Music Shopping, the Old-Fashioned Way

It has been a long time since I've had the pleasure of leisurely riffling through stacks and stacks of record albums - vinyls, LPs - whatever you call them. This is how all of our generation shopped for music back in the day. Compared to most of my friends, my record collection was quite paltry. Nevertheless, I have many fond memories of spending afternoons in our local record shop, poring through their offerings, looking for something new.

Browsing through second-hand records today reminded me of what an important component album artwork used to be and what a big role the words and art on these covers used to play in my decision on which bit of music to buy. Packaging, right? I'd all but forgotten how much I enjoyed being able to pick up a record and hold this large colorful square in my hand, while studying the drawings or photos, reading about the artists, the songs, maybe even finding some lyrics. I loved hearing the gentle whoosh of air and the thud-thud-thud sound each album would make as I flipped from one to the next.

I no longer own a turntable, so no LP purchases today, but it was a delight to revisit these old friends and contrast them with the way we now simply click the "download now" button.