I stopped in to Best Buy. yesterday to pick up tax software and STO. I decided to go check out what music they had. I am not a fan of downloading music from the net. I have no problem with iTunes/Amazon, etc… I have a problem with the crappy quality they sell you. I prefer to by the album (usually a few bucks cheaper) and rip it at 256k or higher.
Anyway, I was browsing through the inventory and finding it very frustrating trying to find anything interesting in the mass quantities of fluff. I realized I was trying to search for titles and artists using a search engine that didn’t exist. Nothing was indexed except by artist. If I didn’t know the name of the artist, it would take me forever to find anything.
In the 1980’s we used to walk into “Assorted Vinyl”, “Blockbuster Music”, or <insert your favorite music store here> and spend 30 minutes or longer just browsing the selections. Somewhere along the way of online music we have lost patience with browsing. I certainly do not consider myself a gatherer but I used to spend time browsing. Somewhere along the way, we have lost the patience to stand in one place and browse through inventory.