Last night I somehow found myself on a ‘nostalgia spiral’.  I found myself staring at my old CDs that have been sitting on my shelves and in drawers gathering dust for the last few years.

Amidst all the memories that listening to old music brings with it, I realised how much I miss buying CDs.  I found myself sitting up on my dressing table with my feet resting on my bed,  reading the lyrics and sleeve notes of each album.  This is how I used to listen to music – learning it, immersing myself in it  (spot the music geek) and getting to know each and every song.

Aside from a handful of folk and independent artists’ albums, I haven’t bought a physical CD for a very long time – I tend to buy off iTunes, or more frequently listen on spotify. But I’ve come to realise  that I miss the excitement of pulling the plastic wrapping off a new album, carefully pulling the CD out of its case for the first time  (and hoping it didn’t snap because it was held in so tightly!) and putting it into my CD player.  I miss listening to the CD whilst reading the lyrics, looking through the album art and reading the artists’ acknowledgements and thanks.  I miss getting to know who wrote which song, finding who played on each track…and I miss trying to sing along to songs I don’t yet know.

Maybe it’s time I dusted off my CD player and started buying physical albums again.  Mind you, I’m not sure I have the space…