History of a download

Rewind in time to 1992. It was the first time something I listened to had actually moved me into action. The first CD I ever bought was Jimi Hendrix and The Experience's "Are You Experienced?." I got it at the mall. The mall was a place that I suddenly had to show appearance at. I was wearing my Girbaud Jeans and a T-shirt with my Duke Blue Devils hat on. I made sure my mom was walking well behind me, as if someone was going to come up to the 13-year-old me and tell me how cool I looked. Hastings was the local book/music store that was the only outlet for cds. I walked into Hastings to the Rock section and spent $14.99 on a Jimi Hendrix album that my father had on vinyl.

Maybe I should rewind some more though, that Christmas I had received my first stereo system. It was an Aiwa with a tape deck and a CD player. I had some tapes, they were of the Young MC and Milli Vanilli variety. I traded Milli Vanili for New Kids on the Block in 5th grade from Daniel Leal. But it wasn't until I heard the psychedelic guitar of Hendrix, that obsession took over. Suddenly, all my disposable income went to cds. The Breeders, Nirvana, Metallic ("And Justice for All), Soundgarden. These were the first on a list of many that composed my collection.

Fast-forward to the advent of a cd burner and my first, personal, computer. A 56K modem was the fastest thing you could own, and I was borrowing cds from my friends like mad, creating a pile of markered blank cd's that would eventually overtake my bought cds.

In the summer of 1999, it somehow got wind of a little program called Napster. I think the first thing I downloaded was Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon." By the end of August, I was in college, and I had access to a T1 connection. T1 meant 10 times as fast as my feeble modem. I downloaded songs as singles. I had a hell of a singles collection. By 2000, the Napster phenomenon had lapsed and I now had a collection of mix cds. It was like the tapes you used to make from the radio, except now they sounded better. In 2003, I was introduced to DC++. My friend Alex directed me to the correct hub, and I suddenly had at my disposal, any indie band I ever wanted. These days, the indie hub still works, but I find that the mp3 blogs are out-pacing the dc++ hubs in terms of new music.

I'd like to think that all this music has kept me abreast of new trends and new bands, and it has, but the sheer power of word of mouth has beaten all of these new avenues of acquiring music. I've heard of more bands that I absolutely love from various friends of mine, than I have from these digital avenues of downloaded music. My taste have spanned generations, and my love for live music has only increased. Do I think it's wrong that I don't purchase everything I like immediately? No. I use the mp3 platforms to find new music, and then support these bands by attending live shows, and I still buy real albums. If anything, the download generation has taught me that what is put out for the masses' consumption is only the tip of a large undiscovered iceberg, the majority of it underwater, waiting to be noticed.