16 February 2007

How iTunes is killing music

Before a trip involving driving, we usually burn a CD or two of music to listen to from iTunes. However, before our trip to Tasmania, we couldn't find the CD case and didn't have time to make a new one, so we ended up grabbing a few regular CDs and hitting the road.
I wasn't particularly happy about this--I couldn't remember the last time I had listened to a real CD. Because of iTunes, I am used to being able to Shuffle my music or immediately access any one of my 4300 tracks in seconds. I like creating playlists and hearing what I want to hear, when I want to hear it.
But as we were driving across Tasmania listening to the White Stripes, it suddenly hit me that I was missing out on something. When I shuffled my music or created a playlist, I was neglecting the wholeness of the craft of the artist. I rediscovered that there is much to be said for listening to an entire CD from beginning to end. 'The Same Boy You've Always Known' is a great song, but it is greater sandwiched in between 'The Union Forever' and 'We're Going to be Friends' and within the context of White Blood Cells. Artists have a particular purpose and vision when they put together a recording, and I have a newfound appreciation for that.
Having said all that, here is my 'Melbourne' iMix, a little heavy on the Australian stuff.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure if it is good or bad that I do not know any of those 38 songs!

Dad

Chris said...

Definitely bad. These are great songs!

Anonymous said...

Boo Chris boo. Everything Macintosh is God's second greatest gift to mankind.

Anonymous said...

PS
Y'all gonna get the iPhone down there?

Chris said...

As with most things, we are getting the iPhone, but about six months later.