Futuristic Fridays and Sentimental Saturdays (The Future of Albums)

cds

Music has always been a medium where people communicated ideas, and said what was on their hearts, regardless of whether it was controversial, heartfelt, emotive, encouraging or even confronting. Music has always been a universal language of sorts- whatever emotion you were feeling (or still feeling), there is possibly a song out there that speaks directly to you and your needs. I can remember back when I was a teenager, purchasing albums and listening just for listening sake, enjoying music for what it is- music. Call me old fashioned, but I am not looking forward to the day when CD’s become out of print.

I have always been the kind of person who loves to hold a CD and flick through the liner notes, all the while having a sense that the CD is mine, rather than owning mp3 files on a computer that could break at any time. Nevertheless, what do I believe will become of the future of albums in a traditional sense (which is what this post is about)? Sadly, the future doesn’t bode well for albums. Much of today’s music is purchased on iTunes or streamed via Spotify. Albums are rarely listened to in order because of such technological advancements, and with the amount of albums, whether it be worship, pop, rock, indie, folk or acoustic, releasing each week of every year, we have embraced consumerism with our music as with everything else.

As I discussed in the previous Futuristic Fridays post about the future of worship, the thoughts and themes expressed in the previous post also ring true here. And this is why I have particularly placed this week’s Futuristic Fridays and Sentimental Saturdays posts together- if we have fond memories about CD’s albums, and enjoying albums before a time such as now where we can have music ready at our fingertips; we can fully be aware of the changes that are happening in the realm of music consumption that could easily put the CD album out of existence sometime in the future.

The future changing is sad. The possibility of albums out of print can even be unthinkable for someone like myself who has grown up with CDs. Yet we need to ask a few questions to ourselves- have we enjoyed an album recently- whether CD or otherwise, from first song to last track? When was the last time we just sat and enjoyed a good album, rather than song hop and even album hop (because either the song was ‘boring’ or you were ‘eager’ to listen to your favourite track)? How can we put measures in place so that we don’t just consume music and listen to it because it is the ‘in’ thing to do, but rather, take time to let God speak through the music like He so often does?

With the advent of Spotify, Digital Downloads, iTunes and youtube, the music landscape have forever been changed. What has your best memory been of your childhood in the relation to albums and music? Do you still insist to buy CD’s or have you moved on to Spotify and iTunes? How do you see your consumption of music changing in the future? Let us know in the comments, and remember, to always appreciate music and to never make it something we need to hurry or rush- because sometimes, we can obtain something new every time we listen to the same track.

Do you have any other ‘ancient’ technologies other than the CD player (Cathode Ray TV, VCR’s cassette tape recorders etc.)? Let us know in the comments, and whether you intend to have them still in the near future. Til next time.

One thought on “Futuristic Fridays and Sentimental Saturdays (The Future of Albums)”

  1. This might sound strange, but I have never bought an actual CD before with my own money-the only CDs I ever received were gifts.
    Even though I use my iPod more than my CD player, I would love to hopefully someday buy a CD or two with my own money, and enjoy music the “old-fashioned” way. I hope CDs never go out of style. 😉

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