This guy must have read my mind.....

The trouble with easy listening
iTunes and iPods -- what's not to like? How about the devaluation of the music experience.
March 26, 2010|By Steve Almond

When I first encountered iTunes, the wildly popular music app that allows fans to compile their own collections and digital library, I was agog. After 20 years of amassing music, I had more than 4,000 albums, most of them stacked precariously in my basement.

The more I used iTunes, the more slavish my devotion grew. If I wanted to play a particular song, I no longer had to go hunting through those stacks. I just clicked a button. If I wanted to make a mixed CD -- a process that had taken me hours, particularly in the cassette era -- I had only to create a new playlist. And if I heard a killer song at a party or on the radio, there was a handy online store where I could instantly download that track for a buck.

Not only was my musical archive more organized, it was portable too. Thanks to the wonders of the ever-shrinking iPod, I could carry thousands of songs with me wherever I went, on a device barely larger than a postage stamp. (If you had presented me with this gadget even a decade ago, I'm pretty sure I would have proclaimed you the Messiah.)

But for all the joys of such wizardry, I've been experiencing a creeping sense of dread recently when it comes to iTunes, a dark hunch that technology has impoverished the actual experience of listening to music.
See, back when I was a kid in the '70s, the way I listened to music was pretty simple. I put an LP on the turntable, dropped the needle, then sat on the living room rug and listened to every single note. If I liked the record a lot, I would listen to it two or three times in a row, usually with the album cover on my lap, so I could study the lyrics and artwork. In other words, I considered listening to an album an activity in and of itself. It was not something I did while working on homework, let alone while checking e-mail or thumbing out text messages.

If I listened carefully enough, in fact, the songs allowed me to tap into certain volatile emotions that felt otherwise out of reach. When I closed my eyes and immersed myself in Stevie Wonder's "Sir Duke," for instance, I was overcome by a rare and all-encompassing optimism. AC/DC's "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" filled me with the intoxicating power of my own aggression. "Can't Stand Losing You" by the Police allowed me to accept my own romantic woe as entirely justified and maybe even somewhat comic. I really miss the fact that listening to music used to be a concerted sonic and emotional event, rather than the backing track to some flashing screen. It was more inconvenient, to be sure. But for me, this inconvenience was part of the whole point.

I liked that I could only listen to my albums on a turntable in the living room. I liked yearning for my favorite records. I can still remember spending the entire day at school counting the minutes until I could get home to listen to the transcendent power chords of Styx's "Paradise Theater."
I even liked that there was a whole process involved before you got to the songs. You had to thumb through your collection, put the record on the turntable and then set the needle down with the utmost care. Listening to the opening notes of my favorite songs sent shivers down my spine. I felt the same way about listening to them on the radio. I used to lie in bed for hours, waiting for KFRC in the Bay Area to play Alan O'Day's wonderfully cheesy single, "Undercover Angel." The song, when the DJ finally played it, felt like a gift fate had bestowed specifically on me.

Look, there's no question that technology has made music cheaper and more accessible. But I wonder if it hasn't been made less sacred. The ease with which we can hear any song at any moment we want no matter where we are (and often for free) has diluted the very act of listening, rendering it just another channel on our ever-expanding dial of distractions. I'm sure if I tried to explain this line of reasoning to a teenager, it would sound like a lame and predictable celebration of the olden days. Then again, chances are today's teenagers will look back on iTunes with the same misty nostalgia I reserve for my LPs and CDs.

Steve Almond is the author of "Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life," to be published in April.

Can't say I don't agree, because I came out the tale end of that generation. Regardless of the origin -- vinyl, cassette, etc. -- I definitely saw my time absorbing an album (back in the day) as an experience. I loathe the fact that an album nowadays is seen as a bunch of 99¢ tracks lumped together. Even back when I started listening/buying music, I drifted towards albums because I wanted to hear all of what that artist had to offer (not just a 45 single). If an album was produced the right way, it was meant to listen to as a whole. Can you imagine Dark Side of the Moon as a bunch of amassed singles? No... it all fits together. To this day I have a hard time listening to one of my favorite albums (Saga's Worlds Apart) as individual songs, because the experience pulled me into a world outside of my own. It was like a sonic trip (without the use of drugs).

As a graphic designer (and someone who devoured liner notes), I also can't stand the fact that the artwork/liner notes are an afterthought now. I at least appreciate the fact that someone like Trent Reznor released his Ghosts and The Slip online albums with very carefully thought out artwork and PDF liner notes. But it's just not the same as a beautifully designed and printed companion piece to an album. Whether you're holding a gatefold long-play album sleeve or an intricately folded cassette j-card or even a CD jewel box sleeve, reading (or just appreciating the artwork) while listening was part of the experience.

You just can't have the same "experience" with most music these days. Yeah, I enjoy the convenience like everyone now. But I REALLY miss how music used to be consumed. That experience made you appreciate the artist, the music, the artwork and all of the time spent producing the album... so much more.

Mr. Amound should buy a clue and purchase a media server and stop his whinning. My collection is about the same size as his and I'll estimate I was listening to 20% of my record collection, if I was lucky. I'll betcha he's doing the same. Why would you purchase albums/music you already have when you can rip it (album art / liner notes) and download to an computer/iPod/mps/media server, that doesn't make much since.

iTunes/Apple doesn't have Svengali powers, the music listener now (via technology) can dictate how they listen to there music.

I remember those times. 1987 sat by my stereo i lined up Stevie's 'Characters', Mike's 'Bad' and Prince's 'Sign O The Times', I'd stare at the album covers, liner notes, study the lyrics, study, study.

I was just trying to to make sense of it all 'Chamone' WTF does that mean? and who was Prince trying to fool with this Camille character turning up on SOTT?

Who were these characters on these busts on the front of Stevie's album?, i remember thinking how cool it was that they were slightly raised of the cardboard braille-style.

I do miss those feelings, it was special to hold an album, take a new one round to my girls house, it was great.

i still have my old vinyls, they have a special place in my heart, unlike the kids of today that never experienced those feelings, i'm glad i did. I feel i have one over them! but unlike the essay writer, i really i don't mind walking around with alot of my collection in my pocket, it's conveniant, it's still fun to an extent playing with iTunes and fiddling wth my iPod, and i'm young enough to appreciate both worlds.

Good times, Boogie.

tricky2 said:

Nice article.
I totally agree with him about that process of listening.

You get part of it with CDs except for the fact that some of us need spectacles to read the tiny text...



Music for adventurous listeners


tA

Tribal Records

I still had most of that listening experience with CDs up until MP3s (and MP3 players) became popular.

With my job as graphic designer, I can put on headphones and work for hours listening to iTunes - either on random or as whole albums. I honestly can't imagine sitting down and actually just listening to an album anymore without doing anything else . .. and honestly, no album in the last 5-10 years has been that great to "absorb" that way anyway.

pzlyprk said:

Pzlyprk, all that stuff you loved about spending time with music, is still available if you make the time. If you don't know, a lot of new releases are still put out on vinyl, TONS of re-issued vinyl of both classic titles and 90's-00's that were skipped on vinyl originally are getting released. All that you described above, I'm enjoying again. and as a fellow graphics guy- the packaging for some of today's releases are outstanding. http://hirize-returntovin...gspot.com/

The tools of today inspire a lot, including lethargy. But the musical experience is what you put into it.

You can't make people care to assimilate music the same way you did when you were coming of age.

I think the way this guy listens to music is beautiful -- in fact, near the ideal.

But we don't need to legislate that near ideal, nor do we need to bemoan something that was only ever a standard in relation to today.

I think you nailed it in your last two sentences. And I have to wonder, do you still listen to music in the same way?

There's nothing stopping you. Convenience is just an excuse for lethargy.

Brendan said:

Interesting take.
Personally, I don't believe in lethargic listening unless it's music I haven't developed an emotional attachment to.
To clarify, sometimes I have to indulge in lethargic listening initially (generally music i've never heard before) to determine if something catches my attention enough to listen more seriously.


Music for adventurous listeners


tA

Tribal Records

theAudience said:

It's a most welcomed point.

I often listen to music in the background either initially or after great familiarity. It would be a huge bore if music were only listened to with great focus and deep, emotional and intellectual thought.

I think that would also be missing the boat.

That's why I love today's technology. You can listen however you want, whenever you want, wherever you want.

Of course that can dilute, but it can also uplift in ways that heretofore were virtually impossible (or at least extremely time consuming).

And if someone simply cannot divorce themselves from the more tactile experience of their youth, LPs, as has been mentioned here, are more popular than they have been in years.

And some day I believe more artists will allow for even better liner notes that can be viewed (or printed for in-the-dark manipulation and consideration).

aa
[Edited 4/5/10 15:38pm]

Brendan said:

Good points.

This opens up an interesting conversation that i'd love to get into in more depth but it will actual blow something I have planned in the next couple of weeks.



Music for adventurous listeners


tA

Tribal Records

theAudience said:

The focused part of me is intrigued!

The lethargic side says, "What are we talking about again?"

I agree with what the guy says about the effect of iTunes/iPods/mp3's, whatever. But I actually don't care. I think I actually have a more healthy attitude toward music now that it's more casual than I did when I had a slavish devotion to it. Perhaps it's been devalued for me, but probably only devalued to a level of its actual value to me at any given moment.