THE FUSE

For anyone born in the late 1980s or the decades before, the compact disc (CD) was once the most popular mode of playing music and for a time, sharing digital files. Though the format has all but become obsolete, replaced by downloadable mp3s and eventual audio streaming, many music lovers still prefer the physical touch – tactility – of the thin, glistening metallic wheel and the art-covered cases that contain them, not to mention the curated nature of only having 20 or so tracks on one disc. Today, it can feel as though there are too many immediately available options and less emphasis on unexpected discovery; finding a new favorite song among those that are further down the list of an album’s anthology.