Joshua Foer, 2006 U.S.A. Memory Champion and author of the enthralling Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything (2011,) offers a suitable allegory for memory than that of a recording mechanism:

Memory is a playground. It’s not my own metaphor, that’s what I was once told by the man who trained me to become a mental athlete. The act of making something memorable involves finding what is meaningful, significant and colourful in a piece of information or experience. The more fun you have with this, the stickier your memories will be.

Foer also co-authored Atlas Obscura: An Explorer’s Guide to the World’s Hidden Wonders (2016.)