Last night, I dreamt about managing a sound system on two different floors. A group of students are waiting on the first floor where an Apple TV and a supposed Apple CD player are, and on the second floor is the traditional CD/amplifier that asks you to press buttons and
The students were supposed to do a folk dance. The kind that we dance during field days, and I was tasked to put on the CD (I am aware that CDs and DVDs are 2 different things, but where I’m from, we just call them both CD. We’ll use CD for consistency) on the player and help them practise.
I put the CD in the player, but I didn’t know how to operate the amplifier, so I went downstairs to check on the kids because they’d already been waiting for a good 30 minutes but I didn’t hear anything from them nor their teacher.
They’ve already gone, probably to take their lunch break. I checked the system on the first floor, I saw a remote control that seems to belong to the Apple TV. I pressed a button, and both the TV and the top of the CD player lit up showing the CD that I put in. I pressed on it like I would on Spotify and it played – then I woke up.
This dream brought on a huge wave of nostalgia as a kid who grew up in the early 2000s. CD players were a huge thing. Every household has them.
We used to have these book-like organisers of CDs, and I was always excited to see them full! We used to borrow our neighbour’s copy of their CDs which has a compilation of different films, pirated, yes, but high-quality nonetheless.
As a kid, I didn’t have much source of entertainment other than playing outside and watching TV. We used to have cable, but when we did, we just watched anything that was on, we didn’t have the luxury and the stress to pick one for us, that came with picking a CD to watch.
My go-to was Pixar films (especially Finding Nemo) and that one Barbie Film, Swan Lake. I watched them so much, that scratches formed around the CD. Watching films were different then because they have 2 different discs! You have to stop in the middle to change the CD, and as a kid I would always be aware of which part that was so I could leave the table for a bit to do it.
My mom would use the player to binge-watch Korean dramas. I haven’t heard of the term “binge-watching” before, but my mom has already done it. She bought the entire collection of Queen Seon Deok and she devoured the entire thing in 4 days! That’s around 15 hours of episodes a day.
When I’m not watching my animated films, or if my mom wasn’t binge-watching, it was my dad’s time to shine. He used that player 60% of the time. He has a collection of CDs of cruise songs, which I never understood why they’re called that, I just presumed that they were played when people go on cruise.
My dad would blast the speakers first thing in the morning. I don’t know why our neighbours never complained about it, but I guess it has something to do with my dad being liked by everyone in the compound.
The songs of his childhood have become the songs of mine, and for so long, I can only sing perfectly to the songs from the ’70s to the ’80s. They still are my go-to focus songs to this day! I’ve been so used to hearing them regularly, that when I do something, I just play them on my background when I want hyperfocus, and it works!
If we weren’t busy with our own agendas on the player, we all would sing karaoke. That’s one of our bonding activities as a family! I usually would sing, and my mom and dad would dance. It was always so fun!
Since Bluetooth became a thing, we never bought CDs anymore. Our player has collected dust and we had to let go of it. My parents still have the amplifier at home which they still use for karaoke, but through a cord, they connect directly to the tablet or the laptop. They don’t even have to change CDs anymore when they want a song, YouTube has everything for them, all they need is to connect the Bluetooth device.
If we’re watching films or shows, we don’t have to buy an entire collection or seek through an entire box of CDs, we now have multiple platforms to choose the films from.
Back in the day, CD shops were one of my go-to stalls in a mall. I usually don’t buy anything, but it’s always fun to see how much a person can watch. If I only had disposable money as a kid, I imagine I’d have a tower of CDs I won’t even be using now.
Our entertainment system at home now only consists of a TV that was bought in the early 2010s, and it’s not smart. My dad would still watch news and afternoon dramas there though, but most of the time they’re preoccupied with their phones. We still have our amplifier and a microphone with a cord for karaoke.
In my apartment, my only entertainment system is my laptop and my monitor.
Despite having our own little screens on our faces now, we still get to talk about the things that we see online. It’s great knowing you still connect like the old days with the new tech.
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