This is a companion post to one from my archives: Ode to vinyl records.
In an effort to declutter and minimize, I have been going through my house: selling, tossing, and donating. This week, I ended up staring at the bookcase that held my CD collection.
Like many people, I have not listened to an actual CD for years…but going through my collection renewed my appreciation for my CDs. Because these CDs were really important to me at really important times in my life.
CDs ruled my musical life through my adolescence, high school, college years, even early adulthood. Those are some important times! It certainly explains why going through this collection ended up being an emotional experience.
I ended up “curating” my collection down by about half. I got rid of anything that didn’t “spark joy” for me anymore, including the ones I bought for one song, the ones I bought because I wanted to like it, and anything that I am just over at this point in my life.
What I have left is an eclectic collection that means something to me. Though I do have Green Day and Pearl Jam CDs, my collection is heavy on hair bands, early country, and classic rock. I am happy to keep my new, curated collection around. Though it is hidden in a basement bookcase and not my main flagship bookcase where the “cooler” vinyl collection lives!! During this process I realized many reasons why I still love these old things!
Why I still love CDs:
The covers. Just like vinyl records, CD covers can be iconic. Just looking at some of them inspired a nostalgic “aw” which my daughter, who was helping me sort, quickly realized meant that it goes in the “keep” pile.
The inserts. Under the plastic case is the insert which contains THE WORDS to the songs. Looking through these inserts used to be one of my favorite parts of the CD. Sometimes there were also short stories or notes from the artist.
The music. Ultimately I suppose it’s still about the music. Like vinyl these antiquated items contain several songs IN A ROW that together made up an ALBUM (funny that term is still from the even earlier format). As I wrote in my vinyl post, there is just something different about listening to songs lead into each other rather than just a song here and a song there. For many of these CDs, my memories are from listening to the whole album. At least CDs gave us the ability to do this without flipping it over ha!
The memories. When I pick up a specific CD, look at the cover, and look at the songs, I remembered a certain time in my life when I listened to it (often) over and over. For many, I even remembered where I was when I heard a certain song that led me to go buy it myself. Some fun examples from my own collection:
A beach bar in Aruba when I first heard this beautiful Rod Stewart album:
An Irish pub in Germany where they played the same CD over and over:
I found CDs holding the songs I always played on the RRs jukebox:
The CD (one of a boxed set) I “borrowed” from one of the triplets that lived on the first floor of my college apartment building. Sorry…
The CD that still most reminds me of living in Texas:
The only problem is I have no way to actually listen to these CDs!!! I can’t believe I’m writing this, but now I’m looking to get a really small CD player maybe with a radio and Bluetooth just to keep around!!
I’m thinking something like this:
Am I the only one keeping CDs around???
I still have all of my CDs. Can’t get rid of them. I still have a CD player in my car and a bluray player that can play them. Some of the cds you listed spark joyful memories with you!
Yes I was hoping you would read this!!