The record store around the corner used to be our mainstay for music. It was the place you went after hearing something on the radio. Or perhaps you just wanted a new music fix, and thumbed through albums to pick one. How many times were we in the record store and the proprietor had new music blasting through a vintage pair of speakers high on a shelf? And we bought that music.
Images of vinyl shoppers with headphones swaying to unheard music and reading album covers, are fond memories of a bygone era.
Today's record store lives in the cloud and streams to our equipment over unseen wires.
But I miss the old record stores. No, not the Tower Records and corporate vinyl supermarkets. I miss the neighborhood outlets that curated with personal passion. And I miss the camaraderie that came with the stores. There's a certain appeal to sharing media with others, like watching movies in a theater.
Streaming services may be the new record stores, but we should be thinking about how to bring back the shared experience in this digital age. I am not advocating a return to vinyl and their shops, but a new paradigm of sharing with like minded people around the world.
Community always trumps life in a vacuum.
