Are Physical Music Formats Dead?

                                                             

 (Image courtesy of The Guardian: www.guardian.co.uk)

I know this is a topic that's been done to death everywhere (including twice on my blog: HERE and HERE), but I want to touch on it again since it was a year ago that I wrote those posts. My feelings have definitely changed about the key question: Is the physical format for music dead? Does anyone buy CDs anymore?

As I wrote in those previous posts, I have a HUGE CD collection from trying to get my hands on as much of the music as I love. I started when I was 13 in the early 1990s and by the time my wife and I moved to our current house 4 years ago, I had probably close to 1100 CDs. For anyone my age (32) or older, I'm sure you remember the drill: I had racks and rack and RACKS of my CDs set up in my house and a 50-CD Changer stereo system with big speakers for listening to my tunes on demand. I also had a 5-CD changer in my car and a box to keep dozens of discs in at a time in said car for when I was driving around.  Even though I got my first iPod in 2006 and loaded it up with music, I only really used that for running, airplane trips, or hotel stays. Otherwise, it was CDs all the way!

But eventually, I got pissed off having to cart around tons of CDs everywhere. My wife and I grew irritated with how much space all the CDs and their racks took up in our house. I purchased an inexpensive pair of really great sounding, really SMALL speakers (with a dock) that I could simply plug my iPod into anywhere in the house. They took up hardly any space, and they sounded just as good, IF NOT BETTER, than my big clunky stereo system.  Also, my wife and I began to buy the occasional song or albums from iTunes instead of on CD. I found this to be especially nice if there was only a handful of songs I wanted from a certain artists, or if there was an album I liked, but not enough to purchase the physical format.

I should add here that, even though I really like a LOT of different bands and artists, there are only a handful of bands that are in what I call my "Top Tier," meaning I am such a huge fan that I'll buy anything they release and need to have the physical copy of the album for the artwork and liner notes as well as the music. The short list of these artists: Blur, The Beatles, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, The Kinks, The Smiths, Dream Theater, Rush, Neal Morse, Spock's Beard, The Rolling Stones, and Mansun. I may have left out a few, but it's not that many more, believe me.  So for instance, Blur is releasing a massive 22-disc box set later this summer, which I must have, as they're my favorite band and I'm a bit more than obsessive about them. But for loads of other bands, many of who are *just outside* of this top tier, I feel no such need.

CDs take up too much space in the house: honestly, the last 3-4 years they've all been boxed up in the basement. I have everything on my 160 GB iPod, which I listen to at home (with those tiny, LOUD speakers), in my car, at work with earphones, etc. And when Spotify came to the USA and I got the $9.99/month subscription; well, let's just say that between Spotify and my iPod, I don't miss CDs at all. I have access to 15,000 songs from my personal collection on my iPod (with still more room, another ~30 GB, of storage left on the thing!), as well as MILLIONS of songs on Spotify. Spotify is even better because I can listen to nearly everything I have on my iPod, as well as loads of OTHER music I either used to own on CD/cassette/vinyl, or music I really like but not enough to buy the CD. It's also been great for discovering and re-discovering loads of new and "old-new" music.  It's also been great for rediscovering all of the jazz, blues, and classical music I've loved for years. Instead of having to buy thousands of dollars of CDs and compilations, I can access them all and it's included in my $9.99/month.  (As I right this post, I'm listening to Steely Dan on Spotify, after using my iPod both ways on my commute earlier today and listening to it and Spotify at work. Just to offer some perspective).

I honestly don't miss CDs in the least. In fact, I'm at the point now where I'm going to go through my collection and sell off all of the non-Top-Tier (I'll keep the bands that are just on the bubble, too) CDs to free up space and cash. I have everything backed up, and honestly there's a lot of stuff I used to like that just doesn't do it for me any more so not owning the CD makes little difference to me at this point.

What's been interesting to see is that this trend is not just for adults my age and younger, or for teenagers. My kids know CDs but really, the majority of their lives have been with music either from my iPod, my wife's iPod, or Spotify...hell, my two oldest daughters have their own playlists on Spotify and they're both under 10! It's been surprising to see my parent's generation embracing this (mostly). My uncle and aunt use Apple Airplay to stream all of their music from the server my uncle set up all over their house, and I recently extolled the virtues of Spotify to my uncle, so I bet he's going to check that out soon, if he hasn't already. I showed my mum all about Spotify (she has an iPod, too) and she seemed really interested and said that's next on her list of things to figure out. My dad is a bit of a hold-out...like me, he's drowning in CDs. *BUT*, he has a large-capacity iPod like I do and uses that exclusively for transporting his music in his car, at work, and oftentimes at home. While I don't think he'll ever go for a streaming service like Spotify (when I showed him, he didn't seem interested), I never thought he'd go as far with the iPod as he has. And who knows, maybe once he sees my mum using Spotify, he'll change his tune (no pun intended!).

I'm sure most of you reading this have gone digital with your music to some extent, whether you own an iPod, buy your music via iTunes, use a streaming service like Spotify, Last.FM (I love the audioscrobbler), Mog, Rdio, Pandora, etc, or some other method. 

I'd love to hear your opinion...what is your thought on physical music formats? Do you still buy CDs, and if so, as much as you used to? Why or why not?

Rock on!

Blur21: To the End? (Or, I'm in Blur Heaven but also a bit sad...)

The Blur21 Deluxe 22-disc set

The big announcement from Blur yesterday was the release of Blur21, which is a massive 22-disc career retrospective box set containing remastered expanded editions of all of the albums, three DVDs containing live footage (Showtime, Singles Night, etc), discs of rarities and demos, a 45 of Superman, and a book detailing the band's history.  A vinyl box set containing all 7 albums on vinyl will also be released, as well as individual versions of the remastered albums.

 The Vinyl Box

I've personally already pre-ordered the deluxe 22-disc box set...while I have a lot of the rare stuff, the demos alone make it worth it to me, as well as the fact that I'd buy anything they released :-).  They can be pre-ordered at Amazon.co.uk, although I've noticed the price has TRIPLED in just the 24 hours since I ordered it...it's a limited edition so my advice is, if you're interested, pre-order ASAP!

This raises an interesting question, though. Many fans believe this is just a nice release and that we can still expect a new album and tour from Blur, but to me this screams "wrapping up the career." Bands don't typically release career retrospective sets where they empty out (just about) everything from the vaults. In addition, Damon has stated in numerous interviews since the Brits award in February that the Hyde Park Olympics gig will be the last show ever, Under the Westway will be "a nice little coda" for the band, and that he can still make music with Graham but not "the other two."  It all adds up, in my mind, to a nice and graceful farewell for Blur after this August's shows.

And honestly, I'm not only happy with that, but I actually hope it is the case. With as good as the vibe and the momentum was in 2009, if they couldn't make new music then, I just don't see how they will now. The overall mood within the band seems to be rather down, at least judging from recent interviews with them (individually, of course), and after the excitement of the Brits award performance and the promise of big announcements in terms of shows and releases, we got nothing until last night. Of course, the news of the Blur21 release is very welcome, but offering no *NEW* music, instead packaging up all of the old stuff...well, I see this as a nice exclamation point at the end of the Blur story as the curtain gracefully and classily (is that a word?) draws to a close and we all move on.

What say you?

How Running Saved My Life

Before I begin this post, I promise you it's not necessarily a fitness related one. It has more to do with personal experience and growth, and it just happens to involve running, that's all!

By the end of 2010, I was not at a good place in life. I felt stuck in the job I had at the time, I was very hard to get along with, which was driving my wife and kids crazy, and I was very moody and impulsive in both my demeanor and my behavior. I was also really overweight, out of shape, and starting to feel the effects of it, which made me even more moody and broody (is that even a word?).

By January 2011, I had begun successfully tackling the issues related to my behavior. I'd begun therapy and was diagnosed with ADHD, which is something I'd suspected I'd had for many years but never done anything about. I started taking meds and paying attention to my behavior and the change was almost immediate and very positive!

But I probably hit rock bottom around my birthday in February of 2011 when I went to my doctor's office for a checkup. When they took my weight, I was 360 lbs, which was the heaviest I'd ever been. I had constant knee and back aches, and I had high blood pressure. My blood work showed I was almost in the range of the onset of diabetes, my cholesterol was high, and I'd been having chest pains. They took an EKG and everything looked ok, but it opened my eyes and really hit me square in the face. I'd just turned 31 and had a wife and 4 kids, and was in such bad physical shape that I was on the path to where I might not be around past 45 yrs old to see them.

I was determined then and there to do something about it.

The first thing I needed to do was tackle my eating habits, which were not very good. I tended to not necessarily eat too many bad foods, but way too much of everything, and constantly throughout the day. I found a free app called LoseIt online and for my iPhone and started using it. What you do is enter your height and current weight and it tells you how many calories you should eat for the day. The goal is to stay under your alloted number, and any exercise you do can be entered in so you can "earn" some calories back. You also track your weight with the program, and as you lose weight, your daily calorie allotment will decrease slightly accordingly. But the best part is that it's not really a diet. You eat whatever you want, but tracking and staying under your daily goal number makes you think about what you're eating, how much you're eating, and how much exercise you'll have to do to compensate. In the end, it helps you develop better eating HABITS, which is by far the most important and beneficial part of it all, and why it ultimately works.

I started doing this and, while I was developing better habits, I found it hard to stick to every day and I was still not really losing any weight. Then, something happened that set a chain of events in motion that changed everything...

My oldest daughter was in kindergarten at the time and her school had an annual 5K race that she wanted to run in. The deal was that a parent had to run with the kid. My wife was interested, but she had just given birth to our 4th child and she had not yet been medically cleared to resume exercising yet. However, God bless her, she signed *ME* up to run with our daughter. At this point I had about 3 weeks to get ready for it.

Now, in my younger, more in-shape days, I had been a good distance runner...I ran cross-country track in high school and used to regularly run 3-10 miles/run as a teenager. However, I hadn't done that in YEARS! Even so, I figured I needed to get started right away so I could run the race with my daughter and actually make it all the way to the finish line.

At first, I was miserable...I could barely run a mile, although I'd walk another mile afterward to get a bit more exercise. One thing that I did differently from other aborted attempts was I stuck with it! It was tough, but I forced myself to keep going out every day for runs, and what I noticed was that not only did it start to feel better, but I could (very) slowly but surely notice slight improvements in my performance.

I managed to run that race with my daughter and I did it without having to stop. I also noticed that in the 3 weeks leading up to it, I'd lost about 10 lbs just tracking calories and running. I thought to myself, "hey, that wasn't so bad...what if I keep it up?"

I spent the rest of the summer and fall running, eating better, and entering some 5Ks. Along the way, as my weight went down, my running performance got better and better and I got smaller and smaller. I felt better, I looked better, and that only motivated me more. By October, I was down to 255 lbs and even had to buy ALL new clothes because I'd shrunk so much that all of my clothes were now much too big on me!

I'd gone from a 44 waist to a 37, a 56 chest to a 46, and a 20 neck to a 17 1/2. I continued running and also added in some weight lifting to my routine, and while my weight has plateaued a bit (I've been stuck at 255-260 lbs since October), my waist has gotten a little smaller and I've added some muscle to my shoulders, arms, and chest from all of the weight lifting.

The main point, however, is that it really did save my life in just about every way. Physically, I weigh less. My blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, etc are at perfectly ideal levels. I have no more back or knee pain. My heart and lungs are as healthy as can be. I don't get headaches anymore (I'm convinced my daily headaches when I was fat were due to my high blood pressure). I sleep much better, don't snore anymore, and just overall feel so much better than I used to.

Mentally, running is the ideal way to release stress, tension, anxiety, or excitement at the end of a long and/or stressful day. I find that after running, the combination of the adrenaline/endorphin rush and the energy release improves my mood and just puts me in a good place, body and mind. This in turn, along with my meds, has improved my life and my interactions with my family, friends, at my job, and just about everything else.

Currently, I am running 5-6 miles/run, and my times are averaging 8:30-8:45/mile (down from 14:00+/mile when I started). This winter I've been more or less in maintenance mode due to the weather, but once the Spring finally arrives and the weather is consistently better, I'm going to run as much as I did last spring and summer. My goal is to get my distance up to 8 miles/run by the end of the year, get my time to 8:00/mile (which was my fastest time in high school), and reach my target weight of 230.

The amazing part of it all is that, in 1 year, I was able to totally turn my life around, and all it took was a pair of running shoes, loads of support, understanding, and love from my wife, and a bit of motivation and self-discipline. In all honesty, it was so much easier to do than I ever thought it'd be...my biggest regret is that I wasted my 20s being in such awful shape and waited until I was 31 to get in shape. Better late than never, as they say!

I urge anyone else who wants to get in shape to do the same thing! It really works! You don't necessarily have to run, just find something that works for you, stick with it even though it might seem so tempting to give up (especially at the beginning), and keep track of your calories. It WILL work, I promise!

I'm Still Here!

No updates for a while, for the few people who actually read my blog!  My new job is going really well but is kicking my arse...VERY busy!  I have a lot of things written in draft form for here...I'm just trying to find the time to finish them up and post them!  I'll keep at it, so check back...eventually there'll be new stuff here worth reading :-)

What I've Been Listening to: December 2011

Bands:

1. Oasis
2. Blur
3. Rush
4. Portugal the Man
5. The Rolling Stones
6. The Beatles
7. Jimi Hendrix
8. The Who
9. The Bluetones
10. The Charlatans

Albums:

1. Oasis - "Be Here Now"
2. Blur - "Parklife"
3. The Who - "Quadrophenia" (remaster)
4. The Charlatans - "The Charlatans"
5. The Bluetones - "A Rough Outline"
6. Mansun - "Kleptomania"
7. The Beatles - "Magical Mystery Tour"
8. The Rolling Stones - "Hot Rocks"
9. Portugal the Man - "Waiter You Vulture!"
10. Jimi Hendrix - Complete Winterland concerts

Songs:

1. Noel Gallagher - "If I Had a Gun"
2. The Charlatans - "Patrol"
3. Primus - "Tommy the Cat"
4. Foster the People - "Helena Beat"
5. Blur - "All We Want"
6. Oasis - "Go Let it Out"
7. Gorillaz - "Stylo"
8. The Rolling Stones - "If You Can't Rock Me"
9. The Charlatans - "Jesus Hairdo"
10. Peter Frampton - "All I Want to Be (Is By Your Side)"

I Hope Life's a Blur in 2012!

 As you know, I'm a *HUGE* Blur fan (actually, that's probably an understatement...I'm absolutely mad about them). After their reunion tour in 2009, there was a lot of speculation as to what the next step for them would be. But, apart from the excellent retrospective documentary film "No Distance Left to Run," (to which I contributed and got my name in the credits for!) and the one-off single "Fools Day" in 2010, there's been little news on that front.

But within the last few weeks, a flurry of interviews have pointed toward something big in 2012, including a potential tour of the USA (which would be GREAT! I only saw them once, in 2003, so I'd love to see them some more) as well as new music, To top it all off, they're getting a Lifetime Achievement award at next year's Brit Awards in London.  For all of this news and more, check out my Blur webpage, my Blur Facebook page, or my Blur Twitter page.

For multiple reasons, now including Blur, I'm really looking forward to 2012!

A Novel Idea

I had started writing a novel in November 2010.  I based it on a bunch of ideas I'd had milling around in my head for the better part of the last decade.  Drawing on my love of horror and vampire books (and no, not Twilight...I read those books and enjoyed them, but I haven't seen the movies, and I don't consider those *real* vampire books), I'm hoping to write a story that involves the supernatural, as well as on more sci-fi and horror aspect, two other genres I also enjoy.

My major influences for the story include classic vampire novels like Dracula (my favorite novel of all time), Carmilla, Varney the Vampyre, the Vampyre: a Tale, as well as newer vampire books like Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles and Stephen King's Salem's Lot.  Speaking of King, his body of work overall, the blending of great stories with supernatural and horror and sci-fi, is something I'm trying to model my approach on.

Getting back to the actual writing of it, I began last year when I tried to participate in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), which occurs every November.  About 2/3 of the way through the month, I gave it up as I didn't have the time to write every night.  But new plot ideas and twists kept popping into my head over the following year. I kept notes (Evernote rules...look it up!) and sketched out an outline for the general story and characters.  It reached critical mass about 2 weeks ago when I went back and read what I'd written last year...

...and it was pretty good, if I do say so myself.

I've begun to pick it up again, writing whenever I have the chance, and have fleshed out the story a bit more in my notes.  Right now, my goal is to just write, write, write.  Get everything down onto the page (er, computer screen) and finish all of the first draft writing.  Then, I'll go through it with a fine-toothed comb and edit, revise, correct any inaccuracies/contradictions, and try to tighten up the story.

My eventual goal is to create a story that I'd like to read, and that I think others would like to read as well. Just like with my Blur book(s), it'll get published one way or another. It'd be great to get a real publishing deal, but if I need to self-publish again, I'd be more than happy to do it.

Writing a novel is something I've wanted to do for a LONG time, and I'm finally in the right mindset to get it done, no matter how many months/years it takes me!