Over the course of my life, I've listened to music via many different media. I've listened to it on Vinyl, 8 Track, Cassettes, and media files, such as mp3's. I've heard it on AM radio, FM Radio, media players, streaming services, computers, my phone..
Some of it, such as the Beatles, CCR, Led Zeppelin, and others, I've heard all of those ways and on all of those media. I fell in love with classic rock while listening to it on vinyl, hearing that slight crackle, and unevenness of play that comes as the record spins, not quite perfectly flat. I loved that 8 tracks allowed the music to play continuously. With cassettes, I was not only able to take the music with me as I did with an 8 track, but I could also record from the radio (and did, amassing hours of rock classics on cassette tapes --how i wish I still had those old cassettes). The newer digital media has given greater clarity to the music, but it was never the clarity of sound that made gripped me and made me listen.
It was the passion, the rhythm, the lyrics, the melody...those things that came through however it was played. Even when listening to the music on a crackling, barely audible AM signal, I would sit, enamored with the music that captured my heart.
I could have sat and listened to Led Zeppelin and others (and did) for hours, even though the source music I had access to wasn't always perfect. But it *WAS* perfect, in my mind, not because of the media, but because of the music.
These days, I still listen to classic rock, albeit via digital media and in a format where I can hear the crystal clarity of the sound. I am glad I have that, but I am also glad that I grew up in an era when I didn't. It made me learn to appreciate the music for the sake of the music, not the quality of the media.
I also listen to a lot of newer music, much of which has never been on vinyl, 8 tracks, cassettes or played on AM radio, most likely. The recordings are good, the media is awesome, but when I listen to a song, what I hear, what grabs my ear and heart, is the music.
I don't know what is coming in the way music is presented..what media, what format, what presentation/delivery methods will be coming. What I DO know is that what *IS* constant; what will ALWAYS be constant, is that music has to speak to our hearts, our emotions, to comfort, cajole, incite, touch.. and that transcends the media and the method of presentation. That is inherent in the music itself. Music ***IS*** passion, life, love, emotion...
-♫ M ♫-