sassy Witch, thought her tattoo covered son would love this Christian screamo/hardcore band. Yes, they were a Christian band but with a lead singer wearing a stocking cap that sings like Patrick Warburton (Joe, the handicapped cop n “Family Guy”) screams. But why choose a genre where noone can understand the lyrics as a way of passing a Christian message? And they preached too long for a secular show!

But one guy in the band had a shirt that said “We mosh for the Lord”! And, dang, the three guys backing the singer could squat down low with their legs far apart while still playing! My thighs got sore just watching them!

Just The Kid, the fifth band was freaking awesome! The just played this super fun catchy rocking alternative music. And they knew how to work an audience. They had us all dancing, singing along, and laughing at their between song chatter. As The Sassy Witch thought they were the best of all and cute as well as having great lyrics. Plus, the band does a rocking cover of “Tik Tok”!

The sixth artist, Cashes Rivers, was pleasant acoustic rock. The Sassy Witch wanted to hear him playing with his full band.

The last band, History On Repeat, was good, but generic, hard-driving rock.

So overall, it was a good, but not great show. But definitely not worth 8 bucks, although I appreciate Yellowbrick sponsoring a show like this. And I'm definitely going to check out Just The Kid again!

MUSIC: Fifteen Albums In Fifteen Minutes You've Heard That Will Always Stick With You

I got this on Facebook from an old friend of mine, so I thought I'd post it here. - OlderMusicGeek

The rules: Don't take too long to think about it - choose fifteen albums you've heard that will always stick with you. List the first fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes.

In no particular order except the order I remembered them...

1. Q: Are We Not Men? - Devo (introduced me to alternative music)
2. Drunken Lullabies - Flogging Molly (showed me i could still go crazy about a band like I did in my teens and 20's)
3. Outlandos D'Amour - The Police (the soundtrack of my high school years... "so-o-o-o-o-o lonely")
4. Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes (soundtrack of my college years and introduction in the greatest band ever with the greatest bassist of rock!)
5. Star Wars soundtrack - John Williams (great soundtrack to a great movie)
6. Never Mind The Bollocks - The Sex Pistols (introduced me to punk)
7. Red Roses For Me - The Pogues (introduced me to celtic punk, was probably the start of it actually!)
8. Dark Side Of The Moon - Pink Floyd (great album, but also reminds me of bygone days with my old brother and also hanging out in my college dorm)
9. Tubthumper - Chumbawumba (don't know why, just like it!)
10. Systems Of Romance - Ultravox (just takes me back to hanging out with my younger brother and my two best friends in high school)
11. Pretty In Black - The Raveonettes (introduced me to The Raveonettes, a new band I like - again showed me some good music coming out after I turned 25!)
12. Call Of The West - Wall Of Voodoo (just an interesting band that did an interesting mix of country and new wave, big part of my teens, and probably was the start of me giving some country music a chance)
13. Presidents Of The United States Of America - Presidents Of The United States Of America (taught that pop and alternative music doesn't have to be serious and can just be fun!)
14. The Big Easy soundtrack - various artists (introduced me into the great music form known as cajun/zydeco!
15. Sinister Flower Gift - The Hollowmen (an album by my friend's band in the 80's who I watched countless times in my college years!)

(I cheated, this took more like 25 minutes!)

MUSIC: My Destiny With Devo

What can I say? Especially since I wasn't kinda sorta not there.

I was thrilled when I heard Devo was coming to my town. I had been a big fan of theirs since the late 70s. They were the band that introduced me to alternative music. I saw them on “Saturday Night Live”doing “Satisfaction” and “Jocko Homo”.

They, along with other alternative bands, became an unifying force between me, my brother, and my two closest friends of the time. And I've been hooked on Devo and alternative music ever since. And their first four albums are constantly on my iPod.

Unfortunately, thrills do not a ticket buy. And with my finances being what they are, I could not afford the $50 they were asking. I know by today's standard that's a reasonable price, but if you don't the money...

But I had been to a Cracker show at the outdoor amphitheater where Devo was suppose to play. And I saw people on the bridges watching the show. Admittedly, they saw the back of Cracker's heads from a distance, but hey, they got a free show. So I knew what I was doing for Devo!

My single brother with no children, though, had no problem getting the 50 bucks for the show! The jerk! Grrrrr, he needs more responsibilities!

Anyway, a few days before the show, I heard they were the show to one of the nearby bridge, because the flooded river made the amphitheater useless. I shrugged my shoulders. Maybe I wouldn't see the back of their heads, but I would still be able to hear them fine.

Then my oldest friend, one of the two friends I listened to Devo with, put on Facebook how he was going to watch Devo free from the bridge!


I got there first, and sat with someone parked across the river with some lawn chairs. It was right at the intersection where the bridge was blocked off for the show. And people would ask from their cars what was going on. When we told them it was Devo, we got some interesting reactions! “Devo?!?!” “Oh really?” “Are we not men?”

I thought of yelling “Duty now for the future!” to some of the spud boys in the red flowerpots passing by. But considering that album came out about 30 years ago, I probably should have yelled “Duty then for now!”

Strangely enough, before the show started that played this weird combination of classic soul and old school punk. I love both of types of music, but I don't see how soul music revs someone up for a Devo concert.


Finally, my friend arrived and I joined him on the bridge. Actually, we could see the band. Not a great view, but I've had worse in a stadium like when I went to see The Who in the 70s!

So after 30 plus years, there was my oldest friend and I finally at a Devo concert. Okay, couldn't see the band real well, but hey, it was free!

And as my friend said, since we can't see them that well, we can imagine still being thin and young while they played.


How was the show? I liked it! The band started off with some of their newer stuff which doesn't really appeal to me. Only one song out of the first five or so came from the four albums I listen to!

But then the boys got into their old yellow jumpsuits, and it was a wonderful stroll down memory lane with band playing most if not all of my favorites.

My friend and I were standing at that bridge singing along. My friend actually started singing kind of loud, and I said people would probably prefer hearing Devo sing.

I was tapping my feet and bobbing my knees. Must have looked a little silly to the people crossing the bridge!

Of course, it must have looked sillier when my friend and I were pretending to scream at Devo and “woot” them. We knew they couldn't hear us from the bridge, so we didn't do it seriously. Though I did do a pretend shout of “Mark and Gerry, we love you!” Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerry Casale being the leaders of Devo.

My friend's wife was there and she was kind of laughing at us. Can't really blame her.


And the show eventually its conclusion with Booji Boy singing “Beautiful World”. And then strangely enough, it ended. No encore, just thank you.

My friend thought Devo needed The Blue Man Group's guide to rock and roll, which says there's always an encore. But Devo always did things their own way!



And as a bonus track, just because it's Devo and it's so awesome!

TELEVISION/VIDEOS, MOVIES/VIDEOS and COMICS: Of Ducks, Rabbits, Looney Tunes, The Justice League And Gods!

This is from me, and NOT some reprinted material. - OlderMusicGeek

My daughter and I were watching How I Met Your Mother. On this episode, they were explaining to Robin how someone's view of a person can change. Ted used a picture that can look like a duck one way and a rabbit another way.

Then they compared a bad boyfriend to a rabbit and a good one to a duck. Marshall, and rightfully so in my opinion, asked why the rabbit was considered worse than the duck. This started a huge argument among the group until Marshall gave in.

Well, of course, my daughter had to take the duck side, so we, ourselves had a long argument.

Of course, I talked about how cute and cuddly rabbits are, especially compared to ducks. And how much people would rather have a pet rabbit than a pet duck!

My daughter, though, brought up Donald Duck, and how there was no rabbit in Disney.

I, of course, brought up Bugs Bunny, and talked about how he was MUCH cooler than Donald Duck, and even cooler than Daffy Duck.

My daughter tried to say Daffy could kick Bugs' ass, but I and her text buddy set her straight on that point!

Then my daughter claimed, "Well, Bugs Bunny couldn't defeat Super Duck."

Surprised, I insisted, "Are you crazy?! Bugs Bunny could defeat Superman. Bugs could defeat the whole Justice League!"

"What do you think Bugs Bunny is a god?"

"Have you seen the Warner Brothers cartoons. They all have the powers of gods. They come back from explosions and falling from great heights! Roadrunner can even run into a picture painted on a rock wall!"

Then later, we were watching Arthur and I pointed out how Arthuyr's best friend is a rabbit. Plus, one of the bullies is a rabbit. "Where's the duck on Arthur?! There isn't one!"

My daughter just shook her head! I should have been on that episode of How I Met Your Mother!

MUSIC: Woody Guthrie Talking About His Father's Songs

Heard something similiar on NPR, but I got this from this link: http://www2.timesreview.com/ST/stories/T072309_Arlo_A_Cover_ES from The Suffolk Times. - OlderMusicGeek

Arlo Guthrie talking about his father's music: "On the one hand, it's great that the songs were written with a long shelf life. But it's too bad the world still sucks. You'd have thought we'd have gotten somewhere by now."

BOOKS: It is believed most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here. How do your reading habits stack up?

Supposably, the BBC believes this, but I can't find anything on the net. So I think that the story is bogus. But it's still fun to see how many you've read, want to read or think you should read! - OlderMusicGeek

Instructions: Copy this. Look at the list and make a mark by those you have read.


1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien (started it but didn't finish)
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling (only now reading the second one!)
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible (about 1/3 of the old testament and most of the new)
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
* 8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell (3 times!)
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
Total: 1 so far!

* 11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott (listen to the audiobook)
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller (on my must read list!)
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare (Has anyone really read this! I've read over 5 of his plays! That's got to count for something!)
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier (Taught a condensed version of this for beginner's English.)
* 16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulkner
* 18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger (rereading it right now!)
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger (haven't and won't!)
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
Total: 4

21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
* 22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
* 25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams (must read!)
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
* 27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky (A great book everyone should read!)
* 28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
* 29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
Total: 9 already - ha!

31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis (not interested)
34 Emma-Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hossein
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne (I do need to read this some time!)
Total: Uh oh, 9 still!

* 41 Animal Farm - George Orwell (fun book!)
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown (Not really interested, seems like a second rate Umberto Eco-wannabe book.)
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez (want to!)
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
* 49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
Total: 10

51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
* 52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
* 58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Total: 12 - ha! twice as much!

61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
* 62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac (on my must read list)
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
Total: 13

71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
* 72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce (started it and gave up!)
* 76 The Inferno – Dante
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
Total: 15

80 Possession - AS Byatt
* 81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
* 87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
* 89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (probably read most if not all of these stories!)
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
Total: 18 - 3 times as much, bbc!

91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
* 94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare (seen more than one version of it on film!)
* 99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Bringing me to a total of 19!

But if I was making this list, I definitely take off a few books (like "The Time-Traveller's Wife"!) and add a few that are seriously missing, like "The Odyssey" for example!

MUSIC: Just Some Really Awful Gary Numan Jokes

This is from me and NOT some reprinted material. - OlderMusicGeek

This is taken from Twitter and some bad jokes I made with @SpookyChan and Patrick McEvoy.

SpookyChan: OH, MY... I, me, myself, *i*- deleted my Gary Numan collection on accident... MOTHER. Of... i'm going to go weep with GOTH DOG now.

Patick McEvoy: @spookychan Wait... Follow me on this: dogs chase cars... Numan sang about cars... Goth dog deleted your Numan songs. It all makes sense!

OlderMusicGeek: @patrick_mcevoy @spookychan - You know those goth dogs work on The Pleasure Principle, don't you?

OlderMusicGeek: @spookychan @patrick_mcevoy - You know where to look for goth dogs that eat Gary Numan mp3's? Down in the park!

OlderMusicGeek: @spookychan @patrick_mcevoy - Okay, I'm done with the Gary Numan jokes for now - Me, I disconnect from you two.

COMICS: Another One Down

This from me, NOT some reprinted material. - OlderMusicGeek


Dick Giordano died yesterday. He was an incredible inker who help Neal Adams created the look he gave Batman. He eventually became an editor and the executive editor of DC Comics. His influence on comics cannot be exaggerated.

As tribute, I present my favorite panel that he ever inked, from Superman Vs Mohammad Ali. Double click on the art to see a bigger version.

MUSIC: Question From FormSpring.Me - Who's the most overrated musician?

Well, I have to admit that I can't stand Celine Dion and Micheal Bolton. I think Micheal Bolton has done more for African-American music than Pat Boone - and I'll leave it at that!

Then there is the Journey/Styx/Boston/Foreigner conspiracy. Always hated that stuff.

And Hall and Oates. The big problem with their music is it's not that horrible - though it's bad enough! - but it's so damn catchy, it just stays in your head! http://oldermusicgeekentertainment.blogspot.com/2005/08/music-hall-and-oates-why-i-hate-them.html

Ask me anything

BOOKS: Question From FormSpring.Me - What was your favorite book as a child?

As a pre-teen, it was "Man of Bronze", the first Doc Savage book. As a fairly intelligent boy who was unsuccessful with the ladies, I could relate. Of course, I don't think Doc had the same problem that I did!

Hmmmm, but if he was a transsexual in denial, it would really put an interesting spin on the relationship with his five associates!

As a kid, I really liked "Fox in Socks"!

And ever since high school, I have been madly in love with "The Odyssey". Odysseus is the most awesome man ever! Strong, courageous, humble, and a dedicated husband to boot!

Ask me anything

TELEVISION/VIDEOS: A Lost Valentine

I found this surfing on the net at Beavotron's Deviant Art page. - OlderMusicGeek



A link to Beavotron's Deviant Art website
A link to other Valentine's Day posts on my blog

MOVIES/VIDEOS: Question From FormSpring.Me - Who's the most underrated actor?

Who's the most underrated actor?

William H Macey and John Hurt!

Ask me anything

MUSIC: Question From FormSpring.Me - If you could only listen to one song for the next month, which would it be?

If you could only listen to one song for the next month, which would it be?

I actually don't think I could do that. It would drive me nuts. I listen to my 120 gig iPod on shuffle constantly. I'd rather just not listen to music that month!

But if I had to choose a song, right now at this moment I'm really into "Bad Dream" by Violent Femmes. I'd probably hate it - or any song - if I had to listen to it over and over again for a month!

Ask me anything

MUSIC: R.I.P. The Compact Disc, 1982-2008?

I found this piece on NPR's All Songs Considered blog. It was my NetVibes page that led me to it.

Actually this piece on the death of cd's reminds me of vinyl's demise.

And yes, I know there are still fanatics making and buying vinyl records!

But back in high school, I had read about this format that was suppose to replace vinyl records from a magazine I saw in my electronics class. And the more I read about it, the more I started slobbering, and couldn't wait for these compact discs things.

I knew they were going to be big! And I still don't know why I didn't buy any stock in compact discs companies!

Apparently, there were some kinks to be worked out, because cd's didn't come out until I was graduating from college. So maybe it was just as well I didn't invest in any companies. I'd have probably invested in the wrong company!

Well, I missed the big change of vinyl to cd's, because I joined Peace Corps and went over to Africa. But I kept hearing how fast vinyl was dying. - OlderMusicGeek

R.I.P. The Compact Disc, 1982-2008?
by Robin Hilton

I recently came to work with two large tote bags filled with compact discs and dumped them out on a table in the middle of the office. To me, they were garbage. But for the vultures that are my fellow NPR Music producers, it was like finding a mountain of free money. They shuffled through the pile, grabbing everything that caught their eye. At one point, Stephen Thompson held up my discarded copy of Radiohead's OK Computer and incredulously asked, "Why would you get rid of this?"

For about a year now, I've been slowly purging my once-proud CD collection. Twenty-five years' worth of music, from the first disc I ever bought (Pink Floyd's The Wall) in 1984, to more recent releases.


Of course, I'm not really getting rid of them. I'm ripping everything to a massive hard drive hooked up to what has become my stereo: my computer.

This is partly because I don't like having a house overrun with thousands of CDs. Invisible sound files on a hard drive are simply more convenient. You can also do a lot more with digital files and iTunes, like delivering an endless stream of music through the house in any conceivable configuration, by artist, genre, or favorite playlists. Changing out a CD in a player feels as clunky and outdated as flipping a record on a turntable.

But I'm also purging my CDs because I believe they're a dying format. There's never been a more obvious trend. CD sales continue to plummet at a breathless -- and, if you're one of the big labels, alarming -- rate. Meanwhile, digital download sales continue to climb.

None of this is as sexy as having a tangible package of music, with artwork and liner notes. And downloading files isn't nearly as cozy as flipping through the local bands section of a record store. But the truth is, I never listen to actual CDs more than once or twice. After that, they're ripped to my computer -- I put the discs away and never look at them again.

Lately, I've felt a sense of urgency to get rid of the rest of my old CDs before they become as obsolete as 8-track tapes and cassettes.

So, what does your CD collection look like? Is it getting smaller? Do you even buy actual CDs now, or do you just download everything?

Tags: cds compact discs are dead downloads
11:38 AM ET 04-14-2008 permalink

Some of the more interesting comments...

Dude!
I did the download thing for a while, but decided that nothing beats having those lovely liner notes, in that clear plastic case, and that CD that you can pop into your hi-fi - with no loss in sound quality, and no annoying DRM to hack around. So I'm back to the ol' physical copies, either from a record store or an online outlet.

Yes - it's even worth the shrink wrap, IMHO.

Sent by Tim 2:25 PM ET 04-14-2008

My house sound system is wired to my computer and iPods go everywhere. I mainly purchase downloadable copies. I only by CDs if it is an album that can't be downloaded, but it is quickly ripped and discarded.

I do have about 600 vinyl records left.

Sent by Wayne 2:37 PM ET 04-14-2008

I hear what you are saying, Robin, but I take the opposite view. Despite having a large collection that takes up space, I like having cds. Similarly, I like having books on my shelf. Both books and cds are nice to look at for me, and each item has memories. To be sure, I rip the albums on my ipod, but just because I like having my collection when I'm out an about. Then again, I also make time to listen to an album every night before I go to bed. It is a great way for me to relax and decompress from a long day. I just sit on my sofa with a cup of coffee and magazine or a book while the music plays for about an hour.

That's great, Pablo. Bob was just asking me whether I ever just sat and listened to an album all the way through and did nothing else. I still do it, but not very often.

Sent by Pablo 2:51 PM ET 04-14-2008

I think Pablo makes a great point in comparing CD's to books, but like others have been saying, it's really all about vinyl records. Sure I have loads of music on my computer and iPod (as Pablo said, for convenience), but my "collection" is split between CD's and vinyl (mostly because promoters only send CD's nowadays), and I'll proudly display them on my shelf as long as I still enjoy listening to music.

To me, it's owning the actual "thing" that someone put countless hours of hard work into, and not just having a few sound files on my computer. That's what makes vinyl so nice, it's like having a book. The sound exists on the record, like words in a book; the grooves in the album are the real sound waves, just like the fading ink in my dad's copy of Time And Again (on loan to me for 20 years now) is real ink.

Call it "emotional" or "romantic" but isn't that what real music collectors seek? Isn't that the whole point of still going to record stores, sifting through boxes of unorganized singles?

I do 90% of my listening from my iPod and computer, but when it comes to "owning" music, I have to have it on my shelf, where I can look at it and say "yes, I own that music."

Sent by John Michael Cassetta 3:39 PM ET 04-14-2008

I am only 19 years old but I live in the flat that has shelves with old Beatles and other LPs that were mostly sent from family friends in Sweden (I am from Slovakia and during communism it was almost impossible to simply buy music). We also have shelves of old cassettes with music like Nirvana, Depeche Mode or Cure that belong to my older siblings. And I represent the generation in my family with a shelf of very few CDs.

Though there is something magical about CDs, I guess that my kids won't have any shelf with music. Probably they'll stack three ipods on the shelf and that's the end of it. :) And I like this change :)

The best thing about music downloads is that the artist no longer has to invest so much money into releasing the CD. Thus new great music is produced as an open source every day. Therefore my CD collection is increasingly getting smaller but my music collection has never been so rich and I am just in the beginning of quest for great music.

Sent by Lenka Bliss 4:57 PM ET 04-14-2008

The thing that scares me about the death of the CD and is that with it dies the Album, and in the end, the ability to truly appreciate an artist in all of its subtle detail. There's a whole generation of people who are going to be used to the idea of single song downloads, who find value in three minute pop escapism instead of the art and the artist.

My fear is that this will lead to smaller fanbases, which means less concert attendance, which in turn is going to make it way harder to make a career out of being a musician.

Or maybe I'm just a fatalist and really like the idea of a physical product.

Sent by David W. 5:53 PM ET 04-14-2008

I always buy the CD, and then put it on my computer. Have you ever been screwed by itunes from reformating your computer and losing your albums? Plus, I like the tactile response that CDs bring, a complete package, a solid album. I-tunes just is so seamless (ack). Even though cds might be a dying media, I love my trinquets!

p.s. Robin/Bob, you should analyze some of the coming festivals based on artist composition. With all these festivals springing up, it looks like long time acts like ACL are having problems figuring out who to book to meet their target audience.
http://www.austincitylimits.com/forum/tt.aspx?forumid=3

p.p.s. Throwing away OK Computer . . . you should shame yourself.

Sent by hobbesgallo 10:02 AM ET 04-15-2008

well, what can i say?

even in the vinyl days, i made over 20 mixed tapes just for myself.

and in the early days of cd's, i made a few of mixed cd's myself.

but with shuffle and a 30 gig mp3 player - i slobber over getitng a 80 gig one - plus a one tetrabyte external drive, i love my mp3's!

i miss the tactile of the big vinyl record, but i love the experience of not knowing which song or genre will be coming next. could it be could it be a luther wright and the wrongs' bluegrass version of a tune from the wall, some old cajun from clifton chenier, some weird bit from ken nordine, some classic punk from the pistols or the clash, some some south african pop music i picked up when i lived next door to south africa in the 90's, some new electronica, a pop song i picked up from my tween daughter? who knows? and that's the thrill!

Sent by OlderMusicGeek 1:28 PM ET 04-15-2008

Yes, I'm pretty much in the download camp. And it worries me. With so much music at my fingertips, I no longer listen to one album/cd over-and-over-and-over. I no longer sit through songs I don't initially appreciate but later come to love after continued listens. I no longer have every layer and turn in my head.

So many of what we agree to be the greatest albums required a commited courtship. Would Pink Floyd have created the art they did in today's digital, single based environment? Would "Pet Sounds" or "Sgt Pepper" or even "Joshua Tree" had the impact and significance they did? Would we even know about "Kind of Blue?"

I'm definately living my music life via the MP3 file, but I know I've given up a lot in doing so.

Sent by Jeffrey Mason 2:46 PM ET 04-16-2008

So, I have a collection of tapes, cds, and records, and they probably constitute less than twenty-five percent of my listening time. I knew cds were out when I took a long plane ride and brought a rug weaver size spool of cds that i was trying to sort through on the plane and the kid next to me was whipping through his I-Pod while I dropped burned cds on the floor. That said, this post reminds me of the non-problematic post http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/2008/03/30/93-music-piracy/
and I guess the real question for me is kind of like Bob's post about the future of music formats, what's the future record/music store look like? I mean online stuff is okay, but I agree that there's something special about a record store and the conversations/sharing that take place person-to-person, that I don't see recreated in online music blogs, magazines, etc.

Sent by zach 8:15 PM ET 04-16-2008

OlderMusicGeek here. *waves at my, ahem, many readers, all 4 of them!*

Funny enough, I remember having a conversation with a co-worker when cd's had reached their 20th anniversary.

The co-worker was wondering what would replace cd's. I told him nothing.

"Nothing?! What do you mean nothing?!"

I explained how there wouldn't cd's or vinyl records are anything. We would just download our music onto the player.

He thought I was crazy!


Interesting enough, the next post of the All Songs Considered blog asks reader what they want in the next music format.

And there are some good ideas - such as adding a visual element and making them more social.

But the best idea is having the lyrics available and a list of who did what on the song! That is something I can't wait for!

To the future!!

A link to the original piece on NPR's All Songs Considered's website
A link to All Songs Considered

TELEVISION/VIDEOS and MOVIES/VIDEOS: Happy New Year - Pee-Wee Style