When was the last time you bought a real CD? And when I say real, I mean a CD you can hold in your hand as opposed to a CD bought on iTunes?

For me, it was Christmas, and that’s only because I was given a gift card.’
An amalgam of laziness and the recession is taking its toll on the music world. CD stores are closing and sales are dropping, but no one seems too worried, not even avid music fans.

Maybe it’s because they don’t read Billboard press releases or they have not been in a record store for a while.’ Maybe people just figure the economy is bad right now and will get better. But news alert: Virgin Records is permanently closing soon, including the one in Times Square. And even if the economy gets better soon, it won’t be returning because we’ve decided that going to the record store isn’t a good use of our time when we have the ability to get music online or for free.

Overall album sales in this past chart week totaled 6.62 million units, down 16.6 percent compared to the same sales week of 2008. This plunging number of record sales can be seen by simply looking at the accomplishments of mainstream popular acts, like pop punkers Fall Out Boy. When its third studio album, ‘Infinity on High’ debuted two years ago, over 260,000 copies sold in its first week. Its most recent release, ‘Folie a Deux,’ took a month to reach this number.

While these losses may be regrettable, the music industry is surprisingly not preparing to dig its own grave, because overall music purchases, including albums, singles, digital tracks and music videos are still increasing.

Personally, I don’t see the point of buying a CD online or getting a subscription to a music downloading Web site.’ This trend is just increasing our dependence on computers, which we all know can lead to potential problems.’

It may take one click of a button to get the new hit single by Britney Spears, but it only takes one virus to make your whole life collection of music disappear.’ Plus, buying on the Internet limits your right as a music listener to share music with other people more easily.

But while everyone seems to be so happy about how the music industry is just changing and not leaving, I am seriously concerned about the current state of the music world beyond record sales. With all this technology, great music is being forgotten, replaced with bubbly pop with little to no substance. Rap and rock are becoming almost synonymous.

Soon enough, the rock section in record stores will disappear, that is, if record stores stay alive long enough to see this music apocalypse.

Speaking of which, wouldn’t it be great if the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) only targeted people who download bad music? I’m sorry, Taylor Swift fans, but I would sell you to the government if my life depended on it. (I’m also aware that this statement may get me kicked off The Mirror, which has more country fans than any other club I know.)

It is silly to dream about the days when people listened to vinyl in a smoky room and just had deep conversations about music.’ But we shouldn’t have to live in a world where our iPods rule our lives and a battery life can determine when we lose the music that has in many ways defined who we are as people.

Now, I’m not only afraid that future generations won’t be aware of Super Nintendo, Pogs and Cookie Monster from ‘Sesame Street,’ but now I have to worry about them not knowing the music of Godley ‘amp; Cr’egrave;me, Jethro Tull and The Beach Boys.’ A world without Brian Wilson just doesn’t make sense to me.

Even if parents teach their children about the greatest music of all time, they won’t be able to escape the world of Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers.’ ‘ This generation may appreciate the oldies, but I still won’t be able to forgive them for one simple reason: The original soundtrack of ‘High School Musical’ went triple platinum and reached No. 1 on the Billboard Charts.’

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