Hoping an Aging Trend Will Revive

The recent news that Best Buy will pull CDs from its shelves come July is a sad development, yet one that doesn’t surprise me.

I had already encountered the inevitable decline of “media,” as one of our grandsons called it when he gave us the DVD player that came with his TV.

It had been sitting in the box for six months because he and his wife stream everything they want to watch.

While we were glad to get a new player to replace our then-dying unit, that gift was like an ominous foreboding of things to come.

This past December, we watched a DVD of Miracles from Heaven, the 2016 film starring Jennifer Garner that grossed more than $61 million domestically.

Not only was it a great story, the music was fantastic. Good enough that I wanted to acquire the soundtrack, one I could flip into our car’s CD player on trips around town or wherever.

Searching in Vain

So, armed with a $25 gift card I had received from a client at Christmas, I set out on an online search.

I figured if I found it, I could either order it or head out to the mall to get a copy immediately.

According to the information I found poking around, there was a soundtrack with 30 songs on it.

Trouble was, I kept running into download options for MP3 or iTunes.

Since I don’t do either, I searched some more. Finally, I gave up and drove to Books-A-Million, the mall store that succeeded Borders after it went belly-up.

That’s what I got another surprise. When I headed to the CD section, I discovered the shelf space devoted to vinyl was as big as the shrinking CD bins.

I had heard there was a resurgent interest in vinyl, but I had no idea how big.

After trying to locate soundtracks and getting nowhere, I flagged down a clerk to ask for help. She got online and came up with the same result I had.

“There is no CD,” she said.

An Unwelcome Discovery

That was most unwelcome news.

When August Rush came out in late 2007, it inspired us to pick up the soundtrack so we could listen to the movie’s incredible music time and again.

We had also thought of getting the music for O Brother Where Art Thou? but never quite managed. And when I considered buying a soundtrack for the Jesse Stone crime series online, I never could determine which options were the movies and which were music, and finally gave up.

But with Miracles from Heaven, I didn’t want to quite throw in the towel.

So, I contacted the editor of the organization that had sent me the gift card. Being younger and more technologically astute, she might have an idea, I figured.

Her only suggestion was to download the MP3 (30 times) and burn a CD copy.

She also pointed out the movie was available for $10.

“That’s the trouble,” I replied. “I don’t want to see the movie again. I want to be able to listen to the music when I’m out in the car.”

Waiting for Revival  

I know some folks who can quite likely handle the download option for me, but I have yet to ask them.

Everyone is so busy these days there hasn’t been what seemed like an opportune time.

Meanwhile, I live in hopes that one day CDs will experience the same sort of revival as vinyl disks.

Trouble is, it may take longer for that trend to resurface than I’ll be alive.