Economy Killed the CD Star

Do you find yourself with a CD collection that has ceased from expanding? Was there a time when you found yourself regularly having to make more space in your house for your music, and now you find yourself looking for those free down-load cards at Starbucks and using that extra space for dust bunny colonies?

Maybe it's a sign of the times. Back in my early- to mid-twenties, about ten or so years ago, I would go to the music store (CD World, to be exact) and I would spend about a hundred dollars on a stack of cd's. I'd do this about once a month. Some of them used, costing around 5 dollars or less, some of them brand-new and full-price. I would buy the stuff that I loved, but I would also buy the stuff that I kind of liked; I would buy a CD from an artist that I had only heard one or two songs from because at that price, who cared? But these days, with cd's costing around $15 or more, and with my job paying less, it's not that easy to indulge my music habit.

There are some groups out there who produce really good radio hits; All American Rejects, for one, I always rock out to when they come on and I was happy to see them perform live a few years ago. But will I plunk down cash for a CD? Probably not. The same goes for a myriad of artists who's work I appreciate, but I can't justify the expense for. I've always enjoyed Ani DeFranco, who is an independent artist that puts out her own music without the marketing machine of big labels, but I've never purchased an album and I probably won't. I just don't like her "enough" to do it.

So my question to you is this - has the current economic situation forced you to change your music buying habits? If it has, has it affected what you choose to buy?