Home > Albemarle Sounds > Archives > 2008 > January > 09 > Entry
CDs versus mp3s
I definitely think there is a lot to be said about being able to download an artist’s song without having to purchase an entire CD. I myself have music for sale on iTunes and other places on the internet, and I must admit I’ve made more money off that than I have off selling actual CDs on line. But the problem with just buying one song, one that wasn’t meant to be sold as a single, is that you don’t get the full impact of an artist’s statement. A body of music is, more often than not, meant to be taken as a whole and not just as a disc full of singles. Take Seargent Pepper, for instance. The Beatles never allowed any singles to be made from that album - that’s why you don’t hear songs like Lucy in the Sky (except for the Elton John version), being played on the radio. The Beatles intended for that album to be taken as a whole, to be understood as one complete statement. To do otherwise would be like taking a person’s statement out of context and publishing it in a newspaper or on a web site - it’s just not going to be understood in the proper context. Of course, there are albums that can be all but unlistenable except for one certain song, and in those cases mp3s make a lot of sense. For the most part, however, CDs should be listened to the same way they’re recorded - all at once. That CD is like a snapshot, a moment in the life of that band or musician - it’s where they’re at at that particular point in time. Otherwise, you’re not getting the whole picture, and in that case, you may be cheating yourself out of a great experience.
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