The Age of Content Overload on Music and other media

[Poisoned Youth]

The majority of the people on this site are 40 or older. As such, we are the generation who has experienced the exponential explosion of content first hand.

Gone or dwindling are the days of:

- 3-4 TV channels
- A handful of radio stations
- The daily newspaper as the primary source of news
- The cinema as the primary source of watching movies
- Brick & mortar stores
- Using the postal system to send letters

Content was controlled. While for nostalgic reasons or otherwise, most of us can remember significant details about music we heard for the first time, a movie we went and saw, what was on prime time TV. Since there wasn't a great deal of new content to digest, we generally focused on what he had and spent more time with it. I went back to the theater and saw Star Wars a pile of times. I wore the grooves out of the first albums I purchased. I had books with worn spines. I watched re-runs on TV.

I'm sure my experience was the same as many here. And over the years, a wonderful thing happened: access to content increased and so did its demand. We had cable tv, we had audio CDs (and reissues), we had VCRs, we had Blockbuster, we had Barnes & Noble. In fact, we has "media stores" that sold books, movies, CDs, used items, etc. Nobody complained - that I remember anyway. Was this the actual "golden age of media" from the 1980s through the 90s?

Then came the internet.

Oh, don't let me wrong. I'm no Luddite. I embraced the internet. Who needs a landline for phone calls? I have AOL. Why run around at the local used CD store when I can shop online? Holy crap, there are message boards dedicated to my interests? What is this YouTube thing? I wish I could watch the videos without my internet buffering.

But some odd 15 years later, we find ourselves fully adapted and addicted to the internet. Many of us have smartphones, which I use 10x more for internet access, music, games, texting, and emails more than I ever use the actual phone. How does that even happen?


We now find ourselves in the age of content overload. Gone are the days of 3 TV channels, now we have:

- 100s of TV channels and streaming services
- Thousands of radio stations, TV playlists, internet radio, YouTube, and illicit sources
- Websites, news feeds, and Facebook blog sharing (unfortunately) as the primary sources of news
- Movies channels, streaming services, YouTube, illicit sources, etc.
- Amazon
- email and texting

As such, we are simply bombarded with content that it no longer has much value. There is more music, movies, tv shows, and other information that I could ever digest in my lifetime. I can't even choose sometimes as there is a paralysis that sets in occasionally, overwhelmed by my options.

Great music that I have discovered fights for attention with everything I discovered last year, my old favorites, and everything that awaits. I have seen fantastic TV shows like Breaking Bad, that I would have watched a few more times over the years, but I don't. It's not only too much of an investment, but the "next great thing" is already demanding my attention. Same thing with movies.

We are bombarded with media that is even arguably designed to be disposable. Reality TV, 24 hour news, and social networks, are designed to keep us engaged - but only for that moment to keep our interest in the next "new thing" or "controversy". But there's so much of it, it's almost instantly disposable because the next day or next week, there will be something else.

Honestly, I was thinking about the recent discussions in various threads about music having less value. Well, it's not just a music problem. And I think the overload of content coupled with the unprecedented access to it is the greatest contributor to its lack of value - or staying power.

So what does this all mean? Nothing really. This is just my contribution to the overload of content (and a long post).

Tell me what you all think of how the change in the amount of media produced and its access have affected your perceptions over the years because I do think it's somewhat unique that most of us here have lived through 3 distinct eras.

[Vic2012]

I still resist purchasing music online. I would still prefer to go to a brick&mortar store and buy physical media, although I don't have a problem with purchasing physical CDs on Amazon. I'm about to make a purchase soon. Just can't find what I'm looking for in stores, and I don't want to invest the time it would take driving all over the county to find a store that might have what I'm looking for. I did the MP3/download thing years ago. Found a lot of great music but I feel the music has less value than actually owning the proper albums. As a result, I've got music files scattered all over hundreds of CDrs. I never printed up track lists so I don't really know what I have. I have a smartphone, and an old desktop computer with Windows XP. I have a tablet I received as a gift but it just sits around. I do more with my phone than the tablet or the desktop.

I'm at a point in life where I've separated what's really important from what's not important. If it's not on free TV, or basic cable I don't get to watch it. My loss, boo hoo.

[Haruspex Carnage]

It's time for us to make our own media. i don't pay attention any more unless it's within parameters i already know to be good or i'm attempting to give something a shot...it's overwhelmingly oversaturated and i think it's done more harm than good...too much information, too much everything.

[Jefferson James]

Tell me what you all think of how the change in the amount of media produced and its access have affected your perceptions over the years

Speaking as an artist who has commercially released music since 2000, the ever-increasing overload and saturation just in "our" genre alone is overwhelming; old guard legacy artists and a few '80s/90s-era talents dominate discussion, festivals and gigs, but due to over saturation it's been very hard for any new acts to break thru in any meaningful way, let alone achieving anywhere close to the attention levels of the old guard.

There are a few "new" bands who have been working for decades for recognition -- Big Big Train comes to mind -- but in today's reality there is no mechanism to allow the cream to truly rise to the top. The top has been solidified for decades with the old guard/'90s-era stalwarts anyway, look at the discussions here and on FB, it's all about the old peppered with the odd shout-out for an obscure act.

I've come to the conclusion that writing music is akin to praying -- it's something that exists solely between me and my creator, a private matter, something of value only to me. There was a time when I believed someone might enjoy a song I wrote but that time has passed. There is nothing particularly unique about writing songs anymore, no matter what the form or genre. It's played out. Mundane. Overdone. Boring, really.

I'm writing the best music of my life right now but commercially releasing it is not important nor relevant. If I think the tune is cool enough I'll just self-video me playing it live and post it on YouTube. Creative itch scratched, wallet emptying averted.

[Zeuhlmate]

A bit the same as Vic2012

I live in Denmark - there arent any physical shops left that sells new music that I like. A few second hand shops and a few online shops. So everything music is bought online + a lot of other things, latest a TV-antenna for the roof on my summerhouse. I want the physical media to play on my stereo in max. quality, so generally I dont stream much, use youtube to point at, and talk music with my friends.
I never listen to music on a phone or similar device. Its to lousy a sound.
I dont have cable TV, just an antenna in my window, gives me 5 channels, I dont need more, would get stress of choosing all the time. And I can still read a book
I still write a postcard when on holiday.
I dont use facebook, instagram, twitter, snapchat as a means of communication. I have a anonymous facebook account, which I mostly find a waste of time. Email works fine for me.
When I surf the net I use all the adblockers, tracker removers, cookiekillers, etc., I can - but still I notice they have me by the balls. I find it a bit scary.

I teach computer etc. so I have all the access to the internet I need. Most stuff you find or read out there is useless time consuming crap, so its important to be very selective.

For the time beeing I'm generally satisfied with what I can find free, so - no netflix, hbo, etc.

I dont think I have become a more happy or satisfied person with this development. At all. And I'm a bit worried on behalf of my children.

[nosebone]

Tell me what you all think of how the change in the amount of media produced and its access have affected your perceptions over the years because I do think it's somewhat unique that most of us here have lived through 3 distinct eras.

Great post that pretty sums up my overwhelmed mind, body & soul.

Good timing, for I was telling my teenage son the other day how when I was in grade school, I would walk two miles to our record store to buy my favorite songs on 45 singles.

That's right, a small record with two songs on it!

He looked at me with the same amazed expression that I had when my mother told me about the iceman delivering ice for their refrigerator when she was a kid. lol!

He thinks buying physical media is a waste of money and I think most millennials have the same inclination.

Lately I've really cut back on buying media, for I have enough music for three lifetimes.

I only purchase from my very favorite artists.

[Mikhael]

Speaking as an artist who has commercially released music since 2000, the ever-increasing overload and saturation just in "our" genre alone is overwhelming; old guard legacy artists and a few '80s/90s-era talents dominate discussion, festivals and gigs, but due to over saturation it's been very hard for any new acts to break thru in any meaningful way, let alone achieving anywhere close to the attention levels of the old guard.

There are a few "new" bands who have been working for decades for recognition -- Big Big Train comes to mind -- but in today's reality there is no mechanism to allow the cream to truly rise to the top. The top has been solidified for decades with the old guard/'90s-era stalwarts anyway, look at the discussions here and on FB, it's all about the old peppered with the odd shout-out for an obscure act.

I've come to the conclusion that writing music is akin to praying -- it's something that exists solely between me and my creator, a private matter, something of value only to me. There was a time when I believed someone might enjoy a song I wrote but that time has passed. There is nothing particularly unique about writing songs anymore, no matter what the form or genre. It's played out. Mundane. Overdone. Boring, really.

I'm writing the best music of my life right now but commercially releasing it is not important nor relevant. If I think the tune is cool enough I'll just self-video me playing it live and post it on YouTube. Creative itch scratched, wallet emptying averted.

^^^^ This. You hit the nail on the head, in my experience. There's so much crap out there that it's hard to get noticed, unless you do something outrageous/dangerous/stupid.

[Facelift]

The content overload is a great thing, IMO. More of everything, and it's all cheaper than ever. I don't value my favorite TV shows, films or albums less than I ever did, and now I've got way more options to choose from.

The only thing I miss from the old days is the rock music fan culture. Not just the great record stores, great record store clerks and the like-minded fans you'd meet there, but the prominence that it had in the lives of people in general. When the year-end lists of the biggest selling albums of the year were all multi-platinum, it said something about the significant space that the music had in our culture. The loss of this is partly the fault of technology, but it was also the music itself, IMO. The 2nd half of the 1990s and the early 2000s (huge times for the industry, in terms of revenues) saw the splintering of the audience. The indie-label explosion created more music of particular sub-styles for the truly dedicated to explore but, looking back, the rap-metal of the late 1990s and early 2000s appears in hindsight more and more like how rock music as a mainstream cultural force ended (and with a whimper). In the time since then, no rock superstars have taken their place in the mainstream, and the continued expansion of choices further stratified and diluted the interest that was still left. Combine the petering out of rock music in general with technology that was destroying the commercial model upon which the 1960s/70s/80s/90s was based on, and you've got what we have now. Anyway, my point here is to show that mainstream rock music was in a years-long creative malaise/underground fracturing before the bottom fell out.

The thing is, the only people who are going to miss the old way are people who experienced it (and even then, far from all of them). Why would somebody who is, say, 25, ever want to go back to the way things were? Everything you want whenever you want it for a nominal fee, or spending a lot of cash to build up even just a small collection of albums? No young person who has never known it different would ever want that. Even the ones buying new LPs at inflated prices and just cultural tourists - those new LPs all come with download codes and they can still pull the actual songs up on Spotify any time they want in any event.

Since nobody who has never experienced anything else would ever want to go back to the old way, the old way will never return. I can miss that all I want, but it's really now for the overall better.

[TheLongshot]

As someone of a younger generation who spent a lot of my young adulthood with the internet, it has been nothing but a positive effect on my music collection. Half the stuff I own, I wouldn't have even had heard of if it wasn't for the internet. Course, there are two parts to that. The part I don't think anyone here has a problem with (given that you all are here) are the communities that developed because of the internet. To be honest, I don't know where my music collection would have been without mailing lists like The National Midnight Star, Ytsejam, Thoughts and The Edge Of Forever (Rush, Dream Theater, Spock's Beard and Symphony X mailing lists). I discovered so many bands because of those lists.

The other part is the rise of online record stores, the digitalization of music, and the circumvention of the traditional gate keepers. This is what I think many here have an issue with, partially because it has killed off B&M record stores and partially because it has broadened the pool of artists so much that it makes it hard to listen to it all. It also makes it tougher to make a living as a musician. Personally, I've long accepted that I won't be able to hear it all/watch it all/play it all. I also accept that the digital reality makes it more ephemeral. That I don't mind so much since I have a limited amount of space for stuff anyways.

For me, tho, the digitalization of music has taken a lot of guesswork out of buying music. Before, when someone recommended something, much of the time I would actually have to track down the CD or record and buy it to be able to listen to it to see if I would even like it. That method was mostly hit or miss and often I'd end up with music that I didn't want that took up space in my collection and that I spent money on that I could have spent elsewhere. Now, I mostly spend the money on artists that I know I'd like because I've listened to songs beforehand. While I'll occasionally go with a cold recommendation from someone I trust, there isn't much reason to do so often now that I can hear songs before buying.

[Steve983]

It makes me think of Roger Waters Amused To Death.

[rcarlberg]

Tell me what you all think of how the change in the amount of media produced and its access have affected your perceptions

In general I think access to data is wonderful. The ability to connect with somebody on another continent as if they were sitting right next to you is a marvel, and should theoretically lead to greater human empathy.

Unfortunately, it also make it easier for radical anti-social philosophies to recruit.

Also, the democratization of news has meant that what is broadcast as "news" no longer goes through filters, no longer is cross-checked for accuracy before broadcast, no longer can be relied upon to be accurate. There are entire networks devoted to distributing made-up news, made-up stories, and "analysis" of real events that ignores all the relevant facts. This causes a substantial portion of the electorate to be misinformed on the issues, and make poor decisions that are not in their or the country's best interests.

[polmico]

I took a pretty radical step this year to combat some of this fatigue.

I've only bought music from artists who are already in my collection. I cheated a bit here and there (Spidergawd features the rhythm section from Motorpsycho, so it's sort of not a brand new artist, right?). Even with this step, the amount of new music being released is daunting. I just picked up albums that have been out for months (new albums from Knifeworld, Big Big Train) and am still trying to digest major purchases from last year (the Magma and Thrak box sets). So I can't say my experiment has been succesful.

There are a lot of interesting albums (that Bent Knee band sounds really good) that I'm just passing over. But there's time, right?

[Orcopian]

I pretty much agree with the opening post except to say that the late 80's / early 90's also coincided with me getting a full time job and gradually increasing salary so that I was able to fully take advantage of the increase in content available, that's the other factor for me when considering 'the golden age of content'. For youngsters today with the Internet and Spotify etc there is no need or incentive to build a collection by an artist, so they can spend their money in other ways I guess. For example The time it took me to build up my Frank Zappa collection from the pre online market ( so getting the thrill of picking a few new CDs on a trip to a big city like Birmingham with several large records/ cd stores) was in retrospect very enjoyable and made me appreciate the music more. Im At the stage now where I can't keep up and feel like it's a rush to fit in all the new content, so it's more simple and enjoyable to listen to the older music I'm familiar with. I still buy lots of new music and have to be very disciplined to make sure I give the music the time it deserves, sadly I don't think I'm always successful in this goal.

I make a point of visiting my local HMV store once a week to browse and buy something even though I can get it cheaper on line, for the simple reason that I take pleasure in the ritual of browsing in the store and if I stop one day it will be gone. I was very close to cancelling my sky sports subscription to free up some time, but as I can watch and listen to music at the same time I feel like and can almost keep up with the content. I do find it hard to just sit and watch TV without using the iPad or phone, it's only the really gripping stuff like game of thrones that keeps my attention, what I have done is watch a lot of the Scandinavian crime thrillers with sub titles which means I have to concentrate more. Having a new multi screen cinema in town means my wife and I go maybe twice a month and really appreciate.a Good film without online and household distractions- yes it costs a lot more but I get more out of it.

Sometimes I envy young people the ease with which music is now available at zero cost, whilst I spent a small fortune on my collection there was a lot of pleasure in the act of building it, putting together a Spotify playlist can't be as much fun.

[JKL2000]

I find some areas easier to control than others. Even though we get hundreds of channels on cable, there are only a handful I ever look at. We're going to be moving house soon, and I think we're going to try having no cable and see how that goes.

I do miss the days before cable when they showed lots of old movies on TV. I spend more time reading and posting on PE than I ought to. When I spend any amount of time reading Facebook I start to regret it. I rarely post on it, and most of things people post just seem unnecessary to me. Once the elections are over there will be less reason to read Facebook.

[DrGoon]

I largely agree - and having been thinking the same thing for some time.

However:

I'm no Luddite.

I have AOL.

That made me chuckle.

[markwoll]

Not gonna play "back in the day", but I will say this about now.
I buy physical copies of music or media where ever I can. I have downloaded music when it was the only purchase option available, or was being released by the artist at no cost as a download.
Once the music gets home it is stored on a NAS and streamed around the house.
I have pretty much given up on online streaming music, and never started streaming video.
We get tv over the air. I watch very little, as Ad supported tv is about as attractive as Ad supported web sites.
My cable connection is for internet/ip connections.
Perhaps it is crankiness creeping out in my older years.
Much of it is basic rejection of the emerging business model of pervasive surveillance.
Apparently I value my habits more than "free" apps. Not sure if I could be offered enough in exchange.
I am still a consumer, just more particular about how much exposure surface I grant to the Panopticon.
It's not just an age related thing, based on the uptake of cool new stuff by all age groups.
Just a quirk of my personality, sure that's it.

[ashratom]

Cozy - of course I can relate to everything you lay out here (I'm 51, so I fit the PE demographic. The RYM crowd I deal with are typically much (much) younger, and it's been fun to exchange with them and get their perspective on things). It is something I think about often (not sure why, but I do). It has been my primary argument for many years now that there is simply too much supply and not enough demand. So it becomes more apparent than ever to apply "business intelligence" (sorry, can't help it) techniques to find what most interests you. There's only so much time in the day to dedicate to leisurely pursuits, and we all want to maximize that. The truth is, we had more time to waste when we's kidz. And God knows I did waste plenty...

There's one additional comment I'll make here, and it's something I wrote for the prelude to my blog. It's in regards to "ownership". I'll throw it out there for the group's opinion:

"I firmly believe we all need to buy product (CDs, LP's, downloads, cassettes, whatever). Freeloading is not a good plan and will ultimately kill the industry we love. Official online samples are great! Check them out frequently. But don't be cheap if you like the music - Buy it! Ownership changes one's personal attachment to an item. It gives you more incentive to listen to what the band truly intended. You have "skin in the game" now. You can always tell when a "reviewer" has just scanned a disc rather than actually listened to it. In the old days, we would flip a record over and over. It's because we only had money for one album, and that was the full week's (or month's) entertainment. Yes' Close to the Edge is part of my DNA now, I heard it so many times in my youth. And that's just one example of many."

[Poisoned Youth]

Great discussion so far everyone...

Speaking as an artist who has commercially released music since 2000, the ever-increasing overload and saturation just in "our" genre alone is overwhelming; old guard legacy artists and a few '80s/90s-era talents dominate discussion, festivals and gigs, but due to over saturation it's been very hard for any new acts to break thru in any meaningful way, let alone achieving anywhere close to the attention levels of the old guard.

I totally agree.

In fact, it's become so much this way that we don't give the finest albums made in the last 10 years anywhere near the attention of the albums made in the 10 years preceding.

I don't envy anyone who has tried to get noticed in this day and age.

He looked at me with the same amazed expression that I had when my mother told me about the iceman delivering ice for their refrigerator when she was a kid. lol!

He thinks buying physical media is a waste of money and I think most millennials have the same inclination.

Lately I've really cut back on buying media, for I have enough music for three lifetimes.

I only purchase from my very favorite artists.

LOL on the iceman.

I am getting more and more that way myself (selectively buying). I will still listen to what I find available for streaming on YouTube and Bandcamp, but purchase less these days primarily because I have to feel like I will give that purchased recording the attention it deserves.

Part of the problem is mine because I still am looking for "the next great thing". But what drives me is that I *do* find the next great thing a few times/year.

[Poisoned Youth]

The thing is, the only people who are going to miss the old way are people who experienced it (and even then, far from all of them). Why would somebody who is, say, 25, ever want to go back to the way things were? Everything you want whenever you want it for a nominal fee, or spending a lot of cash to build up even just a small collection of albums? No young person who has never known it different would ever want that. Even the ones buying new LPs at inflated prices and just cultural tourists - those new LPs all come with download codes and they can still pull the actual songs up on Spotify any time they want in any event.

Since nobody who has never experienced anything else would ever want to go back to the old way, the old way will never return. I can miss that all I want, but it's really now for the overall better.

You make good points.

To be clear, I do not want it "back to the old way", but am more pondering the consequences of a society with "information overload" and a "saturated market for our attention".

Ultimately it's up to us as users to engage and disengage when appropriate. I have a hard time disengaging from the new world. I was always a bit of a tech junkie, and love my iPhone, my "collection on a hard drive", my streaming video, etc. But I don't do a very good job of disengaging like some who have post here have.

For me, tho, the digitalization of music has taken a lot of guesswork out of buying music. Before, when someone recommended something, much of the time I would actually have to track down the CD or record and buy it to be able to listen to it to see if I would even like it. That method was mostly hit or miss and often I'd end up with music that I didn't want that took up space in my collection and that I spent money on that I could have spent elsewhere. Now, I mostly spend the money on artists that I know I'd like because I've listened to songs beforehand. While I'll occasionally go with a cold recommendation from someone I trust, there isn't much reason to do so often now that I can hear songs before buying.

Oh yeah. I posted something in another thread about the written review becoming less and less relevant these days. There's always a way to hear something with your own ears first. Back from about 2000-2005, I made it a practice to buy and sell on eBay. I bought a few thousand albums over that period, selling much of it back in the process. I had more time on my hands then, but I'm sure happy those days are gone.

[Reid]

I dropped out of TV culture. I no longer own one. And I don't carry a cell phone on my body every waking hour. I still frequent our one independent record store in town, and I hope they survive for many more years. But it's a far cry from the days of huge stores with a gigantic selection of music. But hey, these are first world concerns, so I can't really bitch and moan.

[Poisoned Youth]

Also, the democratization of news has meant that what is broadcast as "news" no longer goes through filters, no longer is cross-checked for accuracy before broadcast, no longer can be relied upon to be accurate. There are entire networks devoted to distributing made-up news, made-up stories, and "analysis" of real events that ignores all the relevant facts. This causes a substantial portion of the electorate to be misinformed on the issues, and make poor decisions that are not in their or the country's best interests.

I'd like to keep this away from politics, but I will chime in to say that I wholeheartedly agree with you. "Journalism" and "news" in the digital age has undergone a major transformation in a generation. We've gone from news gathering to simply transmitting, often packaging it up with a dramatic or "click-bait" subject heading.

For youngsters today with the Internet and Spotify etc there is no need or incentive to build a collection by an artist, so they can spend their money in other ways I guess. For example The time it took me to build up my Frank Zappa collection from the pre online market ( so getting the thrill of picking a few new CDs on a trip to a big city like Birmingham with several large records/ cd stores) was in retrospect very enjoyable and made me appreciate the music more.

Oh yeah. I would say that one thing I definitely miss from "back in the day" was the HUNT. Collecting is a much less fulfilling experience nowadays.

[boilk]

Well, I don't even own a cell phone, and rarely check news. It has made absolutely zero difference in my life. In general, this explosion of music has been a godsend. Lots of great new prog acts out there, for me to listen to. Almost always ways to check stuff out before you buy, or see a concert, so very few disappointments anymore.

My biggest problem right now, is how do I find time to watch movies. I'm a horror/sf/fantasy addict, and it used to be that there were only a handful of good TV series in those genres. Now, almost every specialty channel has a great show in a genre that I like. AMC-Walking Dead, HBO-Game of Thrones, Showtime-Penny Dreadful, etc., etc. Now, there is so much TV to choose from, that I have great difficulty getting around to many movies. Not sure what to do about it, lol. Better to be spoilt for choice, I suppose.

neil

[Poisoned Youth]

That made me chuckle.

LOL. Hey man, back in 1997 AOL was all the rage!

"I firmly believe we all need to buy product (CDs, LP's, downloads, cassettes, whatever). Freeloading is not a good plan and will ultimately kill the industry we love. Official online samples are great! Check them out frequently. But don't be cheap if you like the music - Buy it! Ownership changes one's personal attachment to an item. It gives you more incentive to listen to what the band truly intended. You have "skin in the game" now.

Good point to bring up. I do think when reading this that our idea of "skin in the game" has changed as well because the definition of "product" is changing. Let's forego the obvious "CD vs. download". You don't feel like much of a owner of "fresh smelling MP3s". However, cable TV and streaming video and audio sources are also arguably "product" (though more of a service). You are gaining access (which of course is not the same as ownership) to product. And we are gradually migrating to a society in which ownership will be a thing of the past.

I'm still surprised people are buying DVDs and Blu-Ray discs of theatrical releases. It seems to make much more sense to go digital only. At least with a CD it's a pretty pain-free process to rip to a different format.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see in another 10 years what constitutes ownership in the media world.

[soundsweird]

I can relate to the OP's "paralysis that sets in... overwhelmed by my options". That's when I knew it was time to slim down my music collection. As for TV, it's easier to choose since most cable channels have absolutely nothing to offer me. And somehow, I haven't become addicted to the internet, it's still just mostly a reference tool for me. I have pretty bad vision, so spending a lot of time on a computer or smart phone isn't an option for me, or else I'll have very sore eyes and a headache. Finally, I think that new music that can blend originality with an appealing sound could still be wildly popular. Somebody is going to prove me right on that one of these days...

[rcarlberg]

LOL. Hey man, back in 1997 AOL was all the rage.

I realize it's cool to mock AOL, but A) it's free B) there's no advertising (unless you want it) and C) I have unlimited storage. Right now I can access any email sent or received since 1986 (that's, um, thirty years!). I've had the same handle since 1982. I see no reason to change.