For years, I have had a process for "retiring" CDs. What the hell does it mean to "retire" a CD, you might ask? It is simple -- I must know a CD well before it gets filed away into the vast collection of music that I have. I found out fairly early in my music listening career that once a CD was filed into the collection at large, then it often times disappeared into the abyss. Imagine the 1989 Listmaker missing out on an important Lightning Seeds or Material Issue discussion because he had accidentally filed a CD away before its time and then forgotten about it.
Of course, once a CD has been retired, it can make repeat appearances but it isn't in heavy rotation the way that newer CDs in the new "featured" section are. One of the major sticking points of my marriage is that I have yet to fully integrate Youthlarge's vast music collection into mine. I mean, sure, I have merged our doubles, but the music that she has that I don't know that well will eventually need to be listened to, dissected, and then retired into the larger collection -- just like all CDs that find their way into my vaunted collection.
And I have even added a new feature -- the on deck shelf. That is right, there are a few CDs (box sets, music by a band that I already have another CD of in the "to be retired" section, etc.) that now have to wait for the right time to even be called over into the listen pile.
Recently, Youthlarge has been coming home with many CDs. I haven't been listening to nearly as much music the past few months because of all the baseball that is on. My "to be retired" section has taken over the entire designated shelf. In fact, I had so many CDs in this section a few days ago that they were spilling out and needed to be stacked on the CD player below the shelf.
This kind of thing (along with an overflowing DVR to worry about clearing, too many movies to see, too many fantasy teams to manage, so on and so on) is an example of the kind thing that keeps me awake at night and clearly must make it quite difficult to be married to me. Is there a medication to make a person less of a listmaker sort?
Music: A Source of Pleasure And a Source of Much Consternation
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8 comments:
you should have written out what's in the retired shelf. the new smog is about a third of the way in. that cure cd is all the way on the right. and on top of the cd player i spot spoon, laura cantrell and the new pornographers.
yeah and there is a mouse on mars cd in there from like a year ago.
the cd that hovered in this pile the longest has got to be an albert ayler double cd that was in the section for around three years i think.
I agree with the YL - how could you say all that and not list them at the end?
Tease.
yo, let me know if that new spoon is any good.
what currently needs to be retired isn't the point!
marc, you heard the spoon the other day at that bbq that wasn't blog worthy enough to post pictures of. what, chris doesn't get as much street cred for you as slice does?
I know there's lots of super smart articles out there about this kind of thing, but it's like the 21st Century Malaise or something -- that problem of having more quality entertainment than you can possibly find the time to enjoy. I'm constantly downloading so much stuff that when I put my itunes on random I'm saying "What the hell is THIS?!" about 50% of the time...
must...enjoy...media...
must...get...more...
Did I create this?
maura & i have the same system, but our "featured" CDs usually just end up stacking up somewhere on top of the TV or stereo. i really like the idea of having separate shelving for the 'in rotation' discs.
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