Many years ago I’d go on after work and weekend trips to Tower Records in Piccadilly Circus or the Virgin Megastore at Tottenham Court Road. I’d carefully browse the albums, hoping that they were good, often having to judge the album by the cover art or guess the quality based on the record label. And then plunk down 15 to 20 Pounds for an album.
And I slowly built up a huge CD and DVD library. These followed me to California, Back to London, then Munich. And have sat in my cellar for the last 8 years. A huge box that was unwieldy to move around and weighed on my mind as something that I should deal with. Something that I should sort out. Something that I should get rid of. Even though they were all ripped into a lossless format I still clung to the memory of putting them on a player, listening to them, sharing them. There was something about the physicality of them that I had a hard time letting go of.
And then I took them to a flea market and sold a few. And found a few that I’d wanted to double check I still had a good rip of. And then gave them all away.
It feels good letting go. No more carting them around. No more 50kg of laser etched polycarbonate.
It’s interesting how the world is slowly changing from treasuring the physical to one where we subscribe to a music service for 100 Euro a year. But that’s another blog post. For the moment, I’m happy to have less stuff in my life.
Should Anyone Ask 