A Subset Column on CDs:

Am I the only one who hates Bonus Material? An album gets rereleased, remastered, etc. and the label/artists decide to give us Bonus Material. I understand the marketing behind such a thing: make the fans who already own the album buy it again.

This is perfectly understandable when tacked onto a film. There are menus. The bonus material, deleted scenes, etc. must be selected in order to be accessed. But with CDs, there is no choice. One must stop the CD in order to NOT experience the bonus tracks. Obnoxious. If there could’ve been some way to disengage the bonus material, to be able to simply listen to the record without another batch of lesser material beginning, I would have been happy, but instead the label/artist compromise the purity of the product.

Recordings provide no visual. There is nothing for us to hold onto, nothing that occupies space with a recording. We found with album artwork and the jewel-case, though, that music was somewhat successfully captured. Ornate housings of an experience-intangible. I’ve since sold all of my compact discs, but I do fondly remember sifting through my collection, finding that favored case, and marveling at the power it held. The relationship that the disc had to the Album was direct.

When the Bonus Material was added the power of the packaging weakened. The CD was now just a carrier of data, holding not just the album, but this other stuff, too. And not only that, but the two could not be disconnected. When the final song finished playing, YOU HAD TO PRESS STOP. This (not always) intricately crafted artistic experience was diminished due to its proximity to material not intended to be a part.

My need for the compact disc and packaging to be that wonderfully direct link to the experience of the album went so far as to disallow CD singles to appear in my collection. The idea that the same packaging was used to deliver just two songs ruined the illusion. I even had trouble holding onto EPs because of this!!

Nevertheless, I am finally free of such problems. Betty Davis’ self-titled album is now called “Betty Davis”. The bonus material released with that album “Betty Davis (Bonus Material)”. Thanks audio software applications!