The Simplicity of the CD Player
By Joseph | 2 min read
Imagine going up to a piece of technology, using it to do a specific thing, and then having full certainty that only that thing is happening. Maybe you think that's how technology has always worked. Maybe you know better. While uncertainty about what our devices do has increased over time, there is a valuable lesson we can learn from older technology like the CD player.
Let me give an example. You want to listen to Let It Happen by Tame Impala. You pull up your phone, open Spotify, search for the song, hit play, maybe listen to an ad, and then the song starts playing.
Seems simple enough. However, in that exchange Spotify has tracked you. They saw what song you picked so that they can influence your algorithm for the next time you want to listen to music. They showed you an ad that they tried to personalize based on everything they know about you. There was a real-time bidding process as advertisers fought for 15 seconds of your time. Every piece of information that could be gleaned from that brief interaction was absorbed by the company.
Compare that to using a CD player. You want to listen to Let It Happen. You grab the album you have. You put the CD in the CD player. You hear good music.
... and that's it.
That's it! There is no ambiguity about what is happening. A CD player is scanning your CD to emit the music encoded in the compact disc. Columbia Records doesn't get a live feed into your life as you listen to the song. Sony doesn't track how long you chose to listen. Panasonic can't sell the fact that you listened to this song on this day and time at this location. Even Tame Impala has no clue.
You used technology to do a specific thing, and that's all that it did. Unfortunately it's not something we can take for granted anymore. With something like a CD player, there is a simplicity not only in how we use it, but in everything we reject by its use.
Written by Joseph, Organizer
Enthusiast and advocate for digital privacy, cybersecurity, and free & open source software. Hobbyist. Wants to see the world get better.
Follow us on social media and share your thoughts on this blog post!