I actually bought a CD today. A real, honest to God compact disc recording. This is the first disc I’ve bought in more than a year, a revelation that really surprised me. I used to buy a couple albums a week, and now it’s a rare event.

I could have purchased the recording from iTunes, and in fact it would have saved me $7 and a walk to the mall. I guess I’m old-fashioned – I still prefer to pay the little bit extra and have a physical product to show for it. Everything eventually ends up on the hard-drive anyway.

I’m still listening to lots of music, but it tends to be stuff that I’ve had in my collection for a while and forgotten about. I must also admit to the occasional illegal download of current pop stuff (what, you think I’d actually go into a store and buy the new Pussycat Dolls CD?)

Sadly, it seems like a lot of people aren’t buying CD’s anymore. HMV is now dominated by DVD’s, and good luck finding anything that’s not Top 40 or classic rock. I also read that Tower Records is going under in the States, which means New York City won’t have a single fully-stocked classical music store. If you can’t make it there, you can’t make it anywhere…

So what was my big purchase? African Guitar Summit II. I heard a live performance on CBC Radio Two yesterday as I took the boys to Mer Bleue, and it was a welcome bit of sunshine on a cold, blustery day.