In today’s world of technology, we can buy almost anything with the touch of our fingers on our iPhones. Any song, book or television show can be found and bought within seconds without leaving the comfort of our homes. iTunes has become one of the most popular ways for people to buy all kinds of music, new and old. Call me old fashioned or just behind on the trend, but my favorite way to buy music is still CDs. I just haven’t completely bought into the digital age of music.

I’ve been laughed at several times when I mention to friends that I still buy and listen to CDs. I bought Carrie Underwood’s and Kacey Musgraves’ new albums this last year while I was at school even though I had no way to listen to them at the time. I just couldn’t wait to buy their CDs so I could listen to them in the car on my ride back home. There’s nothing I like much more than popping in one of my favorite CDs while on a road trip.

There is just something so satisfying about peeling off the plastic of a new album and opening the case for the first time. And it might seem pointless to most people, but I enjoy looking through the little booklets on the inside of each album with the photos the artist took to represent their music. This visual expression of the music found within is one I don’t want to give up just so I can have the music a little faster. I like reading the lyrics that are found in that booklet as I listen to all of the songs for the first time.

It might just be my cynical side, but you never know when a phone is going to crash and cause you to lose all of your music, or when your phone will die so you’re stuck with the radio, which is always unpredictable. I would be absolutely distraught if I lost all of my music. And for me, pulling a CD out of the console next to me and putting it in is much easier to do before I start to drive than trying to plug an aux cord into my phone and scrolling through to find the song I’m looking for. Having a hard copy of the music my favorite artists worked so hard to produce makes me feel more connected to the music and the artist.

I’m not one of the biggest music junkies, but it is my favorite way to spend my time while driving. In addition to all of the little things that make me still love CDs, there’s something simply special about owning them that I can’t quite explain. Opening up a CD case, placing it in the player and waiting for the music to slowly begin playing is like coming home. It’s a tradition that I’m not ready to give up yet. Having all of my music on my phone might take less up room and be a little cheaper, but that comes at the sacrifice of a few things that make the music even more special to me. So everyone else can rely on the modern way of listening to music, but for me, I’ll stick with my old-time CDs.