Hey you kids! Get the hell off my lawn! With your gameboys and iPods and knife crime. You don’t know you’re born. Back in my day we’d walk seven miles to pick up a CD from our local record store. Uphill. Both ways. The guy there would look down at us from behind the counter and we’d feel small. And we LIKED IT…
etc…
But seriously, over the last few years, the way we consume music has changed beyond recognition. The so called ‘iPod generation’ (a horrible, if functional turn of phrase) get their musical kicks in ways – 10 years ago – I would never have imagined. They’re both lucky and unlucky, as they will never experience the things on the list that follows…
1. Spending inordinate amounts of time with CD inserts / Sleeve notes
It’s amazing, the human eye. I would never imagine I could read text as small as I did on some ‘thanks’ lists… Endlessly pouring over the reams of band names, roadie and friends for advice on future purchases. And then spending further hours with the lyrics, reading them along with the songs until you have them word perfect. What he hell do teenagers do with their time now?
2. Lending an album to a friend, and hoping to get it back
It’s the greatest thing you’ve ever heard. The soaring majesty of the music and the depth and poetry of the lyrics. This album speaks to you. If only you had someone to talk about it with! Someone to share the experience. What about your mate, Dave? He’d love this! And he’d be well impressed that you found it first. Now Dave’s got the album and he thinks it’s ‘OK.’ When you ask for it back, he tells you he left it in his mum’s car. You never get that album back. Shit.
3. Broken CD case teeth
They’re designed to hold the CD safely. Designed to protect it. But, damn it, at least 25% of the time – when you open the freshly purchased CD and removed the impossibly snug shrink wrap – there’s that tell-tale rattle telling you that the centre section of teeth has broken apart, rendering the case useless.
4. Walls Of Neatly Stacked CDs
I feel sorry for manufacturers of CD storage solutions. They had no part in the demise of music as a physical medium. They just built furniture. Furniture that is becoming obsolete. It was always a yardstick music fans would use to scope each other out – the amount of wall coved by CDs – sometimes alphabetised by the truly faithful. What now? Check the amount of drive space used by MP3s? Not so easy.
5. Mixtapes with EFFORT
Ok, yes, you can burn a CD, put together a Spotify playlist or just mail over a bunch of MP3s. But that doesn’t count. To put together a proper mix tape you must experience the songs yourself, hit the buttons at the right time and put some effort into the selection. You don’t want the last song to cut out in the middle, so you have to scout song lengths. It’s also a tape, so there will be no skipping. The songs must flow together properly. It’s an art form, really. Sadly a lost one.
6. Putting together CD Wallets For Trips
Twenty minutes before you leave on a two week trip with your family and, although you’ve packed your Discman and headphones, you’ve forgotten to pack your CDs. Shit! What do you do? Grab the first few from the rack or make some tough decisions? This is all you’re going to have for two whole weeks. Your only respite from deadly-dull chit-chat. Greatest hits albums? New albums? Take a risk on the one Dave lent you? Old favorites? The stress is KILLING you.
7. Waiting For Albums To Come Out
Not just waiting – but waiting. Outside of the shop waiting. This shows true commitment to the cause. The shop would open, you would rush in, all excited, and the dude behind the counter would clock you by your clothes, hair and demeanor and have the album ready. Maybe there would be a few of you, huddled in the shop doorway like very well dressed hobos (or if it was a metal album – hobos) awaiting the magic moment when the album could be yours…
8. Tape Trading
When you can’t just Google, Scrob or Lazyweb it, how do you discover new music? By exchanging tapes by post! Underground music was once fueled by the Royal Mail and the C90 tape. Often second or third generation recordings and, quite often, awful. It was the best way of doing business, purely for the surprise factor. What the hell would be on the next one from that strange grindcore fan in the eastern bloc?
9. Skinning Up On An Album Cover
The absolutely perfect place to do it. Plenty of room, no grooves, easy to clean and looks damn good. You can’t skin up on an iPod.
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10 The Secret Track
See what I did there?
Clever eh?
Remember when you’d listen to an album going to sleep and just as you are about to nod off KRAAGGGGGHHHHHSSSSSS! SECRET TRACK!!!
Terrifying. Sometimes it’d be the band goofing about in the studio. Sometimes an acoustic track. Sometimes just another track… It was an Easter egg for the committed fan and now, sadly consigned to history.
167 Comments
I remember when albums had some art on the cover rather than just a mug-shot of the spotty twat that sings
I’m/we’re old – thx for the funny/sad (in a way) post. The “waiting for an album” to come out thing always struck me as strange. I remember kids lined up to get some U2 album at midnight back in ‘93. Didn’t they know you’d be able to buy it in the morning? It’s not like they were going to run out.
All of them, so so true.
It’s a bit like when they used to make jam out of cauliflowers in the war. I heart this post.
3. Broken CD case teeth
This is one of the great rages of my life…why are all cd cases not cardboard?
I took pride in being that CD man. I refuse to download music until I absolutely have to. Did it annoy anybody else when point 1 was rendered impossible due to the lack of song lyrics in the insert. Replaced by “liner notes” that were meant to be witty, but were written by the drummer who in said notes quickly turned out to be somewhat of a dull twat.
Ah the secret track-remember when bands got all clever-clever and started hiding them BEFORE the first track? Awesome, and now completely bloody pointless…
1. ‘Record store’? Is that further down the sidewalk, past the diner and left at the Seven Eleven?
2. CDs? You’re harking back THAT far?? To the technology before this one? BIG DEAL, whippersnappers. Try tapes on for size, kids. Or what about vinyl? CD covers the best surface for skinning up? Bullshit. Not only can an original vinyl release of Umma Gumma accomodate everything a dope smoker needs, but it can also cope with several lines of cocaine, a paperback copy of the ponderous Silent Spring AND two cups of tea too with plenty of room to spare.
CD covers, indeed!
YOU KIDS KNOW NOTHING.
It’s wasn’t a music record, but a classic example of the might of vinyl is Monty Python’s Matching Tie & Handkerchief. Depending on where you laid the needle, you got THREE SIDES on a two-sided album. Can CDs do that?
NO!
I WIN!
Nappers – he didn’t mention CDs in the one about skinning up. Do read a little closer.
Swineshead – Yes, I know. But as the entire article focuses on that crusty old technology that is the CD, and as it’s clearly written by somebody who didn’t even have the decency to be around in the ’80s, we can reasonably assume this infant was referring to CD covers when talking about skinning up.
So stick THAT up your giant schnozz, you house-bound CLOWN.
*wins*
Alot of people i know have turned away from digital music. Think it might be something to do with the fact that i don’t know anyone who’s had an ipod that’s lasted more then 2 years AT THE MOST. Therefore you rent them for about 100 quid a year.
I tend to get my music in cd form, from internet behemoth Amazon.
Nappers – Record store is pretty transatlantic isn’t it?
And this referres to CDs tapes and records. I was around for a few years in the 80, but not all of them.
All this focusing on ‘winning’ coming from one of life’s ugliest losers (Napoleon Cockaparte) is ASTOUNDING.
I was around for all years in the 80s, and my preferred format is the C90.
*bows*
What about nicking tapes from parties? That was great fun. People just plug in their iPods or stream it wirelessly from their pockets. Well boring.
Vones – No, ‘record store’ is exclusively American. We Britishers say ‘record shop’, thanks very much.
Swineshead – How d’ye square that, eh? I work on average for four days per month, earn a fortune, have a (reasonably) lovely missus, am in much ruder health than I used to be, get sent free stuff every week for no reason, could, if I wanted to, go to just about any gig I wanted to for nothing (fuck that!), have a proper manly voice and next month I’m moving into a house that’s twice the size of the one I’m in now. I also have no debts, a MASSIVE amount of money in my savings account, three pensions, a stock portfolio and a collection of antiques that are actually worth something, unlike the plastic crap you fly-by-nights consider worth spending your money on nowadays. As an only child (sort of) I’m also set to inherit three houses and a huge sum of money. AND I don’t look like I might start pecking at the ground for seeds at any moment.
That’s being a loser, is it?
Ho ho!
*wins*
Fourstar – I did that at a party held by a blind girl. I nicked a Chicago greatest hits tape and gave it to a girl as a Valentine’s Day present.
I NICKED IT FROM A BLIND GIRL.
I’m maintaining record store is a viable British phrase. If you can prove otherwise, I’d be hapy to bow to your vocab-iness
But what about our american readers? We’re catering to an international audience dontchaknow.
Vones – Because we don’t say ’store’ for ’shop’? Unless we’re twats? Is that what you want to be? A twat? A twat wot talks like a Yank?
I bet you say ’season’ for ’series’, don’t you? You should feel nothing but shame, you TRAITOR.
I say store and season.
‘Oh say can you see…’
Then you’re talking like a Yank. You don’t say ‘mom’ or ’sidewalk’ or ‘catsup’, do you? INCONSISTANT TRAITOR.
I’m easily influenced by things I hear on my Tellybox.
And I watch a lot of sci fi.
I occasionally say ‘gorram’ and ‘frack’
Have fun with that.
BASTARD!
Let’s call the whole thing off.
*dreads podcast recording later*
Don’t these i pod people just download the tracks they want so they never get to hear that track in the middle of side 2 that takes a bit of listening to to learn to love .It’s all got to be instant gratification these days .PAH
It’s ‘Record Shop’ although in my experience (EG:Bunking off school so I could buy the ‘Somewhere in Time early) it was ‘Falcon records’. In the early days of CD, I once ponced a copy of ‘Queen of the Reich’ from a party, only to later remember that I had nowt to play it on. My bedroom is still filled to the rafters with Vinyl and tape, meaning I regularly have to go to pawn shops and buy 80s stereos to play them on-which is ACE!
Isn’t it ironic how somebody can call someone a twat and boast of having money and a massive house?
I thought this was a column about the things that one generation (the “iPod generation”) would miss out on from the previous generation (whatever people called the generation that listened to CD’s). When did the self righteous come in and collectively chant “Vinyl!” I must have missed that. I was too busy looking through my CD’s.
I reckon ‘Generation X’ was about the CD-ers, although the baby boomers kind of got a look in too didn’t they, so how about Generation Laser, which sounds cool. Anyhoo, I thought it was about any generation before mp3s became the default music listening thing.What about wax cylinders, or shellac? Did shellac come with liner notes? Naps-I have no money and a small house which isn’t mine-can I have some money/live in your shed?
I’m 16 so am of the iPod generation. The thing I’m sad about is not having the wall of music. Being able to see all you’re CD’s must be a gratifying experience. Not just having a square of chrome to show for all the time and money.
The writer of this article is much too young.
How about when album covers were large enough to actually see the artwork!?? (Talk about really hidden stuff!)
… and liner notes you didn’t need a magnifying glass to read!
Of course, there are those who might scoff at me and say, “You had to BUY your music to hear it first. We previewed our albums in a listening booth first!”
And they’d be right.
I think it is pretty dumb to say that kids today won’t ever make a mix tape, or even more ridiculous, wait for an album to be released.
TFM – Can you still buy tapes? Really, I don’t know. And if so, how many kids would have equipment that plays and records onto them?
And would kids wait outside the store when they can just click download?
I expect ANSWERS!
That is cool if i do not experience any of that stuff. I hate giving my stuff out and then never recieving it back!
getting mix tapes from boys at school was awesome
a lost art form indeed!
Once, I got a mix tape with a hand made sleeve AND lyrics to some of the songs
Yeah, I can relate to 8 out of those. I really miss CD’s now and I would still buy them now only I sold most of my collection to help fund beer at university and I can’t be arsed starting again. I just use iTunes now.
CDs get scratched and fall apart. Vinyl snaps and cassettes become chewed.
I like mp3s – they’re like ephemeral gifts from the heavens – homeless musical spirits that only cost 79p each or can be illegally shared across oceans, at the drop of a hat completely and utterly free of charge.
You’ve never had it so good!
I actually just had to deal with broken CD teeth today. I was burning some music onto my computer and teeth on a case broke.
Oh jeez, you didn’t even mention 8-tracks. That was the going format for playing in your car when I was in high school, although we all had albums to play at home. But have you ever played a 78? I worked at a big band radio station where we occasionally played 78s on air.
HAHAHAHAhahahaha..hahaha… ha ha ha ha…
ha ha…..snif.. snif.. snif
funny and sad at the same time
Lock tracks. That inner grove on vinyl that parked the needle at the end of an album. Peter Gabriel made an album where the final chord continued into the lock track, so the song would never end. Try that on an mp3, or even CD.
It’s kind of perverse, but I miss the skips and hiss of vinyl. My mind has memorised some of my favourite tracks with the skips included, so now, when I listen to them on my iPod.. my mind takes a double take at the flawless reproduction. Somehow the flaws added character to the song.
Napoleon,
All this shit about your stock portfolios and blah blah blah. Compensating for something? Little man syndrome?
Do you know that trolling is actually considered to be caused by a mild form of Aspergers. Yep the same Aspergers that is an offshoot of Autism. Sorry Napoleon but it looks like you… *fail*
Good luck with getting treatment for your autism.
Most of these are tongue on cheek but it makes me feel old that I still remember those days and yearn for the walkman over the ipod.
A few other things the iPod generation will never experience: Those frustrating 8 track tapes breaking or jamming up your car player, just when Chicago was jammin real good; Oh, those very touchy LP turntables that required just the right balance or your LP would skip. I actually had a friend that hung his turntable from the ceiling, because he had wood floors, and the Album would skip everytime someone walked across the floor. Cleaning the dust from your Vinal Album before you play it. Buying a new diamond cartridge every 3 moths so you could get just the purest High Fidelity. Getting your Album back from a friend all scratched up because they would stack them in a pile, instead of carefully return each LP to the jacket after playing.
aww. all of these are great. i still love cds way too much to part with them. as for #3, i have a curse of breaking/cracking every case i own, haha. once even before i got the new cd home! lovely article though
fuck a cd kid. cds were wack since day one.
if you werent a complete fucking loser you would have had a decent set of turntables for those oh so sensitive records.
So true! This took me back, I used to work at a record store back in the early 90’s. I remember when everything switched from cassette tape to CD. I had like 500 and some tapes, it took me quite awhile before I gave in to the whole CD thing. Now CD’s are almost non-existent. LOL!
Came across this and I love it,one thing is the SOUND,not this wafer thin tinny sound by glorious sounds that make your soul get up and take notice,also a lot,I say LOT of my cd’s aren’t even on itunes or your other download sites.
I used to work at Best Buy up until a month ago where I was fired or replaced by someone who they can pay much less than what I was making and while I was there I was THE ONE in the music dept,any genre,with the exception of rap I was the expert at and helped many now gods knows what it looks like,and I’m sure most of the music will be replaced by Ipods and Mp3 players.
Napoleon is hysterical.
Just bought me a CD tonight!! It’s been so long. I spent 18.99 plus tax on it. Read the entire inner sleeve AND inner booklet whilst waiting for a show.
…I wonder if there’s gonna be a secret track. *joy*
i was just thinking the other day: bootleg concert tapes being sold along camden high street on a weekend…
ah, the ecxitement and smell of new vinyl!
sure it’s great that mp3’s are so available and so….free…. but there you are, it devalues the music and takes away much of the excitement of waiting for and procuring that LP… on the up side though, i have about 80,000 tracks all packed away on one tiny little external drive, and not all over the house, collecting dust!
Hmmmm…..CD’s are pretty good sound quality.
Vinyl is better.
Mp3’s absolutely suck, so many artifacts.
Ogg-Vorbis is better than MP3.
FLAC is as good as CD.
Tape? Really tape??? Tape is worst of the lot, poor dynamic range, lots of hiss and limited high frequency response.
Really, all these lossy formats are killing music.
I cherish my CD and Vinyl collections.
Vinyl will always be king for me, for the random messages scratched into the playout by people at the pressing plant if nothing else!
Do that with your mp3z.
im looking to my right now, and seeing my own wall of cd’s and just thinking how disheartening it is to know thats going to be a rarity.
good post, well done.
I remember entertaining myself for a week-long holiday with only two tape cassettes for company – Rendez Vous by Basement Jaxx and Gangsta Trippin’ by Fatboy Slim.
That’s all I had on my Walkman to drown out the sounds of Garth Brooks, Enya and The Red Hot Chilli Pipers.
I welcome iPods and their non-Apple counterparts (the £15 ones from Argos).
Enron – Up yours, you bumwitted arsehole. I was responding to that rat Swineshead calling me a loser by boasting of my massive house, my vasts piles of gold, my supermodel girlfriend, my yacht, my house in the South of France, my collection of fine art, my gigantic stock portfolio and my mane of hair.
And as for ’small man’ syndrome’, I’m six fucking foot tall, I’ll have you know. Add that mane I’ve just mentioned, and I tower to almost seven feet high.
As further proof of my magnificence, here’s me on a recent expensive Caribbean holiday with three of my ‘friends’:
http://tinyurl.com/nvwxcf
SO UP YOURS!
Oh my god, this is hilarious. I was born in the 80’s (86 in fact), and I listen to CDs. I think this is kind of silly, and you’ll find a lot of people still buy CDs BUT STILL USE AN MP3 player. Yeah, I can relate to a lot of the things in your post, but this Von character seems a little out of touch, I’m guessing in their late thirties? It sounds pretty damn grumpy. Maybe you should have a listen to some decent bands, and talk to some decent people. You’ll find that they appreciate good quality sound.
Have you considered that iPods are pretty good for some things, such as carrying around hundreds of albums around in your pocket, smaller than the size of a packet of cigarettes? It’s alright while you’re sitting on the bus and there’s so much noise that you’d miss all the frequencies that would be there on a CD. Maybe you should try sitting at home on the couch with a drink, listening to your favourite album (on CD or tape (not 1/4 inch(that’s cassette) or vinyl). It’s a nice feeling.
Also Napoleon, it’s pretty obvious you were born in the 80s. You claim to be old school, but you make it clear that you’ve got a little money behind you, and are happy to share it all. Also, “i get teh wins” is a giveaway.
That is all. I’ve not seen this website before. Thank you and good night.
Also, this Dave character with his cassettes has the idea.
Late Thirties
*cries*
Dean – It’s pretty obvious I was born in the ’80s, is it? So the fact I was born in the ’70s isn’t coming across, then? Hang on …
*bounds back into room on board a Space Hopper*
Any … whoa! … any … any … shit! … any better …?
copied from above – have a read this time, perhaps?
the self-professed elite have ruined a good post, as always. this isn’t about which era / format was better – it’s about what the ipod generation have missed out on.. stop going off-topic to try and prove yourselves over the internet, it’s impossible.
good post, well done.
[edit] it’s not about your wealth either. most of the musicians who made the music you once bought would probably give you the finger
why am i, a 14 year old, more mature than you? if someone offered me wealth for my cool guess what – i’d keep the cool. if i had wealth, though, i certainly wouldn’t be spending my days being an arsehole about it on some blog. i’d be banging this supermodel.. in a yacht.. in the ocean.. or something. grow up, get a life and fuck off in whichever order you like 
This Napoleon character is hilarious. Spent so much time about talking proper with “shop” instead of “store” (should be shoppe you twit), and yet says he’s six FOOT tall, gee, I thought in England we used the METRIC system! HAHAHA you fail, sir!
I’m 23 which means I’m from neither the tape cassette, Compact Disk or Interactive Pod generations (is that what the ‘i’ means?).
Nope, as a 23 year old (my age, meaning I was born in the year 1985, the year inbetween 1984 and 1986), I am of the Mini Disc Generation, the generation that got the worst of all the format worlds.
You should all think yourselves lucky.
I was SO dissapointed, when I opened this, and saw it was about CD’s..
CD-generation knew Nothing about trouble you had to go through with music.
Broken CD case teeth? Oh my..
IFellOld – Those phonograph cylinders were really brittle, weren’t they?
*lights expensive cigar with £50 notew*
We tend to measure ourselves in feet ‘n’ inches, Panzer Dragoon.
*shits in priceless antique vase*
And no, it’s ’shop’ not ’shoppe’. It’s not 1560, old son.
*rolls around in piles of gold*
Going off topic’s been a fine tradition of EWM’s growing family of sites since the company was founded all those years ago in 2008, ishavemypubes.
As has pissing about, you pack of pig-ignorant fuckwits.
That’s true, we usually get as far a two comments in before we are blathering about whose lunch wins, and school and all that.
You miss hidden tracks? They’re a serious PITA when you’re importing your CD collection and they’re 99.9999% of the time worthless. The real pain was the ones hidden at the beginning of an album, before the first track.
No, hidden tracks are cordially invited to die in a fire. They suck, and so do the assclowns who thought of them. You want to give me a “bonus” track? Great! Just make it an unlisted track and skip the half hour of silence.
I love the fact that everyone assumes that the list is made up of things that I think are good or bad – it’s just a list of stuff that’s not happening any more.
Make your own judgements whether you think it’s good or bad.
Vones-what a cop out-nail your colours to a flag man!
My favorite part about the old days of music was the times your friend owned an album you wanted, so you’d ask him if he could make you a copy. So you’d take your blank tape to his house, and put it in a duel tape player/recorder. So you’d both end up listening to the entire album. I miss that.
Geez guy, next time try to type your article on Microsoft Word and then copy and paste it on to this site. At least you’d be able to catch all the spelling and grammer mistakes.
What’s a ‘grammer’ mistake?
**is it on? i said IS IT ON? what…?**
CD’s is it?
**WHAT?**
Fine Mp3’s then.
In my day it were all FIELDS
Don’t be ridiculous.
Just let go of the consumerist aspect of music already.
geez.
Secret Hidden Bonus Tracks always annoyed me. Good riddance to them.
Ah, the nostalgia. I truly miss those days, they were fun. Now all you get is the anticipation of downloading an album which doesn’t last very long. Everything is so easy these days, so much choice out there for instant gratification. No fun.
To all, do not worry: with a long-term economic crisis, peak oil, global warming, pandemics, and many more problems, we’ll all be back to vinyls soon.
I am a 14 year old girl and i love cds. I save my money to buy them and i open them on the bus ride home and read the liner notes. I love the thank yous, I look for names i recognize and bands i like.
I love the band Chiodos, and they have amazing cover art. I love cover art. I have bought a cd just for the cover art (Escape the Fate – Dying Is your Latest Fashion)
While i do download songs, i will go out and buy the cd if i like the song. I am searching right now for a good cd storage rack, as mine is full. twice over, at least.
That said, i love my ipod and would die without the convenience and space saving awesomeness of a device with room for all my music that fits in my pocket.
I love secret tracks. my favourite is on the used cd Lies for the Liars, where a couple minutes after what you think is the last song, you hear “quesa-dillas quesadillas” repeat. repeat.
I truly hope the cd establishement/business/whatever does not end. I love cds.
Skinning up on an LP vinyl case = even better.
I’m part the transitioning period. In my childhood (though I’m 18, so to the elders, I’m still a child. heh.), I was a CD kind of girl. No. 6 hits SO close to home on my road trips with my family. I was a weird kid, though, buying all sorts of techno CDs I would find for $5-8 at my local record store. I liked the variety, but even then, I remember screaming with joy when my father bought me this CD-Binder (looked like it was made out of bowling shoes, I LOVED IT), so I used to lug that massive thing with all my CDs on road trips.
Then, one day, my parents bought me an iPod (which I’ve named Isaac) some two years ago. I look at my CDs, and as much as Isaac is my current lover, nothing can replace all those memories of taking walks/runs with my CD player and getting so damn pissed when the CD would skip if I started moving too much. Or making mixed CDs for that absolutely raving party I was going to have this weekend, and I must make sure to label the CDs to know which plays first and last, so all the fast songs and slow songs are in order. Or simply holding something physical that belongs to one of my favorite bands.
Mp3s are like imaginary friends, in your head but not tangible. CDs are permanent–until some bastard sits on one, breaking it. Mp3s can only be destroyed if someone deletes them, which is far too much work, but would definitely give a sign that someone is out to get you. CDs trigger full-fledged emotions.
It’s a shame they’re slowly disappearing.
I still by CD’s…sometimes. Of course there isn’t any Music stores left…not really. I actually just found a secret track on Blue October’s Foiled album. I nearly peed my pants I was so happy! Great post!
CDs are horrible. Little plasticky things that snap. The art work is too small. The format lacks mystery, bears the stamp of conveniance. If it really is a dying form, it will not be missed in my house.
Give me outsized, lugubrious, expensive vinyl, or your ephemeral mp3s if you must.
Sorry, but i think you’re totally wrong. In my case anyhow. I listen to albums and appreciate their music and the lyrics. I have a whole wall of CD’s. I’ve waited for albums outside shops a number of times. And i’m fifteen. Perhaps you are right for most people, but in my case, you are wrong.
The only thing I REALLY miss are the secret tracks.
I started collecting music in 1975,so I have been through most formats.I became a DJ in the mid-80’s and am still going strong.My massive music collection takes up more than one wall,just the vinyl takes more than one wall.I have a wall of CD’s,tapes,mini disc’s and even a few 8-track tapes that I couldn’t get rid of because of sentimental reasons.I do have an ipod (120 gig)that I have filled with tracks and albums from CD’s and vinyl and I must say that the tracks I ripped sound better than the tracks I have downloaded(must be the formatting)but if I desire on any day I can play any type I desire my home stereo system can play all formats including reel to reel tape,and I have a couple of walkman tape players and a mini disc walkman too.I understand every thing mentioned on this blog except one thing.(No I’m not a yank,I’m Canadian but I do get most of my music in New York.I live in Montreal)what do you mean by,”skinning up?”.As in CD covers,the best surface for skinning up.
Skinning up – Rolling up, rolling a cigarette or of course a ‘medicinal herbal cigarette’. Not that DT would ever promote any form of reefer madness or want to turn you into a doobie freak of course…
Something else they’ll never experience…rolling a joint on a record sleeve. Somehow, it’s pure magic.
Sigh…
Right.
Americans. Pay Attention!
Skinning up. It means: Rolling Up. Rolling A Joint. Rolling anything you smoke. got it? Got it! Good work. now be about your business.
I’m fourteen and I listen to CDs more than I use my iPod, way more. I love CDs. Not all of my generation are like that. :]
10 Cd’s or 12 cassettes for 1 penny offer in magazines and newspaper. I would order them in fake names and put bill me later, Did it about a dozen times. The last time I did that I got The cure Mixed up, Ween Pure Guava, STP, Rage against the machine, Biggie, and Bone and I cant remember the rest.
I listen mostly to punk and metal type stuff. I really miss spending HOURS sifting through dusty record stores trying to find that ONE record by that band that had that ONE song on it that was so freakin great, it made paying for the rest of the useless crap on it worthwhile. Oh, and nobody mentioned picture discs or limited edition colored vinyl or any of that good stuff. Serial numbers (and the message scratchings mentioned earlier)made a big difference too. Being a music fan and a collector MEANT something then. You had to labor and sweat for your love.
I don’t think i want to experience any of that, it sounds like a pain and a huge waste of time.. when thing are so much quicker now.
Nah Soda, it’s all part of the fun, that’s where you end up discovering new gems -nothing quite like the thill of buying an album based purely on the cover or the title with no idea what it’ll be like. Sure you get the odd clunker, but you discover so many great tracks it more than makes up for it
So true. I’m glad I’m not the only one that got angry with broken case teeth, or was almost asleep and the super loud band messing around in the studio scares the crap out of you as you rush for the DIAL, not remote, to turn it down.
Where is this world going?
…and going way back to vinyl, taking your cheep brick Mexican weed and cleaning the seeds out whilst listening to the accompanying albums tracks
… oh yeah and one night recently at a friend of mine, he’s got a huge vinyl collection of over 5000 albums, just by viewing the spine alone, I chose about 20 albums all based on the same color, and DJ’ed while we drank, that cant be done (easily) with digital
good list, although you can skin up on an ipod, i use my iphone as a skinning up table all time, portable and fits in your pocket
dude i call total bullshit! i am smack in the middle of both generations. cds sucked, tapes even more. records got scratched and totally stolen. i’m totally happy with my mp3 collection that i dont have to carry around when i travel. also, i still put my best into playlist recording. serisouly, i disagree with everything on this list.
I am very fat.
Another thing the young generation will never experience is FREEDOM:
Freedom to succeed and freedom to fail
I’m 15 and I still do most of these. I like owning CDs and still go to the store and buy them.
Fat Chick – your comment made my day. Good for you.
Define “iPod Generation”
iPods came out in middle school for me, but I’ve experienced much of this. #9!
1. Concept albums. (We’ve gone full circle to singles…!)
2. LPs that warped.
3. Variable speed caused by LPs playing 6 deep.
4. Beautiful, LARGE LP cover art and liner notes. The total package.
5. If you think CD mix tapes were hard, try LP mix tapes (made with your little portable tape player, no less).
6. The sound quality of a new LP and a new stylus, or a reel-to-reel. Sound quality was a big, BIG deal (not like now).
7. The intense effort in being a collector – no internet, no eBay, shabby mimeographed fan magazines and big fan conventions as the only means of communication. Every find was a huge coup…
8. Bootlegs.
9. Great big headphones – sometimes uncomfortable, never portable, but really great (and loud) sound. Shut out the world, baby!
10. The music created pictures only in your head – no videos!
I bought an album from itunes recently to be greeted with this on the title for the last track – ‘DIGITAL VERSION WITH NO SECRET TRACK’. Made me sad.
My good mate Dave Evans, the original ACDC lead singer had a collection of his CDs from the 80s and 90s.
We took ‘em to Clive Lendich, one of the best guitarrista around, Clive having played with Streisand, Neal Sedaka and a host of other stars. Clive digiatlly recorded “Thunder down under” and “can i get next to you girl” for Dave who is now getting race reviews from all over the World.
I’m as proud as hell ’cause Dave didn’t know about digital.
What wa srteat wa spicking up the Cd covers and reading the notes. Fuckin’ difficult on an ipod.
Geeron pal break a leg
yeah shame they never get to experience the shoddy quality of tapes, cd’s skipping or hanging.
having to buy each and every song on an album even if you only liked one song
etc.
bunch of “ow how everything used to be better” nonsense if you ask me.
IT WASN’T
mixtapes are a form of art but burning a cd takes no effort at all.
BULL!
people use the technology they have to do what they want (in this case copying music)
or are you still making mixtapes because it’s so goddamn artsy.
execpt the lyric thing, I don’t miss any of the list mentioned.
aHA!! so, you DO miss the lyric thing then eh?!
You old skool BASTARD tDave!
I burned all of my CD’s years ago when I learned that I could just put them all on the computer. CD’s always were worthless crap, good riddance.
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I use to take the albums out of the album sleeves and use them as wallpaper on my bedroom wall via the use of thumbtacks. Just try and do that with a CD insert or a printed out CD liner.
As for the mixtapes, sure they sounded like crap and eventually got eaten by a tape player, but at least we still have memories of the music we loved.
Try vinyl. 12 inches of analog sound. At least you could really see the cover art and read the liner notes. Which is something you’ll never know. each generation has its own.
This post is nothing but a stereotypical assumption. I’m part of the iPod generation and I own more CDs than I have room for. Not to mention, I have to walk 4 miles to walmart just for grocery shopping. You can’t shove people into a categorization.
Tape trading with mail!! so nostalgic
What can you shove people into Danielle? I would like to nominate the back of a Ford Cortina.
The thing I miss most about the elpee era is gatefold album covers.
skinning up?
Where are you people from? I’ve been smoking for 25 years and I’ve never heard of that phrase before.
Hey Some Jerk. We’re from the Westcountry. Arrr.
oi bet ee’ve nev’r ear’d of drainage trouble wi’ comboine in t’op feeeld noither ‘ave ‘ee moi lover?
it definitely means rolling a cigarette.
cheers
I totaly agree.. But CD’s are expencive, so i kinda understand the ease of the iPod.
Yes true the artists won’t make money of the fans, but that’s what concerts and video clips are for. To stimulate the fan to buy it anyway, and if that doesn’t happen, the performance just wasn’t convincing enough.
Though having the actual CD(or even better, the LP!) is better than all the downloaded files together.
I’m actually pretty envious of previous generations music formats and the cultures that went along with them
tape trade, mixtapes and vinyl i know are stuff my generation’ll probably never experience again to the extent that previous generations have.
Quite sad actually.
Well I am of the ‘iPod generation’ but I do love going to the local record shop and (if they have any in) buying a (vinyl) record. If not then I do but the CD. But I just love records. I love the sleeves, how they sound (a bit of his between tracks, that’s how an album should sound). CDs just aren’t the same.
I hate download albums because I like having the physical record. Sure download albums are easier to store, as are CDs, but I love records.
We did something about the death of the CD a couple of years ago. Wth a look see if you’re interested. (FYI, contest is LONG over so no prize for you…sorry).
http://www.offthedial.ca/?p=187
I take pride in the fact I’ve done most of these things on this list and im only 20. screw technology and iPods.
Digging through crates is the one of the most enjoyable things you can do as a DJ. Sitting on your computer, browsing through websites to find music doesn’t even compare.
Luckily there is a vinyl revival and a few shops still open for us vinyl junkies to get our fix.
Now don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the cases to CDs. Even when I have the album on my Ipod, I try to get the physical album. But come on. Isn’t it a GOOD thing that we no longer have to fear of losing a cd to a friend? Or worry about scratching up the cover or the disc itself? And mixes for trips are great, but once you’ve listened to the whole thing 3 or 4 times, isn’t it time for a change?
where is this take me to there in florida we dont have these type of things…
Nostalgia is such a fickle emotion. Remember, these same Gen-Xers that seek to hold onto antiquated technologies are the ones that are responsible for the sinking ship that has become the music retail industry.
There will always be something that people reminisce about “the good ol’ days”, and let me tell you, the story is always the same. Incredible naivety combined with absurd sentimentality breed generations of this shallow nostalgic masturbation. And it’s growing stale.
I was a member of the CD generation for decades before I got an iPod. And you know what? It sucked. I remember all those things, but what I also remember more were the high prices, the low selection, the rapid degradation and the terrible initial disc quality.
Have fun reminiscing, your memories will last a lot longer than your CD collection will.
This is the best page.
I smiled and wept.
Beautiful.
These blogs do nothing but make me feel shameful. Like we need anymore.
I was born in ‘94, so I’m not sure if that technically counts as “the iPod Generation”, although I do have an iPod, but I’ve experienced 7/10 of the things on this list, so that’s something. And while I wholeheartedly agree that making a proper mixtape is an artform, I don’t think it’s lost because I make mix CDs for friends and family and the rules and required skills are still the same; it’s just on a CD instead of a tape.
To this day every last one of the songs on my ipod is from a physical CD that I own. I refuse not to buy the album in physical form. And nothing says You rock more than giving someone a mixtape.
God I’m old………
Oh god, so funny and so true!
Thanks for the giggle
Very nice. I’m part of the generation that got both of the worlds: I have tons of cds, and yet I have quite the iTunes selection. But yes, I do remember those hidden tracks…
I am glad to be a visitor of this utter blog, thank you for this rare info!
NOT TRUE. Albums still have secret tracks, it’s just obvious cause there is much more time on the last song, with a bit of silence between. Now the test is knowing what time to fast-forward to so you don’t have to wait.
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