Finding new books and music have been made much easier thanks to services like iTunes, Xbox Music, and Kindle. I remember being stuck in a hide up the side of a mountain in Norway, waiting for Golden Eagles to come to our bait to photograph them, and burning the hours away reading a book. After a couple of days, I’d get a new book with just a few touches, and be rearmed for the next day. Just last week I bought a book while I was recommending that people check it out (I know the authors are that good).
The convenience is amazing. I want it, I search, I buy it. The e-sellers and the credit card companies must love this now-current way of selling content, as the brick & mortar stores shut down all over the place.
You know what I do miss … the feeling of finding a treasure. When I got into music, the music I wanted to listen to wasn’t in the charts. The Virgin Megastore was only in Dublin and a trip to the city was a once or twice a year thing. You’d dig through local music stores trying to find something you wanted. And even if you got to Tower Records or Virgin, they focused on the chart music that angry teenagers are trained to hate. And the pleasure of finding that cassette (then the CD) was glorious after flicking through row and after row of boxes, rack after rack, to find something you liked.
It was the same for books. My college work placement was in Dublin and I’d head downtown most Thursday evenings to browse through Easons on O’Connell Street or the used book (also music) store in Abbey Street. As a student, finding a near new CD or book was even better than finding a new one … more money for cider!!!!
I wonder if kids have that experience now … or is it just click-click-click-consume?