Technology and the listening experience

At my mom's house near Atlanta, there is a cool family heirloom which I've recently rediscovered: a 1960 Philco radio. More than a gadget, it's a beautiful piece of furniture. Just by looking at it, you can tell a few things about radio's place in the world at that time. It was a centerpiece of family life when my mom was growing up, much like the TV was when I was growing up. The whole family would gather around the radio and listen to music, news, and all kinds of other programming. As the warmth of vacuum tubes has given way to the cold ones and zeros of the digital age, however, the whole way we experience music has changed.

I've heard somebody say once that music is the only art form that is tied up with time. Engaging in the listening process involves committing a few minutes of time to the song. I think that's why people often associate strong feelings of nostalgia to certain songs: they remember where they were and what they were doing when they were listening.
People used to listen to records. Buying an album was a big deal. Listening to the album was a big deal. Then music became portable with cassettes and Walkmen and car stereos. Then came the amazing phenomenon of Napster, followed shortly by iTunes and the iPod. Now music has become, well, disposable. At present, I have 2697 songs which I carry around with me at all times, 1353 of which I haven't listened to once (at least not in its "ripped" form). I find myself growing impatient with whatever song is on, not unlike the feeling had when holding a TV remote with hundreds of channels at my disposal. Music at once becomes throwaway and more meaningful because of the sheer quantity. I love the practical and loathe the impersonal.
So where does that leave me? I intend to embrace the present while clinging dearly to the past. I'm going to continue to carry around my nifty mp3 player. But I think I'm going to restore that old stereo. I want to listen again.

Comments

[Mickey]

I too once struggled with the disposableness[sic] of the modern music form. BUT I FOUGHT BACK!! It was early 2001 and Napster was just getting its arse kicked. IMESH was just about to corrupt your kernel32 and kazaa was just a rumor from the middle east. There were three hardcore "downloaders" all using my computer all filling up my computer with lots and lots of music. Then it hit me. Fight against the single serving corporate music!!!! So I made a deal, no downloading music unless you can acquire the entire album. When we started to listen to full albums, our attention spans actually started to get better and we found the less likely hits that never made it on the radio. I don't own an IPOD or MP3 thingy, so I can only dream of the idea of having loads of stuff on me at all times. But I would suggest grouping your music into original albums and make yourself listen to the full listings. Your ears will thank you, and you'll find yourself really investigating whether your favorite bands can make an album or whether they make singles and fill the rest up with poo. Thank you for listening to my unprovoked rambling. Your friend, mickey

[MarkLee]

Patrick -
Cool site, man. .Mac is a fun and useful tool. I had no idea that you were such a big fan!
BTW - the "closeup" pic of Tai is a classic...

[patrickwitherow]

Mark, I got a .Mac account the other day. There's some photo's of 3D in case you are interested. Have a good day! Here's the address..

homepage.mac.com/patch21

[patrickwitherow]

Mark, I got a .Mac account the other day. There's some photo's of 3D in case you are interested. Have a good day!

[bobbie]

" I find myself growing impatient with whatever song is on, not unlike the feeling had when holding a TV remote with hundreds of channels at my disposal. Music at once becomes throwaway and more meaningful because of the sheer quantity. I love the practical and loathe the impersonal."

profound insight

[Aimee]

My grandmother's husband, a retired electrical engineer for Lockheed, a man who served valiantly in WWII, restores old radios for his passtime. He's got an entire downstairs game room devoted to just that, and probably has about 50 radios down there. He and my grandmother still listen to their wartime records on their credenza with the 1950's built in phonograph when the mood is sweet.

Indeed, the radio served as a significant social "glue" at one time. A time when our society was so pure, simple tales of aliens landing on earth sent communities into panic. I think the folks at Focus on the Family remembered this purity too, when they decided to produce some of their family-friendly radio programs.

My grandmother and I rarely talk these days. If you want to get any kind of response from me, you have to e-mail me, because I have grown to strongly dislike the telephone. My grandmother's husband's daughter bought them a personal computer last Christmas- their first one. He, being the electrical engineer he is, has learned to send and recieve e-mail, but my grandmother resfuses to go near it. The sporadic e-mails back and forth are always signed by him "and grams". Well, I guess I'm getting to know him better........

[Ron Trees (It's Alright Gomer)]

I would love to listen to that old radio. I enjoyed your post. We have lost alot with our "cold ones and zeros of the digital age". I still have an old Tecnics record player packed away somewhere with other older audio gear. I keep saying someday I will bring it out and hook it up. Take a listen to some of those old LP's. They sounded good.I don't think my kids have ever seen a record player. That old radio also takes us back to a time when life was sure not as hurried. As you would well know.

Take Care, Ron

[patrickwitherow]

That would be awesome to restore the radio. My parents had an old record player (JCPenney model..ha) and I restored it a few years back. I ended up buying the Pearl Jam 'Vs.' record. It sounds awesome compared to that of cd or mp3.

[Ashleigh]

Thanks for sharing that Mark. I think that my grandparents use to have one of those radios like you are talking about and we use to sit around and listen when we were younger. Sweet memories!