I recently gave up on CDs. I have been a staunch supporter of my local music shops for many years. But I finally became fed up after struggling to find even local music at the local Cheapo. I would pack up Riles and hop in the car on a Sunday and drive to Cheapo to just be let down when they didn’t have the music I came looking for.
So, instead of CDs we converted to buying online at iTunes. The DRM issue has always kept me at arms length with Apple. But the convenience of having music at the push of a button overrode my fear. I also hoped the switch would help me spend my money a little more wiser. In the past I’ve bought a flurry of bad albums. There has always been at least one good song on every album I bought, but sometimes it was *just* one. While 99 cents may not be the perfect price for a track, I realized using the old school route I was spending way more than that for just one song.
About once a week Courtney and I hop online to spend a few bucks on music. One night after a racking up the tracks Courtney said, “Oh, I better stop. I’m spending too much money.” In reality she had only purchased 8 tracks costing us much less than if she had bought every album for just the single track.
Amazon launched their MP3 store today. I’m a little torn now. I can get my music without the DRM for a little bit less than what I pay at iTunes….but then I wouldn’t be using iTunes. Half of the ease of online music purchasing is due to iTunes. There’s also this feeling of betrayal. We’ve come to love our iTunes shopping sprees. Will Amazon be the same?
So tonight Courtney and I will probably give Amazon a whirl. See how it works. See if we get the same satisfaction from it as we do from iTunes.
p.s. - The love of Apple carries over to Amazon. As of this writing Fiest’s song 1234 is Amazon’s #1 track for today.
