I was searching through my faithful laptop bag and I found a gift certificate a friend had given me for Christmas this past year. I totally forgot about it, but between old receipts and expired coupons there was my Horizon Records gift certificate. If you haven’t been to Horizon, they have an eclectic variety of tunes, old vinyl records, books, movies, cds and much more. Very cool place, and as a bonus if you go there mid-day you can enjoy the wafting of deliciousness from The Bohemian Cafe lunch menu (I recommend the Cuban sandwich, it’s magically delicious).
I realized that I had not been to a physical music store in a long, long time. I used to go to a place in Atlanta called Rainbow Records to get the latest cassette tapes of my favorite guitar players, or find an old Bee Gees album. What I remember most about those visits is that once I stepped in the store, I seemed to forget all about what I came in for– I couldn’t resist the urge to scour every single rack, from A to Z. This time was no different. I had an idea of some things that I wanted, but when I walked in I stood still for a minute, not sure which direction to go. I was the feeling the same “I wanna browse” feeling I used to feel. It was great.
After looking around for a little while I asked the girl at the register for help. “I can’t make up my mind, I could browse all day. Maybe some blues. What good blues would you recommend?” I asked her. She whipped out a Muddy Waters album that she said they could barely keep in stock–live 1966 show at the Fillmore in San Francisco. Sweet, sold. I also picked up a copy of the Dave Matthews Band’s latest album that I was planning on getting through iTunes. It was on sale here.
My experience at Horizon make me realize just how ‘easy and convenient’ the internet is trying to be. Facebook serves ads that I may have interest in, Ebay and Amazon suggest things I might wanna buy, but all of this can’t match the user experience I get when I walk into a store and interact with a human. Maybe I’d be more comfortable if websites had a weird smell or if they cracked dumb jokes instead of trying to perfect the art of guessing what I’m thinking. Maybe I’m just weird myself, and I probably smell funny. Meanwhile, I’ll keep trying to achieve that ultimate user experiences as I build websites. Hmmmm.
