When I was a young lad growing up way back in the 60's and 70's, I often used to think how wonderful it would be to be able to custom make my own albums. A bunch of your all-time favorite songs grouped together in once place. It was possible to record tracks from the radio, or from tape to tape and LPs (Long players on vinyl disc, now replaced by CD's), but it was a laborious process and not really the ideal solution. Additionally, there were often just a few songs you liked on an album, so couldn't justify buying say 20 hits for 3 favorites. Well, that's all changed now that we can listen to music on the computer.

The wonderful thing about the internet is the opportunity it gives to search through the musical archives of time and find just about any artist from any era that you please. It really is that easy to both download and listen to music on the computer. Some of the modern PC's have great sound systems too, so it's not necessary to burn music to disk and play it in the ole Hi-fi. Yes, the internet is certainly a convenience that's for sure. I'm actually in the process of collecting my all time favorites and it's exciting to hear some of these artists and tracks after such a long time.

It's often said that people stop trying out new things once they hit their mid 30's and that includes food and music. This is why us olds keep going on about the songs of days gone by and disregard many new sounds, no matter how great they are. For people like me, the internet offers a wonderful opportunity to collect and listen to the nostalgic notes of the past. As I work at the PC daily, I get the opportunity to listen to music on the computer all the time and this includes the radio. In fact, I'm working in South Asia at the time of writing and it's just great to be able to tune into my favorite radio station back home.

What about you, do you listen to music on the computer? If not, then maybe it's time you got plugged in. Technology has come such a long way in recent years that the once humble PC has become not only a workstation but an entertainment center too. Yes, that's right, movies and music videos are all possible from the click of a mouse.

Sometimes, when I'm tuned into the radio, a song will be played from years back that I'd totally forgotten about, but it's a song that brings back many fond memories of that time. No problems! I just login to my favorite musical download website like ITunes or Napster, and for a tiny fee, I've just added another nostalgic noise to my ever growing archive in an instant.

But here's a tip. If you are going to start collecting dozens or even hundreds of tunes to you PC, don't forget to back them up externally too. What could be worse that your entire music collection disappearing with a hard drive failure? It's great to collect and listen to music on the computer, but it's wise to save copies outside of the PC too. Happy listening!