Hello everyone, and welcome to my PW#3, which is inevitably going to be a long-winded dump of one of my interests, the interest in question being physical media (mainly music).
It’s no secret I love music: I’m constantly listening to a new album, whether it be through a turntable, CD player, tape deck, computer, or phone. This obsession started when I was but a child, and my dad used to show me his record collection from when he was a child. Rush, Yes, and Pink Floyd, among many other classic prog rock bands, would be echoing through the halls of our home.
Fast forward to 5 years ago, when I was 8. My dad had just got a new turntable. I was quite interested in this foreign thing – it just seemed really strange to me, how a big plastic disc with grooves on it could make sounds using a needle. This truly jumpstarted my interest in the subject.
When I was 11 I decided to buy myself a record and use the turntable myself – I still remember it like it was yesterday. The record was Fortitude by Gojira – not the greatest album, but oh well. In the next year I bought a few more records, listening to them tons. In this time I also grew some interest in CDs as I found an old Discman at a garage sale.
I continued on, buying CDs and vinyl any chance I got, when I grew interested in another format: cassette tapes. I had an old Walkman I got from my dad, so I decided to buy a couple cassettes. The Walkman sounded terrible, and ended up eating 3 of the 4 cassettes I had at the time, but it was a good jumping off point for me.
Just a few months ago, my grandparents visited and brought me something akin to a gold bar, at least for me: a shiny, mint-condition, name-brand tape deck from the 1990s. It sounded great hooked up to a pair of nice speakers, and what’s more, it didn’t eat my tapes! It was truly a glorious moment! Still, to this day, my idea of fun is going to record stores, and listening to music. Some people love video games, some love cooking, some love art, but me, I love physical music.