Cd experience
Recently I started collecting cds, if you're curious you can find my collection on my interests page. As I have collected them, I just like them more and more. And with all the AI, NFT, and streaming stuff eroding my trust in digital forms of media, I grow more devoted to physical media.
Other than obvious risks in allowing other people to control how you enjoy products you buy, cds are really a great time if you are into some band or something. Not only do you get a pretty high quality of the music you love, you get additional experiences on top of that. One big thing for me personally are the sleeves. Just like a record, you get to hold the album art right in your hands. You can see how it looks in the light, and unfold it to see the lyrics and additional art the band chose. I'm a big visual sort of person, so in my head the album art plays a big role in how I categorize, visualize, and remember music.
Additionally, even the plastic cases cds come in can be unique themselves. Some are colored, which Alice in Chains does a lot. Those are pretty cool, the Nothing Safe compilation has an orange colored case and the Tripod Dog one had a yellow colored case. In my opinion the color and the filter it puts on the artwork massively plays into the aesthetic. Its sickly and strange, just like the music. Other cases aren't see through at all, instead they're some opaque color. Sometimes there'll be a texture or an embossed symbol, all playing into the aesthetic and feel of the music you're about to listen to.
Next is a big part in my opinion. The fact that normally, cds play in order. This isnt always a big deal, but there are albums with opener tracks, albums that have a story playing out within them, and albums with tracks that are 100% designed to play into each other. And I think if you really love the music, I think listening to it in the way the artist intended might be worth it.
Listening to Dark Side of the Moon or Black Sabbaths first album Black Sabbath is a completely different experience than cherry picking songs off the album to listen to. You dont have to do it all the time, but its definitely worth trying out.
All of these things together make for a really cool experience of listening to an album. More than just auditory, it can be visual and tactile.
Personally, an experience I wont forget is listening to the self titled debut Black Sabbath album I mentioned earlier. I was a late, rainy, school night at some point in my highschool years. I think it was probably the beginning of the year or something, since I didnt mind staying up late because nothing important was going on in classes. I had just stolen my dads huge cd collection from when he was my age, as well as an old portable cd player. I popped in the cd and plugged in some headphones. I set the volume to what I thought would be a good listening volume and started to look at the booklet. But the thing was, the opening track, also called Black Sabbath (lol), starts out with a thunder storm and a bell ringing. As it was raining, I couldnt totally tell if that was the song or real life, so I was only really sure of the bell. So in this surreal state of listening, I was looking at the booklet and at the strange woman on the cover. Flipping through and thinking "huh, kinda weird but pretty cool". Suddenly, "BOOM!!!" the opening riff hits, heavy as hell and louder than I anticipated. I dropped the booklet and turned the volume down a bit wide eyed, still breathing a bit fast and with a little bit of adrenaline in my system.
Experiences like that are the type to make whatever album you are currently listening to your favorite among the bands discography, even if you feel like the other albums might be objectively better. But they are also the type to make you appreciate a medium like never before. So if you have an album you really love, I encourage you greatly to buy a cd of it and give it a listen. Its absolutely worth it. Look around at a goodwill or a half price books (goated) and see what you can find.