Not being able to remember what music you buy is marbles

This fall I finally made the transition to an all-digital music lifestyle, ripping every stupid CD I never listen to anymore and uploading them to my shiny new iPod. The biggest change in all this has been limiting myself to downloads (for the most part) and laying off buying new CDs (for the most part). But in doing so I've discovered a big advantage of having a physical CD/LP, which I never realized before - it reminds you that you bought the damn thing.

At any given time I'd say I'm "listening to" 5 to 10 new (or new to me) albums. In the old days those 5 to 10 albums would be sitting in a pile on my desk, available as a constant reminder of what I'm supposed to be listening to. But now when I reach for music, I'm faced with a massive digital directory of everything I've ever listened to in my entire life. Consequently, I completely forget what new hits I just downloaded from emusic and end up picking an album I've had since 1993. And stupid Apple is no help with their "Recently Added" playlist, which instead of being viewable by album (or cover flowed) gives me a list of 576 recently added songs. Thanks.

So here's my proposed solution: I'll burn a shit-ton of CDs, print out covers for them, stack them on my desk, and retreat back into the 1990s where I belong.