iTunes Music Store: My First Twenty Bucks
May 20, 2004
I have seen the light...and it burns.
In the course of the evening last night I heard a song that made me say, "Hey, I wouldn't mind having that one in the vault." Later on, I opened up iTunes and in about 2 minutes the song was in my Library in the beautiful AAC digital format (Bye bye mp3...). Just for fun, I jumped over to my "Purchased Music" playlist to see how many songs I had forked over a buck for since the inception of the ITMS. The answer? Twenty. Twenty stinkin' songs since I started using the service back in February. Do you see the beauty of that? If you do, see ya next time. If not, read on...
Used to be, you headed out to Wal-mart to find the CD which housed that catchy hit everyone just loved on the radio. Then the buyer's remorse was palpable as you discovered that every one of the fourteen other songs on the disc belonged on a made for TV compilation disc with New Kids on the Block and Aaron Neville. The result: 1 song you really like, 14 songs you really don't and 20 bucks down the drain. Then came Napster...
Napster changed everything. Now you could find that one song and download it without a) paying for it and b) listening to those other 14 songs while trying not to be sick. A few problems though, one of them being insanely long download times. Also, the lossy, hissy mp3 files. And mainly, it was illegal. Try all the self-righteous arguments you want (believe me, they used to flow out of my word bucket too), but any way you turn it, you were stealing from someone.
Now we have swung back towards center. We can go online, buy 20 dollars worth of music and like every bit of it. 20 bucks, 20 songs I really want. Not to mention that they come in a near CD quality digital file, download in less than 30 seconds thanks to dedicated, always on servers and to boot it's all above board and legal. Not too shabby.
And now, some of the highlights of my first 20 purchases:
- The Last Resort - The Eagles
- 3 AM - Edwin McCain
- More than Words - Extreme
- Hallelujiah - Jeff Buckley
Et tu Bruté?
Filed under Rants, Technology
Comments
Doy says:
Just downloaded some songs off the new album "Details" by Frou Frou. I really hate that name, but they make cool music. Other than that, it's been Interpol, Starflyer 59, Coldplay and random other songs...
iTunes is a dangerous application. It's like walking into a dollar store for music. I don't really NEED that song, but it's only a buck!
I wish I were still only at 20 songs.
Dad says:
My Bad! The Pepsi offer ended April 30th, 2004. And I got caught holding two caps for two songs. No one ever said I was the sharpest pencil in the box! Huh? Brad?
Dysfunctional Daddy
Brad Daily says:
Well you are in the majority, of the 100 million songs only around 5 million were redeemed...
Comments are closed for this entry
Ace says:
AND.....If you drink alot of Pepsi, you can even win free songs from itunes! The one song I've purchased....Oh Yeah, it's Orleans big hit " Still the One". Great Concept and I agree with you YET, again.
Yo Daddy