What has happened to the music ?
It used to be so easy. We all had a record collection. It was cherished, stored carefully in an old milk crate. Not only was the music appreciated, but the artwork was just as treasured. I remember my best mate had Exile On Main St by The Rolling Stones. It was a double album so the cover actually opened out with like a book and had these amazing black and white photos all over it. How cool it was to promote both art and music together.
Then along cam CD's. The artwork was still there, but just about a ninth of the size. Many a trip was taken to JB Hifi to buy either the latest $27.99 album, or a $12 classic like the best of The Eagles . At this point I was replacing some albums with the CD but my musical tastes had also moved on, so some of those classic albums like Monty Python's Contractual Obligations I have only ever owned the vinyl (and still have them stored in the shed somewhere)
The first CD's were really thick and seemed to be quite well made. We were told they were made in labratories with people in spacesuits, as factory hygiene was paramount. Later they became wafer thin and the hard cases they came in also fell to bits. But the worst thing ever was that they could scratch so easily. Unless you were Captain Anal and immediately put them back in their cases, they invariably got scratched. If you were having a party, they could very easily end up out of control.
I could handle a scratch on an album as you just carefully lifted the needle and moved it ahead a bit. On a CD, a scratch can be a tragedy. It can also depend on your CD player - some won't move past that point, some will get through it and some will go haywire from that point on. Frustratingly, the scratch ALWAYS occurs on the best bit of the best song. CDs became a frustration.
Whoo hoo, then iTunes came and swept the world. It didn't matter whether you had a PC or a MAC as it worked on both. It filled me with joy as I hated CDs as a medium so much. I did still go to JB to buy CDs, but I just sped home and ripped them onto iTunes before I could ruin them by losing them down the side of the seat in my car. Because of course my car by back then couldn't accept an ipod's input. This was the beginning of a splinter in music media usage. Before then I only used vinyl, then only used CDs, but now I was using a computer at home and a CD in my car.
Years ago, I would have to play my albums or CD's on a grand stereo system. You had to have a powerful amp and you had to have massive speakers. The quality of the sound was paramount. Now it was a computer with a pair of 'made in China' $39 speakers. It didn't seem important anymore. Music was now one massive album on my iTunes software. I could shuffle it, sort it by album, artist, song and it was never going to deteriorate the more I played it.
However, it was not all plain sailing. I would have to buy all my old albums again. There was a thing called Digital Rights Management and it seemed I didn't necessarily own the music and would find it hard to take it anywhere else but on an iTunes related device. The car couldn't play it and my CD walkman couldn't play it and Apple wanted me to buy a rather expensive iPod. If I did buy an iPod, I couldn't easily just take it over to my mates and copy the music onto his. This little world was awfully controlled. I didn't buy the hardware and just ripped as many CDs I could borrow.
Music was cheaper on iTunes but plenty of may mates got all there music for free from file sharing websites. All of a sudden the era of multi-millionaire musicians from their record sales was over as we knew it. Bands would have to tour more often to make their mega-bucks. The traditional model had been busted.
Then a few years later the thin iPods came out and I could use them in my car. There is still one CD in the car, but it acts as a backup, just in case. I never ever went to buy a CD from JB Hifi ever again. That once monthly ritual was well and truly gone.
Just when Apple thought their impenetrable model had won, along came the service of streaming. Throw in the impact of YouTube and you have the beginning of the iTunes for music decline. Fortunately for Apple the apps revolution had started.
So now, there is an iPod in my car with so much music that I only occasionally upload something to it. In the house iTunes has gone. The family has a membership to Spotify and music is blue-toothed from mobile phones or laptops to a very small but powerful speaker. My kids love to play the latest disposable pop. They seem more focused on songs, not albums. I don't even use the Spotify much, as almost every album I want can be found on YouTube and after one little ad, it is free.
When the music stopped, it was free.