And it is why I still like CDs. They are smaller but still have visible cover art.
Mind you, I use the digital tracks that come with the CDs or rip them, so I rarely actually play the music CDs I have (or the tapes I collected for commuting before I had a car CD player). But having a physical reserve for the music is a comfort to my 20th century self.
And what about the vinyl albums I still have?
I recently tossed my combination turntable, tape player, and CD player. I realized I hadn't actually listened to an album in ages. I have a few of the old albums in CD form now--and hence have digital versions. So why keep the turntable when I really don't have the space for things of low value.
If necessary, I can still play CDs and even tapes.
But the albums remain. Not a lot, mind you.
And what happened to all my albums, anyway? I know I had a lot more and they are gone. When did I lose them?
I was recently looking for one when somehow it came up in conversation (don't hate me, it was Lover Boy--which would never make the cut for display, I'll say) but I couldn't find it--and a friend said he remembered seeing it. But we were once college apartment-mates so his memory could go back quite a bit.
Seriously, the Eddie Money album survived, but my Bruce Springsteen, The Knack, and Neil Young albums are gone?
And my AC/DC album! Good grief, I'm starting to think thievery is involved.
Or David Bowie.
Okay, I'll admit I dumped my Journey and Foreigner albums at some point. The shame.
I know exactly what happened to my 707 album. A good friend back in the day took it to get it autographed, and sadly, it was never returned with or without autograph.
If you are a certain age, you know this song:
I have a vague memory of seeing them live in Ann Arbor.
Yet I have the next two albums. How sad, really.
Anyway, at least some of my albums remain. I can't possibly part with them.
Unless whoever has been slowly stealing them cleans me out eventually.
They are icons of a lost age, really.
And then it came to me. You display icons:
Steal that!
This had long been a hole in one living room wall dominated by a large framed print in the center, flanked by a smaller piece over my daughter's desk on the right.
Once, the space featured a poster of kittens that my daughter had won at a festival (it's now in her room).
Because I have a daughter, I left off Candy O and Wild Eyed Southern Boys.
But I kind of like it. I might expand it with 6 or 7 album covers along the bottom and right edges in future years. That would be about it, although I won't do that if it crowds the main print rather than balances the wall.
When my daughter is grown, I suppose the other corner might work for a similar display on that side.
Or maybe I'll take them down.
Well, I have time to ponder those notions.
This is what you can do when you have a decorating notion and no wife to veto the idea!
