Friday, June 24, 2011

Confessions of a Musical Theatre Nerd

As many of you know, like it or not, I'm a HUGE musical theatre fan. 
Since I rarely get to New York City as much as I want to (hardly ever), the only way I learn about shows is via the Internet and I must say, I do a pretty decent job of keeping myself up to date as far as what's happening in the 'theatre world'.  I'm familiar with what shows are running, and I'm full of useless information as far as who's in what shows or what shows are happening.
However, where I've taken a HUGE step back is in my familiarity with the actual shows themselves....more specifically, the cast recordings. 
I blame it all on the 'digital age'.

It's very simple.....I want CDs.  I don't want to go to iTunes and download a CD.  I want it in my hand....I want the booklet that comes with it.....I want to be able to see what character is singing what song, and more importantly, who the performer is behind the character....

I know that some CDs offer a 'digital booklet' chock-full of all the information I want, but am I supposed to print it out and have it with me whenever I listen to that CD?!?!?!
Recently, I downloaded a few solo CDs by some of my favorite singers, and it makes me insane that I have to do Internet searches trying to find out who wrote the songs they're singing....or who's singing backup.....or who's singing a duet with them.  Not to mention that a lot of the time, I can't even get the information I'm looking for!!

I know this is a pointless rant because soon CDs will be a thing of the past, but it makes me sad and I wanted to vent a little.

By the way, I am aware that CDs are still being produced and I can still get them, whether it be ordering them online or hunting for the rare store that carries current theatre CDs....but it used to be so EASY....and I miss it.

That's my old man rant for the week.....month?

I hope you have a DELIGHTFUL weekend and the sun shines wherever you are.....because it ain't shining here!!!  Damn New England weather....  ;-)

7 comments:

Jim S. said...

You realize that this is eerily similar to the narrator in the Drowsy Chaperone's rant on albums.

BosGuy said...

I was going to say the same thing as Jim S...

Think of iTunes as the borg. Resistance is futile.

Julie said...

I agree with you...but I'm older than dirt & don't like change.

Erik Rubright said...

I want CDs too. I hate digital downloads. Mostly for the fact that they're usually ripped at a crappy level that doesn't sound good on a great stereo. And what happens when the technology changes, and you're stuck with all these crappy rips that you don't have the original digital CD to fall back on. Or worse, your hard drive crashes, and the Internet goes down....

Ur-spo said...

Right on!
I will keep getting CDs until no more
I managed to give up cassette tapes, so I suppose I will manage the passing of CDs

Cubby said...

I'm totally with you on this. What I can't understand is why people like low quality/low resolution downloads. And if that's not bad enough, then they listen to them using crappy earbuds.

Has Apple et al. so totally brainwashed people that they've all lost their ability to tell good sound quality from crap? Looks like it.

Is the convenience of a download worth the huge loss in sound quality? I don't think so.

cb said...

Um... what's a CD?