Coldplay’s “Ghost Stories” CD, which I bought the day it came out. (Photo from my personal collection)
Now more than ever, people are buying less albums. Most people buy singles off of iTunes, download songs illegally, or stream music through Spotify, Apple Music, or other streaming platforms. Even if someone does buy an album, it is usually bought as a digital copy (i.e. iTunes). Recently, vinyl has started to make a comeback in the music field. More than ever, millennials are purchasing record players and records from their favorite artists, new and old. As much as I can appreciate vinyl, I prefer to buy another physical form of music: CDs.
Call me old fashioned, but there is nothing like holding something tangible from your favorite artist. I’ll never forget my first CD: Oops! I Did It Again by Britney Spears. I played that CD over and over on my Hello Kitty radio when I was four. CDs became the soundtrack to my everyday life at a very young age, and throughout my life, I have acquired a massive stockpile of CDs.
My collection has tremendously increased over the past two years. Now more than ever, I have been buying tons and tons of used CDs. I buy from Amazon (some used CDs come with Prime Shipping, which is awesome), thrift stores, and used bookstores/music shops. I spend anywhere from a $1 to $5 on a given CD, depending on the seller. In fact, as I write this article, I am loading CDs into my iTunes library that I had just bought over the weekend at my favorite used bookstore in Orlando.
The fun part about buying used CDs, at least for myself, is the the aura of surprise. Most of the time when I buy a CD, I only know one song on there, which means all the other tracks will be new music to me. Sometimes the albums I buy are not that great and I may only like a few songs (if any), but most of the time I discover amazing albums. Most recently, I discovered Ryan Adams’ Gold, and it has been playing nonstop since I got it.
I totally get why people have started to shy away from buying CDs. They are sort of clunky and if you have too many, your room can get cluttered (I totally understand this one as I no longer have room on my CD stand, and I have resorted to stacking them on my dresser). Some people don’t want the whole album and just want the song that is playing on the radio. However, they are missing out on such a crucial piece of the musician/band.
I recently realized how outdated CDs were when last Christmas, I asked for a portable CD player. Before you jump to conclusions about me carrying a portable CD player around campus, it was actually for my car since my car is fairly old and does not have a CD player built into it. My dad gave me the weirdest look, but on Christmas when I unwrapped the CD player, all he had to say was, “Do you know how hard it is to find a portable CD player nowadays?”
Regardless of how outdated they may appear to others, I genuinely enjoy buying and listening to CDs. If for some reason I am buying a CD for full price (a rare occurrence), there is a 99.9% chance I am buying it at Target. I will usually go to Target the day a CD comes out and buy it. Target usually offers special editions of CDs featuring bonus tracks that will not be available anywhere else. So sometimes buying the physical copy of the album does have its perks.
Hilary Duff’s “Breathe In. Breathe Out.” album, which I bought the day it came out at Target June 2015. Note the “Target Exclusive” sticker. (Photo from my personal collection)
While buying vinyls may be trendy and buying songs online may be convenient, people shouldn’t forget the importance of CDs. Afterall, for us 90s kids, CDs is what we grew up with! And who knows, maybe one day, CDs will become the vinyl of the next generation.
HC xoxo,
Danielle