As you might already know, Saturday is Record Store Day, a celebration of and, perhaps for the younger generation, an introduction to independent record stores. (Some blogger types are discussing it here.)

NPR’s All Songs Considered blog recently discussed going all digital, a prospect I’m not ready to consider just yet. I still spend a ton of time in record stores (Stinkweeds and Zia, mostly). For all the convenience digital music offers, nothing beats stumbling on a rare find – maybe a CD single, a 45, whatever – at a record store. That’s not meant to sound all weepy and nostalgic. Sometimes I just enjoy having a tangible piece of the music. After all, the packaging – the art, liner notes, lyrics – is part of the price and part of the vision for the artist.

I curse my CDs and records whenever I move – they get damn heavy – but it’s oddly thrilling to re-sort them (alphabetically, of course). And it’s a joy to see guests look through my CDs on shelves, something they couldn’t do if I kept everything digitally. I love thumbing through CD/record collections of others; how else am I supposed to judge them?

Anyway, without romanticizing this too much, I’m happy for Record Store Day. Check out Zia Records and Stinkweeds for events. Read a story at azcentral.com.

The great Pete Rock discusses independent retailers:

LASTLY: Big thanks to Tim at The Blue Walrus for updating my blog to the newest version of WordPress. I didn’t stand a chance without him.