The Digital Music Experience Sucks Ass, and This is Why

http://www.flickr.com/photos/davemorris/ / CC BY 2.0

I spent the evening loading music into my computer from CDs. I was amazed at the favorites that had not yet made it into the box.
It didn't take long before I was listening to Mingus and engrossed in the liner notes detailing his career and the sessions and players that went into Mingus Ah Um.

Once the computer hissed and cried and ejected the disk, I realized that I won't be hearing this music from this CD anymore. I won't pick up this case and catch sight the studio jumble of cables and stands under the disk, or the thick fingers of Mingus fretting some freak chord on the verso.
And it's not just the written notes. Laurie Anderson's slipcase/trifold triptych with booklet, Prefuse 73's chipboard colorsplash, and a Fat Possum sampler's unreadable neon pink and forest green all have a character that supports and augments the music inside.

Now I've got "album art". A 1" x 1" square that's not event the same art as the damn disk I hold.
Some artists have made great album minisites, but the chances of these surviving internet technology's relentless forward lurch is nill. Best of luck.

I love radio, so it's not like I need ownership, in fact I listen to static. Often. Even other people's recordings of static. But if I do care to own the music, I want the full experience, and I want the security that the independent storage format offers (as limited as that may be with a CD - I do like the "buy the vinyl, download the album" that some artists are doing).

So feel your music. The future is in your hands.