Nov 2, 2026 · 23 min · 8 segments
Why are music fans buying CDs again? The five-disc changer, the iPod shuffle, and how streaming algorithms took the surprise out of random. Plus five new songs. Head to the Songs That Don’t Suck…
But before I tell you about those, I want to talk about how life is random and how randomness is wonderful.
So I want you to think back, if you're of a certain vintage, back to around 1996.
Think about the stereo that you had, and probably the fanciest piece of gear that you had was a five-disc carousel changer, right? You remember these.
The tray slid out maybe a foot and a half, and it was like a lazy Susan.
And you would load the CDs into it, and once you had it all loaded, you would Close the button, and then you would hit the best button on the whole machine, and that was the one that said random.
Now, me, I took it to the max.
My first paycheck from my first big boy job, I went to Best Buy and I bought the 100-disc Pioneer CD jukebox.
This was the lazy Susan of the audiophile, right? I could hit random on that thing, and it would literally play...
Hours upon hours, all night long.
And in many nights it did.
That's just how I would sleep.
I would put music on and it didn't matter.
It would just play all night.
But let's go back to the just let's the five CD carousel.
Right.
When you hit random, you waited.
You know, it spun around randomly.
It picked the CD and like four seconds later, you got a song.
Maybe it was something off the single soundtrack.
Maybe it was police's greatest hits.
Whatever it was.
It was amazing.
I loved the random button.
Uh, the unpredictability of it was everything a music fan like me who had undiagnosed ADHD could have asked for.
But before I tell you about those, I want to talk about how life is random and how randomness is wonderful.
So I want you to think back, if you're of a certain vintage, back to around 1996.
Think about the stereo that you had, and probably the fanciest piece of gear that you had was a five-disc carousel changer, right? You remember these.
The tray slid out maybe a foot and a half, and it was like a lazy Susan.
And you would load the CDs into it, and once you had it all loaded, you would Close the button, and then you would hit the best button on the whole machine, and that was the one that said random.
Now, me, I took it to the max.
My first paycheck from my first big boy job, I went to Best Buy and I bought the 100-disc Pioneer CD jukebox.
This was the lazy Susan of the audiophile, right? I could hit random on that thing, and it would literally play...
Hours upon hours, all night long.
And in many nights it did.
That's just how I would sleep.
I would put music on and it didn't matter.
It would just play all night.
But let's go back to the just let's the five CD carousel.
Right.
When you hit random, you waited.
You know, it spun around randomly.
It picked the CD and like four seconds later, you got a song.
Maybe it was something off the single soundtrack.
Maybe it was police's greatest hits.
Whatever it was.
It was amazing.
I loved the random button.
Uh, the unpredictability of it was everything a music fan like me who had undiagnosed ADHD could have asked for.
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