The Allure Of The Cover Art

[Pat]

with the rise of downloading and the ability to burn CDs many people have stopped buying CDs through "traditional" means (or stopped buying them at all really). I mostly have kept buying them because I somehow have a need to look through the liner notes and have the cover art, etc. I have plenty of burned discs but they don't hold the same importance, like they are somehow not "real."

Is anyone else this neurotic about their albums?

[germ war]

I don't say it's a neuroses, necessarily. I like getting a tangible thing for my money. I wouldn't buy a digital image of a Rembrandt painting, either.

[Bob L]

It's funny, when I get a burned copy of a CD it seems to float to the back of the pile of CDs and doesn't get listened to as much. I think because my bookshelf of CDs is so disorganized it is impossible to find anything unless I can read the spine of the case. For instance, if I want to find the Ashtray Hearts, I remember the spine of that CD is white with small blue/green lettering. If that was a burned CD, I'd never be able to find it.

My iPod has relieved some of this dillema, but I still like the physical objects.

[Sean]

right on. gotta have the cover art, liner notes, credits, photos, etc. don't own an ipod, nor will i ever own one. can't beat the experience of going to the store, shopping for albums, and bringing home those new purchases.

[Staciaann]

I love my iPod almost as much as I love my TiVo. However, even when I purchase and download online music, if I like the music I still must have the physical disc. It actually freaks me out when they talk about getting rid of CDs permanently. My CD wall reminds me of the old walls of vinyl you used to see (and still do in movies, etc.). I love it and want to make it grow... although it's already outgrown it's current home.

Gimmie liner notes, cover art, photos of the band, lyrics, etc. I'll take it all!!

[ScottW.]

But will the preference to have a tangible object continue to trump the ease of having your music always at your fingertips? I mean, if it's just album artwork we're talking about, I much prefer vinyl ... but that format has all but disappeared. I wonder if over the next couple of generations, music lovers will shake their heads in wonder at their grandparents' insistence on digging through piles of plastic.

Personally, I agree with the comments above, but I wonder if that's just a result of my age and habits... maybe "habit" is a more accurate word than "neurosis" ...?

[The Sheck]

I like the option of downloading the album art to the ipod. Works for about 90% of my library. But I bought 160+ CDs last year too, so...I guess I like to have my cake and eat it, too.

[David]

I'm kinda sorta in the midst of destroying every physical object I own that can be digitized and saving only particularly nostalgic items. (Recently, I digitized an entire grocery sackful of old cassettes, and am looking forward to burning the bag in a sacrificial bonfire soon.)

Anyway, I value portability more than physicality when it comes to just about everything except cats and books.

I like the way things are turning out as far as the ability to save space. Why own DVDs or videos when movies are just Netflix away or soon to be totally accessible via broadband. Why own sheet music when you can print it out as needed. Etc.

Now if I could just figure out how to digitize my wine collection I could free up yet another wall.

[Pat]

I'm in the "I have to hold it in my hand" camp. My CD collection isn't huge (400+ or so), so it could easily be digitized and disposed of but when I look through it I remember where I bought almost every album and particular ones have funny stories to go with them, like The Thermals new one which I found in the used bin at Cheapo three days after it came out, it wasn't a pre-issue with that gold stamping on it, either--someone hated, HATED that album. Or the copy of "Downward Is Heavenward" from Hum that I sold then decided I wanted again and bought the EXACT copy I sold to Cheapo back (it had a crack on the back that was distinctive) three or four months later, you don't get that with digitization.

[porridge]

I like paging through cover art, but when I broke the 2,000 mark a few years back, I just had to stop caring about the physical CDs. Everything gets imported into my giant hard drive, where iTunes catalogs and organizes it for me for easy listening pleasure.

Of course, I still have approximately 15 Rubbermaid tubs packed full of jewel cases in storage because I won't throw them away.

Btw - I like and recommend the new iTunes view feature where you can page through cover artwork like flipping through vinyl records at the Fetus. No, it's not the same, but it's something.