Where I Got My Music, in Chronological Order

My Dad’s Shelves — Birth through high school

I raided his collection all the time and when I moved away he let me take my pick of 20 or so CDs. 💯

Rainbow Video and Music in Zionsville, Indiana — Through high school

This place was way ahead of its time with a computer system to find the movie you wanted to rent. The first time I went to a blockbuster years later I couldn’t believe you had to wander around the store to find your movie. Anyway they had racks and racks of records and later CDs too. This is where I bought all my music except…

The Columbia Record Club

I think I did this twice in high school. I just ordered the freebies, then ordered enough all at once to meet my obligation, and then canceled my membership. Ah the days when a part time job meant all the money you could possibly need.

Best Buy — Early college years

Believe it or not there was a time when it seemed crazy that Best Buy would sell you a brand new CD for $10-$12. It was a huge draw. They were $17+ everywhere else (and that was a lot more when you consider inflation). On the other hand the place quickly became messy and overbearing.

Amazon — 1997ish to iTunes

I was an early Amazon adopter. My first purchase was Les Miserables in around 1996. They were only books then but when they added CDs I started buying all my music there.

iTunes — 2003+

In 2001 I ripped all my CDs to MP3s. It was a pain back then. You had to run one app to copy the content (a ripper) then an app to compress to MP3 (an encoder) and the an app to look up metadata and organize your music. I bought all this software the day before iTunes was released. It was very funny. Once iTunes started selling music I stopped buying CDs and never went back.

Apple Music — 2015

I signed up for Apple Music so I don’t buy music anymore.