You know, all things considered I didn’t really get into collecting CDs and forming my music tastes as they are today until a few years ago. I mean, growing up I relied more on what I listened to on the Adult Contemporary station which doesn’t exactly aim for the young age bracket. Combined with my parents’ music tastes I became fairly acquainted with a fair amount of oldies. Good question: do you know any songs by Engelbert Humperdink? I do. Heh. Not sure what happened, but the first CD that I ever purchased was Alanis Morissette – Jagged Little Pill. It was getting good press, and I was familiar with Alanis and her work on You Can’t Do That on Television. Ooh, that was odd. I loved the CD, but it just didn’t feel right. What do I mean? Well, buying CDs is something “Jason” wouldn’t do.

I think my CD buying from that point was kept to a minimum. That’s not even a result of the whole Napster thing that happened early in the decade. I just didn’t have much interest in much. Now, sometime in what must have been 2002/2003, I saw the video for Bring Me to Life by Evanescence on TV. I think I was half napping when I was suddenly jolted by what felt like a mythical siren calling out to me. The video hooked me. I remember specifically going out to buy that CD. I played the heck out of that one as well. From that point forward, I was more likely to explore and buy CDs just to see what that music is like. It’s not entirely cost effective, I guess, but it helped me to define my tastes through trial and error. It’s probably why my collection is kind of eclectic.

Almost all of my CDs are ripped and on my computer for easy access. Why don’t I buy more CDs digitally? Frankly I just like having something physical. It’s probably anachronistic, but I just like things better that way. I might buy singles off iTunes for example, but if I like it enough I’m likely to get the full album. I’ll also lean on buying digitally if the stores overprice something. I like physical CDs but I’m no fool, you know?