The Lost Mystery of Record Collections
By DJ M on October 4th, 2008
In Miscellaneous Music
POP MATTERS "At this point it became a decision of ordering the actual CD online or just the MP3s. At the time of making this decision, the cheapest I was able to find the physical release online for is $16.99 plus tax. But on iTunes I could download Disco Romance for less than half of that. From a monetary point of view, the choice is rather simple. Downloading the MP3s is the far better decision. And conveniently enough, I could then enjoy the music right away instead of having to wait a week to receive the CD by mail."
"But as a collector, it would feel like something was not right. What’s missing is actually being able to hold the CD in my hand. Collectors of stamps or baseball cards could have their entire collections scanned so that they could look at them on the computer, but I’m sure most collectors of those items would find that thought absurd. They would much rather have them out on display to look at and show people. So why would music collectors find this any different? There is an intangible joy about being able to hold the object in your hand. By doing this, it feels like it’s yours to keep and to own."