The Nostalgia of CDs

I don’t know how many people that read this know what it felt like to buy a CD from your favourite band or artist. The jump from vinyl to CDs wasn’t that big. Both vinyl and CDs needed to be sold out of a store. The jump from CDs to MP3’s was much bigger. You could illegally download the whole album without leaving your couch. And then came streaming platforms, which just make you rent albums as long as you pay the subscription.

There are a few important things to know about physical media. First, we did not always have the luxury to listen to the album before buying it, so CDs were a visual medium as much as an audio product. If you did not know the artist, the artwork could convince you to buy it. To complete the enjoyment of the purchase was the little book insert you got in the disc casing. Visually, it was really stimulating. I’m talking old-school dopamine hits. Checking out images of the band, the lyrics, etc.

I remember buying Meteora, the second album by Linkin Park. The cover was a man with a safety mask spray-painting something on the ground. The colour of the album had a sepia overtone. The black and brown complemented each other, I thought.

It took a little while, but I saved up the money. Advertisements were displayed outside the music store, and I counted down the days until I could buy it. And by “advertisement” I mean a cardboard cut-out of the band and the CD showcased in the window.

Now, this was the next important part of the purchase: You could listen to it on the drive home (and sometimes you did), but for me it was an experience to be enjoyed in my room. I would go home and remove the CD from the case, pop it in my CD player, and just listen. For 36 minutes, I was looking at a CD player. The first track on the album was a 14-second build-up to glass breaking. Track 11 was called “Session” and was a 02:25-long instrumental. Every song ended with the beginning of the next. It felt like one 36-minute story.

The first part of this experience was the visual aspect. The second part was the audio, and the third important thing to note about physical media was the sharing of it. This was not you lending the CD to a friend because, let’s be honest, the best of friends will steal your stuff and gaslight you into thinking they gave it back. The sharing was done by inviting a friend over to listen to it. And NO, it was not the same as “Netflix and Chill”. This was you pressing play and watching your friend’s reaction to the album. This was “React” before there was a channel on YouTube.

If the friend stayed the night, the album would play in the background as both of you tried to fall asleep, listening to the same songs for the 10th time that day.

I think this is something missing in today’s life. The adventure of it alone, then inviting someone to go on it with you as you observe the person’s reaction to things you experienced before them.

I imagine having kids is like introducing someone to a CD you like, then watching them enjoy everything you experienced and hoping their reaction is like yours…