Emily White, an intern for NPR’s All Songs Consider, has sparked some controversy with her blog post I Never Owned Any Music To Begin With.
I am an avid music listener, concertgoer, and college radio DJ. My world is music-centric. I’ve only bought 15 CDs in my lifetime. Yet, my entire iTunes library exceeds 11,000 songs.
Like White, I tend to get my music as downloads these days, rather than physical CDs. Unlike White, I actually purchase that music. She seems to miss one of the points about purchasing music and thinks that when you download it through file sharing, that’s bad, but copying a physical CD you don’t own is just fine.
During my first semester at college, my music library more than tripled. I spent hours sitting on the floor of my college radio station, ripping music onto my laptop. The walls were lined with hundreds of albums sent by promo companies and labels to our station over the years.
David Lowery has a very thorough response. The online debate continues at All Songs Considered.
I “own” about 10k mp3 music files. Lately however, I have been buying my music from the secondary market. I have returned to listening to music from LP vinyl in excellent condition. Nothing beats it. Vinyl has a unique sound that is lost on the mp3 or cd format. Then there is the whole “thing” about vinyl. The album art. The feel of the vinyl in my hands. The setting down of the turntable needle. Listening to the LP bottom out at the very end. Here’s a trivia question: How many grooves are on the average LP? Answer: 2. One groove that spirals from one end down to the other on each side.
Hi, Charles.
I also really miss the album art. MP3 listening isn’t quite the same, and I tend to also listen on shuffle rather than taking in an entire album the way some records are meant to be listened to. Just by virtue of having to put a record on a turntable subtly changes my whole mood while listening too.
If only my equipment was better, than LPs would sound as good as my digital recordings.
Dave
I use a DAK pro turntable with my surround sound. The DAK will also permit me to rip the LP’s down to MP3’s. For my needs, a DAK is the Kanstul of turntables – lots of quality for the money.