I still lament the loss of static art, the no-longer-ubiquitous “album cover,” and to that end, at least one company panders to my tastes in that there are album-sized frames available, mass-produced but looks like custom frames for the days of vinyl when audio deteriorated rapidly, but the artwork was timeless. All strictly analog, as well.
I read Mark Cuban’s blog from time to time. As a South Texas resident, I have two favorite (basketball) teams: The Spurs and whoever is playing Dallas. So the sport material is lost on me; however, his writing is clean, crisp, and occasionally wrong. Quality and balls make up for mistakes. I pay little attention to the sports stuff, but the media observations are welcome.
In the last year, I’ve purchased a lot fewer music CDs than before. Maybe a half-dozen, maybe a few more. More than two-thirds of my music purchases were impulse buys at a nationally-branded coffee chain that has a music store. I had a handful of “$5 off” coupons. Made it worthwhile.
Other than that? I think I bought a couple of CDs at shows. And I can’t think of anywhere else. One foray into music at Wal-Mart, but I was looking for Latin Tunes, at the time. I was target-specific, geographically-motivated.
Whoever – whatever (in reality) – owns the rights to all the artists’ back catalog? That’s some good money being made there. From licensing for commercials to “greatest hits,” then, “greatest hits volume II,” and finally, “greatest hits of (some year),” and the “ultimate collection.”