"overloaded" with music...

Received an email from my mate Roberto... We have been having a discussion on commoditisation of music for a while:

There was an interesting article in the scotland on sunday yesterday (Sunday, 10th December). Some research has shown that with advent of music downloads, there is more choice but people are getting "overloaded" with music and that it's losing it's value to people. Instead of listening to what's in their collection of CDs they have almost infinite access to all the music of the world. But even with that access, most people are listening to only a small number of tracks that they like.

Another point was that more and more of the "iPod generation" are listening to music out of habit or as a background rather than any desire to listen to something.

I found this interesting and a bit disturbing. I must admint that a lot of the time my iPod is on but I'm not really listening to it, it's there to block out other sounds or is a background. Music is becomming a comodity and it's loosing it's impact and appeal.

Also I think that a CD collection is something that, to us, is an integral part of ourselves but to the next generation is nothing especially when more music is bought via subscription services.

I agree with Roberto... Sometimes I have my iPod on as a background accompaniment...but I tend to listen to music like a DJ - seeking out new tunes continually rather than taking the time to listen to the music I have. I tend not to listen to music in realtime... I have had all the key walkman steps: tape / CD / MD and iPod but it has been only recently that I stopped listening to music in continuous 70 odd minute sections... I skip tracks or play on shuffle... My attention span has waned.

I do agree that our collections do define us to some extent. Now it seems its not what we listen to but what we listen to music with that defines us. Not sure this is a step forward. My iPod and iTunes give me access to things I could never have dreamed of 10 years ago... but I do miss, in a "High Fidelity" way, the process of making mixtapes and creating tapes/MDs etc. However, JAM has allowed me to take mix-CDs to another level, so its not all bad...

Anyway, treasure music... its beautiful, self-contained art to be enjoyed rather than a commodity to have.