Not much music, not much life

   One of many impromptu (and not very scientific) surveys of my students' consumption habits. As someone who has been a voracious buyer of music since elementary school, I find it hard to believe that young people today purchase so few albums. 

   By the time I was in college, I had already amassed a very nice collection of vinyl L.P.s.

   Yes, vinyl. L.P.s were large, circular black things that had had grooves in them. You would place a stylus, which was a kind of needle, into the outermost groove of the record which spun at 33 and 1/3 revolutions per minute. The grooves would make the needle vibrate, producing sound that was then amplified electronically. These audio systems, called record players or turntables, were not very portable, so when you listened to music, you generally had to stay in one room if you wanted to listen to music.

   Seriously.