Thursday, January 2, 2014

To Halve Undo Whole 'Til Deaf Do Us Part

 and SID Sez 120413

I usually fall asleep listening to talk radio. After one particularly great sleep, I remained in bed and watched Michael Jackson's "Ghost" video. While I wouldn't call it a disappointment, it wasn't as good as I would have hoped to see coming from the brain-trust of MJJ, Stephen King, and the great Stan Winston. Maybe (not just maybe) it was too long.

Checking my email I saw one of my favorite notices. From Amazon: $5 albums. Nowadays, $5 per platter is an incredible music buy. When I was a teenager buying vinyl, that was in the neighborhood of the going price of nice. …back when a dollar sort of was real money-like. Today, that's half the price of a new MP3. Today that's what I buy more readily than do I consume hardcopies. And why is that so? Convenience: the ultimate impulse buy. I purchased Raul Midon's first album from iTunes immediately after watching him perform on Late Night with David Letterman. A year or so before, when I heard of Chaka Khan's Classikhan album of classic song covers, I visited at least two stores to finally find it and purchase it at the price of $15.99 + 6% MI sales tax + the price of fuel and the wear and tear of aggravation.

Nowadays, the allure of vinyl sound and its comparatively bigger than life package presentation has recaptured the collectors' hearts. …at steep prices. … comparatively. Thinking about the state of music consumption today, I can make a three-way division of end uses.