🎧 Downbeat Vol. 3 Track 10

This October marked the 40th anniversary of CDs. In high school, I had a part-time job and spent the bulk of my money buying hundreds of CDs, probably close to 400, and I used to carry them around in cases like these:

In hindsight, that was probably a stupid idea. Music was the thing that I valued most in the world back then. It’s still a huge part of my life, but in high school, everything I had was those CDs, and I kept them in two binders that could be stolen out of my car at any time.

I still have a large chunk of my collection, though it’s been in our garage, abandoned, and shuttled between houses as we’ve moved around Texas. I can’t even remember the last time I purchased a CD.

As many CDs, as I once had, my vinyl collection is double that.

Streaming music is amazing. We have almost every song ever recorded available to us wherever we have a network connection. But for me, nothing will beat listening to music in the physical format.

In high school, I’d put on a new CD and pour over the liner notes, study the lyrics, analyze the artwork - immerse myself in the entire experience.

25+ years later, I still do the same with new and used records that I purchase.

Happy birthday, CDs. You were a major part of my musical journey.

October’s Playlist
This month’s playlist features Mothers, Palehound, girl in red, Soccer Mommy, Weyes Blood, and more!

Listen to this month’s playlist on

Quick Listening and Other Links