My Obsession with the Compact Disc

There's something about listening to a CD... an actual. compact. disc.

I don't know why exactly, but it makes me listen in a different way.  As much as I adore the iPod (okay, seriously adore the iPod) it's taken something away from my listening experience.

Maybe it's associated with the physical sensation... Plucking through the CD visor, the flaps too loose from overcrowding.  Holding a finger through one, two, sometimes six at a time while I search through pockets.  Cursing when I drive over railroad tracks and discs fly out.

Okay, maybe I don't miss that.

You see, one of the features I love most about iTunes is its ability to create playlists.  I've got Favorites, and Girls! Girls! Girls!, Early Morning, and Calm Me Down.  Playlists are the quintessential mixed tape, or perhaps her hotter, hipper, younger replacement.  When I belt out Martina McBride's Independence Day and go straight into Evanescence' My Immortal, that's a pretty awesome Sing Out Loud mix.

In recent weeks, though, I've been exploring new music, and there's a certain connection between artist and listener when the songs are played in order. When I pop in a new CD and listen from start to finish, the arrangement might affect me as much as the melody or lyrics.  In addition, I find that my "Music A.D.D." goes away.  If listening to my iPod, I'm constantly switching songs;  but when listening to a CD, I listen over and over, sometimes for days at a time.  When I'm done with a CD, I know the music -- better than anything I've downloaded straight to an iPod.

Which is probably why, when deciding the Holy Grail of my favorite albums, eight of the top ten are b.i.t. (before iTunes).  Just looking at the album covers invoke a homesickness in me. It's the same feeling I get when I think about my childhood home, or summers with my family at the beach.  I'll never feel the way I did in that place, in those moments, just as I will never feel the way I did when I fell in love with these artists, these albums.  The music takes me back, though, for just a moment. I can sing out loud with the same abandon I did when I listened in my first car, in my first apartment... feel the pain of heartbreak and the thrill of moving away from home.

Now that I'm aware of my listening disability, perhaps I'll go back to the way I did once upon a time.  Maybe I'll hang on desperately to the compact disc like so many have to vinyl records and cassette tapes.  Who knows, maybe the next few years will bring new sounds, new relationships, new memories into my top ten. I'm bonding strongly right now with The Rescues, The Civil Wars, and Mumford & Sons, so who knows?

Indeed, I love my iPod.  I love the listening diversity it's brought to long drives and my sing-at-the-top-of-my-lungs mood.  I revel in the ease with which I can carry it into class, on vacation, into the doctor's office.

But the compact disc is why I fell flat-on-my-face in love with my first albums.  Thanks to the compact disc, I'm holding on to memories.  Holding a finger through one, two, sometimes six at a time.

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The Albums I Love

** These albums accompany the post "My Obsession with the Compact Disc." Be sure to check it out!

Emily's Top Ten Albums | (Highlighted titles denote a Top Five)

Michelle Branch - Hotel Paper

Fell in love with her while living in Jacksonville, Florida.  I also love her album Spirit Room.

Deana Carter - Did I Shave My Legs for This

I was 15 years old when a boyfriend gave this to me for Valentine's Day.  That went to crap not long after but the albums's still around.

Kelly Clarkson - Breakaway

Starbucks' coworkers gave me a Target gift card and this is what I bought!

Dashboard Confessional - MTV Unplugged

A friend recommended this band to me at a party, and later that same night finally asked me out.  Lucky for him we married that next year.

Hope Floats

This movie was my favorite for ten or so years, and this soundtrack another love from the days before I could drive.

Live in X Lounge II -- 107.7 The X

My first plunge into alternative music.  It featured greats like "Remedy" by The Black Crowes and "Sunburn" by Fuel.

Thank you for touching my life, 107.7 The X;  you are dearly missed.

Matchbox 20 - Yourself or Someone Like You

The guy who sat in front of me in high school World History told me about this great new band. I would go on to see them three times in concert before I was 25 and have considered them my favorite band for almost half my life.

Alanis Morissette - Jagged Little Pill

Does this even need an explanation? Who hasn't belted out You Oughtta Know at one point or another?

Shinedown - Leave a Whisper

Thank you, Doug Roske, for introducing me to Shinedown and Fall Out Boy before they were cool.  I don't know how many nights I cranked this out in my tiny Florida apartment, screaming along with Brent Smith while I got dressed to go out.

Train - Save Me San Francisco

"Drops of Jupiter" has long been one of my favorite songs, but a month after this album released I won tickets to a concert, got a front-row spot, and touched Pat Monohan's hand.  Say what you want about its overplay -- this album is kickass. 

** Don't forget to read the accompanying post: "My Obsession with the Compact Disc."