I'm one of the few people my age (40) who say they've written newspaper stories on an IBM Selectric, an old keyboard-and-monitor Coyote system and a modern PC. I've laid out pages for both hot lead and cold (printed) type. I've prepped photos for print using the old PMT (photomechanical transfer) machines and much more modern computer scanning. And all of that doesn't even begin to take into account the entirety of the new media world, with which I am more than conversant

My journalism career, such as it is, has come at a time of great technological change in the industry. Many more people are reading the product of newspaper companies, but many fewer of them are actually reading newspapers. This has thrown traditional newspaper companies into a tailspin, but last year was encouraging. Most of the big companies are much closer to making money these days, and some of them even turned a slight profit in 2009. The hundreds of thousands of journalism-related jobs lost during that downturn won't likely be coming back, but that's true in many industries going through a change. Look at the big music companies, for example.

Back in 1985, I bought my first CD player. It was an Emerson, and I paid $85 at Wal-Mart for it. I had a total of $150 to blow, so I bought five CDs (at about $15 a pop): the first two Bon Jovi albums, a couple early Police CDs and the first Eagles Greatest Hits. Please, no comments about the musical tastes of a 15-year-old. And anyway, it's not like Wal-Mart was selling any Zappa or Meat Puppets.

When I entered the University of Missouri back in the fall of 1987, one of my first stops was at the KCOU, the student-run radio station. Even then, it was one of the last free-form college radio stations around. DJs were obligated to play seven songs from "format" albums (new releases) each hour--unless their show was a designated "specialty show." Then you truly could do whatever you wanted.

I didn't get a regular shift until the spring of 1989, when I took over what was then called "Hard Rock Cafe." I rechristened the show "Something Loud" and made a place for such up-and-coming sounds as death metal, grindcore and the like. I even had a feature called "Mosh or Mush," where listeners could call in and let me know what they thought of one of the week's new releases. Every few weeks, someone actually called. We are talking about college radio, after all.

While there was very little vinyl going out into the stores, almost every promo copy of the music we played on the air was a record. And then, almost overnight, the major labels switched to CD. I want to think that this happened in the fall of 1990. It certainly happened before the fall of 1991, when Nirvana broke. I just can't remember the date. I do remember the almost instant-seeming nature of the shift.

This spring, many of the promos I've received for Aiding & Abetting have been electronic "submissions." For those outside the process, the way these work is that a band or manager or label or PR company sends me an e-mail with a link to a .zip file containing mp3s. I click the link, download the .zip, decompress it and pop the files into my iTunes. Then I listen and decide what to review and what to trash.

Before the recession hit, I used to get 250 or more CDs a month. By the end of last year, I was down to about 100, with 10 or 15 electronic submissions wandering in on the side. In March, I received about 60 CDs and almost the same number of electronic submissions. Last month, electronic submissions may have topped physical ones for the first time. I won't find out for sure until later this week, when I start prepping a new set of reviews.

The move to electronic submission has definitely been driven by the recession. Printing CDs isn't terribly expensive (maybe a quarter or fifty cents for a cheap, cardboard-covered promo CD), but mailing does get pricey. Most of the bands I review aren't making music in order to make money, but they would like to at least break even. And it's much cheaper to upload a file to Amazon or CD Baby or iTunes or (optimally) all three and more. If the kids don't care about CDs any more, why waste the money?

I'm with this theory, even though mp3s aren't as high in sound quality as CDs. And as many early-adopters know, most of those early CDs were mastered poorly and sound like crap. Folks are getting better at creating lossless electronic files and the like, and someday the quality won't be an issue. On the other hand, some of my favorite recordings are scratchy archival works that succeed because of the overwhelmingly moving performances. Sound quality and format don't really enter into it.

That primal response is why music will continue to be made, and why there will always be new songs to hear. The music companies themselves seem utterly clueless as to how to keep themselves going, but the music itself will persevere.

Newspapers are in much better shape. People still want their product, and some of the smarter companies are figuring out how to make money in the new era. Change is constant, though sometimes it seems abrupt. The first day the New York Times fails to publish a paper edition (my over/under on that is 2016, if you're curious) will be a strange one, but newspapers will simply have moved on.

I can now listen to any of some 11,000 albums at the push of a button. I can read news from six continents. My brain is nowhere near sophisticated enough to know what to do with that information, but it is cool to know that such things are available. Our world is growing smaller, and the best thing we can do is try to understand each other as best we can. We have the tools; now all we need is the will to change ourselves.

Humans are experts at changing everything except themselves. Maybe this time we can do a little better and make a better world. Here's hoping.

Jon Worley doesn't believe there will ever be a "one-world government," though he does think that we can do a little better in the working together department.