1998 vs 2021 music

Miama is a fourteen-year-old boy. It’s a Sunday afternoon and he knows that they will be visiting the mall this afternoon with his parents. On Sunday afternoons he and his family visit certain shops in the mall to browse and if he is lucky, his parents will pay for that something his heart’s eyes see in the shop.

“Miama! Let’s go!” his mother calls from the garage. “Yes!” Miama says. He jumps up from his bed, throws his book on the floor, and runs towards the garage. His fingers fold around the car’s door handle and he pulls the car door open. Without a second invite, he’s in the back seat, his seat belt fastens with the biggest smile on his face. The car starts to move …

The mall isn’t too busy on a Sunday afternoon. Very few people visit the mall on a Sunday afternoon but that’s why Miama and his family like it. The fewer people, the less likely you will have a struggle to find that music cd or magazine you have been waiting for. That’s correct! Magazines and music CDs are the things that Miama and his family browse in the shops on a Sunday afternoon.

Miama walks into the music store and there are thousands of music CDs, movies, and TV series you can browse through. They are all alphabetical and in categories. Miama walks from one category to the next and eventually he stops when he saw “Monster Hits 4” on the shelf. He immediately knows what he wants to listen to. He takes the CD to the counter and asks the sales lady for the time to listen to the CD. She makes a note of the CD, opens up a long drawer, and searches through brown envelopes with her fingers. She stops, takes out the brown envelope, and opens it up to reveal the Monster Hits 4 CD. She walks over to the counter where Miama is, inserts the CD in a slot underneath the counter to where Miama stands. Miama takes up the headphones and puts them on his ears. The music is already playing of the first song on the CD. He then presses down on the “next” button on the counter in front of him and the next song on the CD starts to play. For the next ten minutes or so, Miama listens to the CD. He wants to buy the CD. He takes off the headphones and walks over to his mother.

“Mom? Will you please buy me a music CD?” he asks.
“Yes,” she answers. Miama is grateful.

2021

Dorian sits on the couch next to his father.

“Dad?” he says.
“Yes Dorian,” his father replies.
“Can we please get a Spotify or YouTube Music subscription? I would like to listen to music without ads,” he says.
“We’ll look into it,” his father replies.

A few days later and Dorian is making scrolling movements with his finger on his cellphone. He is browsing through the millions of songs in the Metal category of Spotify. He then selects the first song and it starts to play. He knows that the WiFi connection is a bit dodgy and hopes that it would not influence the streaming of music too difficult today.

1998 vs 2021 music listening experiences differ a lot. Which experience will be remembered? Which experience makes the best memories?