All this doesn’t really matter much any more, though, thanks to technology. Storage costs keep dropping, for one thing.

But the question still remains: what do we do with all that music? Certainly we can’t listen to it all. In my case, if I started my iTunes library at the top and didn’t stop playing til every song was done, it would take about a month. Yeah, I know. It’s sad.

And then along came the iTunes Genius feature. I can pick a song I want to hear right now, and it will go through my library and find other tracks I might want to hear after it. It’s quite magical. And now I have this ridiculous 120 GB iPod where I can hold down a button and it will do the Genius thing while I’m on the go! What is the world coming to?

There’s also its lesser-known, still-beta cousin Last.fm Boffin, which I’ve found to be just as good, if not better. Lots of potential there.

Now, it’s become my mentality when I find a digital track I like from one of my many sources (usually Stereogum, Pitchfork and the like), if it’s something I enjoy even remotely, or even if it’s something I could only imagine myself enjoying in the future, I hang onto it. I mean, why not?

It’s kind of like I have my own set of radio stations or something. What gets played will always surprise me, but I’ll always like it. What could be better?

On a deeper level, I like how technology is starting to address the issue of the paradox of choice.