Sadness for an age of non-collectors

I woke up in bed this morning and for whatever reason.....in my head i was humming a Thompson twins song.

Made coffee.....was still humming the same lines (albeit....not remembering all of the words exactly if you know what i mean.....though considering they are from the 80's was remembering more than i would have thought).

Heading downstairs for a shower i brought up their Greatest Hits cd on my media server and played it through the bathroom stereo and was happily jamming away (including turning up the stereo when the "Hold Me Now" track came on while shaving) when something struck me.

"I can listen to this music cd 20+ years since i bought it, because i own the cd/original content..... what happens when Google YouTube or Amazon music decide they no longer want to license this content to people for purchase/streaming".

Sure....most people who would listen to it/remember it will be dead....but basically the Thompson Twins will cease to exist. 

Digital 1's and 0's are so fickle. Here today.....gone tomorrow.

No one will ever "discover an old recording" browsing in a second hand store. No one will "browse through a friends collection at a party and become an instant fan". No one will be able to "on a whim....play a track they havent listened to in years but still own".

It made me sad that young people "dont collect", they will never understand "accumulation" in the way we did (and generations before us did).

I still remember the first cd i bought AC-DC Back in Black.

I still remember playing it loud, i mean really loud on my parents stereo when they weren't home.

I remember packing a stack of cd's in boxes every time i moved (lol......the next move-probably to Australia is going to be interesting.....will be many many boxes).

Dont get me wrong as someone who "taped songs off a radio" then did a tape to tape edit so you could cut the tops and tails off the recording.....being able to type in the name of a song on the internet and pretty much always be able to stream it would have been awesome.

But i worry about gatekeepers.

I worry about "winds of change and the whims of 'someone else' making a decision on my behalf".

It could just be the side effects of seeing so many sweeping governmental/societal changes during corona......but more than ever i feel that unless you own it.....you dont control it. What can i say.....I like having all the toys.