(Chrysler 1959 Report via)

I had an English professor in college who was famous for his shabby ride. It was some flavor of mid-60s rusty Chevrolet, clearly blue and white at some point, but its beauty was long faded. We all thought it added to his understated poet-coolness and figured he drove the nasty thing simply for effect.

I know now that we were wrong.

Listened to this ditty on NPR about the death of the CD and I had a little moment. So the CD is out? What? As I reached over to turn up the volume it hit me.

I still drive a car outfitted with a swanky cassette tape player. The ’02 Avalon has 47,000 miles (and change), so it looks like I’ll be listening to cassettes a little bit longer. The old girl should be able to log upward from 150,000 miles before she cries uncle. I’m not buying a new ride over archaic music technology.

In fact, I’m not buying much music at all if they keep up this bait-and-switch business. I still know how to load up reel-to-reel and I can spin one record while seamlessly queuing up the next. Neither of these skills come in handy while using an iPod, but I don’t have one so it doesn’t matter. And yes, I know how curmudgeony that sounds.

It’s all clear to me now. I’m fast becoming Professor Chevrolet. I won’t even hazard a guess how this has happened, because I’m all too familiar with suddenly looking up and finding myself in another decade. The important thing is now I understand this man’s motivation.

It’s not about cool, it’s about paid-for. As long as the radio works, I’m golden.

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