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☛ The History Of Digital Music

We all remember Windows Media Player… right? If you don’t know what it is, you may be too young. Back in the 2000s and early 2010s, it’s what we used to listen to music. That, and CDs. So, how did we go from that, to music streaming apps?

☛The switch

Compact Discs (CDs) were first introduced in October 1982, and it gained so much popularity that it surpassed phonograph records and cassette tapes, with sales peaking around the rise of the Digital Age, AKA the 21st century, as 15-18 billion CDs were sold from their introduction to 2003.

☛The iPod

On October 23, 2001, Apple announced what would be the death of CDs: the iPod. An MP3 player that could hold 1000 songs on it, with a durable 10-hour battery and a tiny size that made music portable for the first time (even if technically portable CD players already existed, the iPod and other MP3 players made music easier to carry around, literally. Though actually the first MP3 player ever released wasn’t even the iPod, but a South-Korean player: the MPMan F-10, but that’s a story for another day).
Devices like that started outselling CDs around 2007, which made CDs less popular and thus, started declining in sales, as the iPod, along with iTunes, provided a practically never ending music collection that took no space.

☛ Music on streaming services

Music streaming got popular around the second half of the 2010s, specifically around 2015, and that, of course, impacted the decline of sales of iPods and MP3 players (which actually started declining some years earlier, as smartphones were the hot thing at that moment), with the rise of music streaming, as apps like Spotify (released in 2008) and Apple Music (released in 2015, a sort of better version of iTunes).
Preferred over CDs and MP3 players, streaming apps became popular because you could listen to music cheaply and on your own phone (as you didn’t have to spend $13/18 for a single album, and because you didn’t have to buy extra devices to listen to music), making it the better option to listen to your favourite songs.

Technology changes everything.

With the rise of apps like YouTube Music and Spotify, now listening to music is easier than ever. With just a few taps on your smartphone, you can play your favourite song. This new digital realm also offers more storage, meaning that you can download up to 10,000 songs approximately.
However, some people, like me, still prefer old programs like WMP and physical formats like CDs. Why is that? The obvious response would be nostalgia. It’s a different feeling, when you take the CD out of the jewel case and place it carefully on the CD player. It all feels more… real. But, there is another reason: CDs offer a better audio quality than streaming apps, every instrument sounds so much clearer, in my opinion.

Okay, history class over. Now here’s the fun part.

Hellooo everyone! This is Cady talking (or writing). In this amazing section of The Duality Zine, I will be talking about songs I enjoy a little bit too much. In no specific order. Let's start!

1. Selena Gomez & The Scene - Who Says (2011)

This song is about self-esteem, appreciating yourself, loving yourself despite your flaws. It's an important message for kids, teenagers and adults. I promise, it will make you feel better about yourself. Go listen to it! Favourite quote: “Who says you’re not star potential?”

2. Taylor Swift - White Horse (2008)

Ahh, the expectations you have when you're in love. You think that person is perfect, but when you find out they aren't, your world comes crashing down. By the way, now that Taylor owns all of her masters, we can listen to the original version of "White Horse" without feeling guilty! Favourite quote: “That I'm not a princess, this ain't a fairy tale/This ain't Hollywood, this is a small town”

3. Fall Out Boy - Church (2018)

Have you ever loved someone so much that you almost want to... worship them? Well, that is what this song is about. And it's a banger. Favourite quote: “I love the world but I just don't love the way it makes me feel”

4. Hole - Doll Parts (1994)

I interpret this song as a woman being seen only for her body and not for who she is. Favourite quote: “I am doll eyes, doll mouth, doll legs”

By the way, in this day and age, CDs can still be a perfect present for someone you love: a partner, a family member, a friend… You can mix all of their favourite songs together and burn them on a blank CD! And once you do that, you can decorate it! Here are some that I did:

☛ How to burn a CD - A guide

First of all, you have to know that there are two ways to burn a CD, and it doesn’t really change whether you follow one way or another, you’ll still end up with a CD.

Using Windows Media Player

  1. Put a blank CD into the CD drive.
  2. On WMP, go to the [Burn] tab, and drag your desired song mix there. (You can drag them from a playlist you already made, or drag them from File Explorer)
  3. (OPTIONAL) Rearrange your song list order.
  4. Click [Start burn] at the top and wait for the program to process our music. Once it’s done, it’ll actually start burning the music on the CD, and when it’s done, WMP will automatically eject the CD.
  5. Give a name to your mix and write it onto your CD’s name, and the tracklist too (optional, but I like to do it)
  6. You’re done. Pop that CD in a player and go listen to your music now.

Using CDBurnerXP

  1. Put a blank CD into the CD drive.
  2. When you open CDBurnerXP, a window will pop up. You’re going to want to select Audio CD.
  3. To add your music, you can either drag and drop them from File Explorer like with WMP, or you can click on the [Add] button.
  4. (OPTIONAL) Rearrange your song list order.
  5. Click [Burn].
  6. Another window will pop up, you can adjust the settings like you want (or make your CD rewritable if you tend to get tired of the music you listen to, without wasting any CDs!)
  7. Select [OK] or [Burn] at the bottom (I don’t remember which one it is </3) and it will start burning your music onto the CD.
  8. Once it’s done, your CD might or might not eject automatically, (depends on your settings).
  9. Give a name to your mix and write it onto your CD’s name, and the tracklist too (optional, but I like to do it)
  10. You’re done. Pop that CD in a player and go listen to your music now.

-Cadence (some sections were written by Dam though)