Hello people over 30. You had record collections, tapes, CDs. Then you downloaded music into your computers or devices. Well, guess what? Kids today don’t want any of that. They’re happy to pay an annual fee and “stream” it all.  They are not buying CD or downloading anything. What the heck am I supposed to do with twenty boxes of 45s and a room full of CDs????

According to Nielsen, during the first six months of 2014, sales of all albums both physical and digital were down 14.9%. And sales just of digital downloads (from iTunes mostly) were down 11.6%.

But dig this: sales of CDs were down 19.6%.

What was up? Streaming jumped 50%. And sales of vinyl LPs were up 40%.

I’d say this is crazy. But how many times have I played music on my computer or phone via Spotify because it was right here, and convenient? A lot. Too much.

And listen, this is felt everywhere.  There are almost no CD players made now. They’re like Gramaphones.  And when I walked into the last little record shop on West 8th St. in Greenwich Village, and asked for Chrissie Hynde’s new album, the clerk asked if I could spell her name. SPELL Chrissie Hynde. Chrissie woulda punched him.

Nielsen: from reading their stats I gleaned a few other things: Katy Perry is the current biggest pop star. Justin Bieber does not exist in the music world.  Country music remains huge. Only physical CD in the top sold more than 400,000 copies– the “Frozen” soundtrack, with 1.7 million.

And vinyl? Among the top 10 was the only legacy act– The Beatles with “Abbey Road.”

The most played record on radio? “Happy” by Pharrell Williams.

All of this why Apple is pushing iTunes radio. All these streaming music businesses better get their acts together and start paying artists and writers properly. If streaming is the future, it’s not going to the rape of the people who made the product. Or I’m going to have lots of stories to write for a new generation.

You’d have to put Paul Mazursky in the category of Robert Altman, Hal Ashby, Sidney Lumet, Martin Ritt, Alan Pakula and Sydney Pollack. The director of “Down and Out in Beverly Hills” was 84, and a giant among modern filmmakers. His “Enemies: A Love Story,” “Next Stop Greenwich Village,” “Moscow on the Hudson,” “Harry and Tonto,” and of course “An Unmarried Woman” represent a career that can only be admired.

Without these guys there would be no film business today and no American cinema. Mazursky was top of his class, and a classy guy. He was nominated for 5 Oscars, four for writing, for “Enemies,” “Harry and Tonto,” “An Unmarried Woman,” and “Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice.” The 5th was for Best Picture for “An Unmarried Woman.”

Anyone would be thrilled, over the moon, to have his credits. “Blume in Love” with George Segal, is a little gem. His version of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” with John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands is out of this world. “Alex in Wonderland,” a Hollywood satire with Donald Sutherland, caused a sensation when it was released.

Mazursky was also a fine actor. He has 76 credits on the imdb, from “thirtysomething” to “2 Days in the Valley.” As writer and director and actor he was a risk taker, an original, a forceful voice. He was also a kind and lovely guy with whom I had many chats over the years. He will be sorely missed.

Yikes! It’s worse than I thought. Robin Thicke’s “Paula” album opened on iTunes today at number 8, and at 76 on amazon.com. That’s after his dreary appearance on the BET Awards this past weekend.

(By the way: this is for real time sales today. The number 1 album last week, just about to be announced, is from our favorite contemp pop balladeer Ed Sheeran.)

What a difference a year makes. “Blurred Lines” was last year’s ubiquitous song of the summer. The album didn’t sell that well, however. The total so far is just over 731,000 copies– not even a million although the single sold over 14 million digital copies.

But “Paula” looks doomed unless Thicke’s all day adventure tomorrow on ABC– “GMA,” “The View,” and “Jimmy Kimmel”–can stimulate sales. But the video for the first song is so weird and awful, and the lack of real build up for this release, spells a sales disaster come next Monday. After Mariah Carey and Jennifer Lopez’s failures, this is another misstep for the record biz this summer.

What does this all mean? For Thicke it means that without a real dance hit, and no Pharrell to help him, he’s squandered all the good vibes he got from “Blurred Lines.” He’s obviously turned off his base of female fans– already angry about the “rape” connotations from “Blurred Lines” and its X rated video. On “Paula” he pretty much admits to serial cheating on Patton. That’s not a way to woo a female audience.

For Carey and Lopez, it’s different things. Carey seems genuinely besotted with her kids and maybe just doesn’t care about chart positions right now. Lopez should take a cue from Janet Jackson and bow out gracefully now. Mechanized, tricked up music has run its course for those two.

As for Robin Thicke convincing Paula Patton to re-start their marriage, I don’t know: will it work if the record is a flop? I don’t think so unless she feels bad for him. Cue the puppy dog eyes.