Within the last year, I've gotten really into collecting K-pop albums - the kinds that come with photocards, lyric booklets, posters, and CDs. I started collecting because I wanted the members' photocards, but then I wanted an actual CD player to listen on. Sure, I could stream the albums on Apple Music, but if I was already going to be collecting the physical CDs, I figured I should listen to them too.
My boyfriend has been buying and collecting physical media for a lot longer than I have. Vinyl records, casette tapes, complete box sets of TV shows, video game consoles with the actual discs or cartridges. He still does some digital downloads or streaming services, but owning his favorite media is the norm for him. For Christmas, he bought me a CD player so I could listen to my K-pop CDs. It's a Syitren R300 - minimal, sleek, lightweight, and compatible with my Bluetooth speaker. I hadn't used an actual CD player since maybe 2005, and I was thrilled.
There's something about the physical actions of choosing a CD from my storage case, clicking it into the CD player, and pressing play. It feels grounding and intentional, moreso than opening an app with all of the music in the world in its collection and searching for the artist I want to listen to. I've been trying to decrease my screen time on my phone for reasons related to my mental health, and I think regularly using my CD player has been beneficial. Having to physically get up from my desk when a CD is done playing, choose another from my limited collection, and swap it out is just more purposeful than streaming random music indiscriminately throughout the day.
I'm still using Apple Music, but I've been using it lately as a way to explore new music and eventually order the CDs of the albums I like the most. My CD player is getting a lot of love and usage lately, and I'm having fun building up my collection. I've started to understand the appeal of collecting the things I enjoy and owning them for myself, rather than only ever listening via streaming apps.
Collecting my favorite albums on CD is such a simple thing, but it's brought me a lot of joy. I'd like to continue moving towards collecting and owning physical media, and this is just the start.