Has technology changed the way you appreciate music?

Yes big time. Years ago, getting new music often meant saving money for weeks at a time to be able to purchase a new album. Hi fidelity for me was a hodgepodge of garage sale amplifiers and speakers but nothing will ever compare to an album on a Techniques turntable and Koss headphones. DSOTM was and still is nirvana with that setup.

Anyway now music is demoted to an avalanche of MP3 downloads and youtbube clips with very little opportunity to connect with the artist or their personal stories of the time and dedication they put into that record. I miss getting the posters with the albums.

I don’t know if it has changed anything for me, but I think it’s a little sad for the albums that it’s so easy to buy music digitally. I think there’s a certain magic about albums; the story they tell, the mood of the album etc. and I think it’s a shame that that magic gets lost.

@tups: I feel ya. I used to spend hours pouring over the album inserts/booklets, looking for secret messages, haha. Now, I’m not even sure what album inserts look like anymore.

I’ve stopped buying albums (CDs) altogether now and just buy singles (iPod). Although, now that I think about it, I’ve largely stopped that, too, and use Pandora or other sources that let me choose what I’m listening to.

Not much. I always skipped around on the album also to the songs I liked best. The one change is when we were forced to buy an album or 45 to “own” a song, we usually at least gave the other songs a chance to see if we liked them. Now I am more likely to just listen to the one I know I like. I never did buy much music, and don’t now either.

One thing I used to do is tape songs off the radio, I never do anything like that anymore.

@bookish1 Oh, I love these booklets! I just love albums and I’m still buying them. People tell me it’s silly, I can get it cheaper on the internet, but I just love looking at them and I love the old fashioned CD-player.

Yes. Fairly or not, I now consider performers to be no talent actors. With autotune, synth, auto beat, the music appears to be disposable. I cannot remember the last piece of music I bought.

Yes, I still listen to CDs in my car and in my bedroom at night before going to sleep, but, the bulk of my music is downloaded on my computer, thanks to my daughter who has put about a million songs and albums on for me in the last few years.
I have everything known to man, and then some. I grew up with vinyl, then cassettes, 8 tracks, ....haha…8 tracks, what dinosaurs now.

I used to listen to an album all the way through, the way I assumed it was meant to be heard. I sometimes miss the crackle you got when listening to music on vinyl or the dreaded tick, tick sound that meant your LP was scratched.

@LuckyGuy: They all sound like gay fish don’t they?

It has definitely changed how I listen to music. I miss how it used to be.. but missing it won’t change how things are unfortunately.

With everything being accessible instantly it doesn’t take any effort to obtain. We are now able to purchase and listen on an impulse. In the cassette tape era I remember wanting a particular tape and setting aside money for it and then making the trip to get it. I would then, as you mentioned, listen to the whole thing sequentially. I learned all of the songs on it.

I grew up with CDs but I believe that vinyl records are way better.