[jmathai]

It's a lot more than novelty. It's dedicating the attention span needed to listen to an album track by track without skipping to another song or another artist. If that sounds dumb, give it time and you'll get there also.

It's not just technology though. Globalization has added so many layers between us and the objects we interact with.

I think Etsy was a bit ahead of their time. It's no longer a marketplace for handcrafted goods - it got overrun by mass produced goods masquerading as something artisan. I think the trend is continuing and in 5-10 years we'll be tired of cheap and plentiful goods.