Goodbye Old Friends

I think it's time for me to break up with my CD collection...

"Listen, I've been doing a lot of thinking and we're both not putting our heart into this anymore. What? No... It's nothing you did, I'm just a different person now.

We've grown apart. What? No, I'd never do that. I know you'll find someone new. You're NOT going to end up in some trash heap somewhere."

OK, I told one little white lie at the end there, but otherwise a clean break. Phew!

The fact is I've got a lot of crappy CD's. Some are from local bands who forced their sound upon me during my college years. There are a few disturbingly angry metal bands (I don't like metal) and a bunch of acts that the collective media praised as the "next big thing." Most only turned out to be the "next big waste of money (sorry Zwan)." Maybe I'll keep a few discs for an art project one day.

During my high school and college years, I was meticulous in my album organization. I alphabetized by artist, than album. At any given moment I knew exactly how many CD's I had in my collection.

I think I believed the count spoke of my credibility as a music lover. There were probably times I felt more manly than some schmuck with a smaller... collection.

The truth is, I haven't listened to 90% of those CD's in five years. Of the remaining 10%, only a fraction made it into a CD player. The rest found a home on my IPod. Don't get me wrong, I still love the album experience. I tingle at the rush of trying to find something sharp to cut through the cellophane, and get simply giddy when I get to peel that annoying sticker off the top of the CD.

OK that part isn't so great, but I do enjoy album art, thank you notes, and lyric books. Like my other high school and college lovers however, the pain left in their "Goodbye" will only sting for a little while.