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I read an interesting post recently on Zan Rowe’s blog which, to a degree, mirrored some of my own thoughts in relation to how technology affects the way in which I, and the larger community, listen to and enjoy music. She talks about how it is so easy to get hold of so much new music, thanks to technology like the internet, MP3’s and MP3 players.

Although being able to access new music is a great thing, can it result in ‘overload’? Can this perhaps devalue the worth of the music? Are we likely to become less-discerning listeners, focusing more heavily on songs we like, as opposed to albums we like? (This last questions really plays on my mind - I’m a big fan of albums, and the journey they can provide for a listener).

Zan makes two points which really resonate with me. The first is the how music that is meaningful to us is often more than just a particular progression of notes and lyrics. As Zan says, “Music is about human experience.”

How so?

For instance, a particular song can evoke memories of moments of great personal, emotional importance to us. Even though they aren’t exactly my favourite band, I’ll always have fond memories pop into my head when I hear Coldplay’s song, Yellow.

It may be the manner in which we discovered a band or an album. I love the fact that I saw Blink-182 the first time they toured Australia, supporting their Cheshire Cat album. There was only about 50 people in the joint, and none of them were 14 year old girls in love with Travis (in fact, Travis wasn’t even in the band then!). Although they subsequently became a joke (and I don’t mean in a good, Ramones kind of a way), I remember that gig and regard that album very highly. My sister, Abbey, has opened my eyes to some great bands, such as the Shins and Snow Patrol, over the last couple of years. This personal recommendation from someone whose opinion of music I trust adds to the value of the music for me.

Some of the people commenting on Zan’s blog also make a strong argument for the benefit of album cover art, and I have to agree. I have purchased albums before on little more than the strength of the cover art, and some of those purchases are my favourite albums. Jebediah’s Braxton Hicks album falls into this category for me. To even draw a longer bow, I bought Guttermouth’s Covered With Ants album largely based on the fact that the guitarist played a Gibson Les Paul with a huge Victoria Bitter sticker over it in the film clip to She’s Got The Look, a song from that album. I just thought that was cool, you know?

The second point Zan makes is to do with how we are supposed to make time for all this new music in out lives. I’ve been guilty of buying new music, but not really giving it more than a cursory listen. This is usually a time issue with me, but I can only see it getting worse, not better. I left the following comment on Zan’s blog:

I’ve been thinking about this myself recently. I’ve recently completed the task of converting my entire CD collection into my iTunes Library. When that was finished, I found I wanted to add more, and more! Somewhere along the line, it became some weird kind of competition with myself. It took me a little while to realise this is strange behaviour, and to re-embrace my belief that quality of the music is important, not quantity.

This issue of quality being more important to me than quantity is a big one. Some of my favourite albums needed many listens before I really developed an appreciation for them (I’m thinking in particular about Billy Bragg’s Talking With The Taxman About Poetry album). I’m not sure that I would invest that same time into a new album these days, and it really concerns me that I’m going to miss some gems.

I think there is a larger issue here, which is what I think Zan was getting at, and that is technology isn’t necessarily improving our lifestyle. More doesn’t always equal better, because the one thing we can’t change is how much time we have. Even if you’re not a huge fan of music, or not as obsessive about it, you’ve got to agree that the issue of remaining time-poor is something that affects everyone.

Technology can’t help that, and probably just makes it worse most of the time.