10:52 a.m.

Friday, Aug. 25, 2006

Computer Age is the Computer Rage!

Looking around my cramped space of a room I cannot help but end up looking at some form of recorded music. CDs, records, cassettes. If I were take a guess at myself, at things I like, I'd have to venture that music is one of those things. While I could have guessed that through my radio being on nearly always, turned on before my computer, another compulsive, obsessive use of my time, there is a difference between listening to music via radio and having music that can be played.

Through the radio is a passive activity, whereas owning music is an active activity, requiring a hunting down through various methods and having some form of income so that transport of these items arrives in your vacinity. Your home, commode, casa, sugar shack, bed and wipper of tea. Wherever you set your hat, lay your head, and stimulate the ears. Now, listening to the radio can be an active activity, but for the sake of my argument, let's consider it to be passive because you are limited to the choice of radio on or off (or station I guess, but I only listen to one...cause it's the best in my area...KDVS!!!) and what is playing is not so much your choice. When you own music you get the choice to listen to what you want as much you want, assuming you own the piece. When you don't own the piece, then you actively seek it out. That's a simplified way of looking at it since the search for a band may lead to the search for a sound, therefore multiple bands, then you learn a new sound, and another search begins.

I guess I've been on the music search since I was about 12 or 13. I say that young since I believe that was when I began making lists of bands that I wanted a copy of a certain cassette. These were bands that I saw on cable music videos or heard on the radio in my pre-KDVS days. While my tastes have changed, the making of lists continues and itself has widened. I don't care to go to music stores much anymore, though, because I completely forget anything I want to search for and get bogged down by names of bands I don't want anything to do with. Usually there is a number of finds, though, and I part with between 30 and 50 green. US money is so plain, I want rainbows! Well, the $20 is somewhat colorful, but not like the bills of other nations.

Over the past 4 years or so my collection of music has dramatically increased. About once or twice a year I get curious and make a rough count of my CDs and vinyl. I don't care to count my cassettes because most are just mix-tapes or copies of my vinyl music for playing in my car. Today I was curious. I don't want to count each and every CD, so I used rough estimation, and I went by cases instead of the discs themseves because I didn't feel like being specific with my double CDs. The counting went something like this: count a row and double it as most of my CDs are stacked in two rows in crates.

The count. CDs estimated: about 400. I don't believe and I question my math skills. CDs are small and occupy a small space, so I guess that could be correct, however I thought I only had just over 200. Now, if I were to take away the CDs that I bought on a fluke or got free or turn out to have one good song, I think the count would only be around 370, maybe a little less.

Records. I have way less vinyl, but I've been buying more as of late and only lagged because I spent a year or so away from my record player, so to buy vinyl was to only taunt myself. A rough count of my vinyl is 86 LPs, although I included 10" records and didn't count double LPs. Minus anything that is crap I have about 78-80 records. As for 7" records, I got bored counting by about the first quarter of my box, so I estimate about 80-100 7"s. They're small, so I figure a high estimation is okay. Minus the crap 7"s I probably have a solid 80. Generally, most of my vinyl is good stuff even though I gave my 7"s that are good a low count, remember my estimation is a 20 7" range, so really I may have more or less good 7"s.

Now wasn't that fun?

previous - next