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Stardate: 20191216.2231 | |
Location: Kitchen Table | |
Input Device: AlphaSmart dana.wireless | |
Software: AlphaWord | |
Audio: VNV Nation's "Resonance" album on CD in Sony Discman (D-247) | |
Visual: Stanley Lunch Pail with SDF and Linux FDN sticker on table | |
Emotional State: Winding down | |
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I brought out my Sony Discman to enjoy my VNV Nation's | |
"Resonance" CD. I bought the album when it came out in 2015 | |
and felt like experiencing it again this evening while I | |
write this entry. It is an orchestral album, not the typical | |
electronic that VNV is known for. | |
The Discman is tethered to the wall with the 4.5 volt wall | |
wart that it came with. I don't have any spare AA batteries | |
for it. I am using a pair of AKG K240 over the ear | |
headphones and the audio sounds pretty good. I still enjoy | |
listening to music on CD and still buy CDs. I mostly listen | |
to MP3s that I have backed up from my collection of CDs or | |
have purchased online. I never really got onboard with the | |
online streaming playlist stuff. | |
There's something about owning a CD or an album that makes | |
the experience different for me. Perhaps it just comes from | |
what I was used to growing up. I would buy an album and | |
listen to the whole thing several times and decide if I liked | |
it or not...or maybe it would grow on me. | |
These days I still do that. With the streaming playlists, it | |
seems like a big mess of music going on and on that would | |
seem to turn into background noise. When I listen to an | |
album, I think the enjoyment of it becomes an active | |
listening experience and I listen to the album more not only | |
because I invested money in it, but because I think I miss a | |
lot during the first few listens...sometimes I even find more | |
much later when I am experiencing the music as the me of now | |
rather than the me of then when the album was first listened | |
to. | |
When I have to go through the effort of setting up the | |
Discman with the CD and the wall wart, I am more committed to | |
the listening experience. Same goes with when I go to my | |
living room to listen to vinyl. I still go over the album | |
artwork and the packaging during an active listen, especially | |
if it is a newly acquired album. I will read all of the | |
liner notes and follow along with the lyrics if they are | |
available. | |
My kids, they don't do this...they don't really listen to | |
albums or read liner notes...they'd be like, OK, | |
Boomer...even though I'm not. This whole "OK, Boomer" | |
thing...they say it to anybody...even to their fellow Gen Z | |
friends, like it's some big rip or something...reminds me of | |
the seagulls in Finding Nemo who just keep parroting, "mine, | |
mine!" | |
Anyhow, It seems that their experience of music is quite | |
different with the Internet streaming stuff. I'm not sure | |
how active the listening is. There is just so much more | |
available out there to listen to, but I wonder how much is | |
just being passively listened to...and passively | |
manufactured. I try to be selective with my listening and | |
wish there were more hours in the day to actively listen to | |
music. | |
Well, the album is coming to a close and so is this entry. | |
It was not the entry I had intended on writing, rather, the | |
writing that manifested. So be it. | |
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