Spare Room Be our guest…

The latest diary instalment from singer-songwriter Anna Coddington, who is releasing her own debut solo album in June…
I have recently re-discovered the joys of the CD “discman”. In my memory this was a shortlived technology fad, lasting only slightly longer than the “minidisc”. But jeez, I forgot how good it is. My re-employment of the discman was due to two things: my ipod finally broke last year (well, I say ’finally’ but I don’t think it even lasted two years so maybe ’prematurely’ is a better adjective), and we recently upgraded our home stereo when our new flattie Bobby moved in with his fancy “CDJ” (like a strange CD-turntable hybrid for those who don’t know — I didn’t), which left the old discman sitting on the kitchen bench. Well, I had no iPod and a packet of second hand AA batteries so I thought “no more silent bus rides for me!”

I had forgotten what a superior listening experience it was. I liked my iPod for its convenience but I didn’t realise how heavy the burden of choice can be. Personally, I found that no matter what I played on my iPod there was a niggling feeling that there was something else in there — in those 3000 songs — that I would enjoy more. I seemed to scroll constantly and rarely feel fully satisfied. Also, the higher sound quality of the discman is noticeable, unless I suppose you’re one of those people that doesn’t import your shit as mp3s. Anyway — I have enjoyed my mobile music experience in the last few days more than I have in a long time. I choose two albums in the morning and I really get involved with those over the course of the day. It feels like you’re getting your money’s worth out of the CD that you paid for and enjoying that as a tangible object, rather than feeling like you should get your money’s worth out of an expensive machine while the music inside of it is valueless. Now that I think about it, I’ve bought more albums since my iPod broke.

To make an obvious analogy, it’s like looking at all your photos in your digital camera instead of in a nice big album, or maybe like looking at art in a small, hand-held screen instead of going to a gallery — although this last one may be a bit extreme, and anyway I don’t purport to know a whole lot about art — mostly I don’t really get it. But I do like some. Anyway, I digress…

Now, lots of people would say (and I would agree) that records are the ultimate interactive, music appreciation experience. But it’s not so practical for the bus. I guess a discman ain’t so practical for a run or the gym but I used to do it. A lot. Though this one I’ve recently acquired is a bit old and you have to carry it a bit like something very fragile to prevent skipping. Anyhow, maybe this all just stems from the fact that I can’t afford a new iPod right now and even if I could my computer is too old to be compatible with it, but I’m sticking with my story (rant, blog, cerebral diarrhoea — whatever you wanna call it). For now.

On a related note — I had a great idea for a party whilst enjoying my discman. It would be like a silent disco but instead of a DJ everyone would bring their own favourite dancing song and go crazy on the dancefloor, in their own time. Headphones would be compulsory, of course, but every now and then you could sneak them off and watch everyone dancing in different times and styles in the silence and have a laugh, but not too much of a laugh because probably you look just as much a dick as everyone else. Most people would have iPods and there’d be me with my discman, having the best time of all.

Album update: Due out first week of June. Start getting psyched now people! You may or may not have noticed also that I’ve posted up my new video for “Hold You Here”. Get into it. Blah blah blah. I’m bored of myself now.
Check out Anna’s MySpace page…
Video: “Hold You Here”