My Experience with Music
I’ve never been a super-fan of music, but when I find something I like I crank it up to 17!
The first CD I paid for with my own money was Britney Spears’ “(You Drive Me) Crazy (The Stop Remix!)” single. [Buy it on Amazon MP3
As the years went on I’d buy albums from artists such as Matisyahu and Avril Lavigne. Although, my most memorable albums by artists such as The Offspring, Aqua, and The Presidents of the United States of America were given to me by my Dad whom worked for the Australian version of Wheel of Fortune for many years. Many of my albums have a ‘Not for resale’ sticker on them. 
Of course, Napster came into my life in around 1999. The original Napster. I themed mine black with yellow text and I downloaded tons of music on there. My friend was over one day and asked me if I liked Eminem. “You mean M&Ms?” I responded. Nope, he didn’t mean the chocolate that melts in your mouth and not in your hand. He introduced me to rap. Eh. I like some Eminem songs.
Napster was sued by the same kind of people that now give their music away for free. Then KaZaA, Morpheus, Bearshare, and a plethora of other music, video, and software peer-to-peer sharing applications came along. Each one slowly being gobbled up be the record industry and various new laws. Limewire is the only one that my friends seem to have these days.
Once I bought my own Mac (a G5 20″ iMac) I said I wouldn’t download any peer-to-peer applications because I don’t want them tainting my lovely new computer. Even though a Mac can’t execute viruses and malware like computers Windows operating systems can. I’ve stuck to my word and never downloaded a peer-to-peer app to my Mac. I haven’t really needed one anyway; if I’m looking for a song I’ll ask a friend if they have it; borrow a friend’s album to rip.
I really don’t listen to much music anyway. Since 2005, I’ve listened to podcasts in my headphones. Ninety-nine percent of the podcasts I listen to are mostly spoken word. I learn so much more from them than listening to the junk on the radio these days. Did you know almost all new music you hear on the radio is remade in some form or another. Be it the beat in the background, the chorus, or even the entire song. Unique, original music is hard to come by and I hate it. I have very little musical education, so if I here a song I really like and I’ve never heard it before, I think it’s original. Usually, a month later I’ll somehow come across the original version of the song (made decades ago) and be quite disappointed in the band that did the remake.
I only recently discovered how easy torrenting was because of the free album downloads Nine Inch Nails offer on their website. That said, I haven’t actively pursued torrents that would be considered illegal because I feel I have all the music I need. Moreover, when I hear an awesome song on a podcast I’ll actively seek out a way to listen to more and then decide if I want to buy their album or just the song I heard.
BAM! That updates you to the situation I’m in right now.
This afternoon J. Adam Moore (better known as @DieLaughing) tweeted about an album he just received in the mail. He included this link: http://www.ilovemetric.com — I clicked it. A video started playing in a tiny box (no full screen option) and I jammed out to the music and was captivated by the neat camera work. Links everywhere said “Get the Album”. I was optimistic in thinking it was free. It wasn’t; it’s US$8.99. Not bad at all considering you have the option of downloading the 320kbps MP3 + FLAC (highest quality audio format in existence) files as well as a whole bunch of album art.
There are also CD, vinyl, and super super deluxe packages that come with all kinds of physical art and require shipping. Nice work having so many options!
After listening to a couple of their songs, I decided I’d buy the digital download (MP3 + FLAC). I thought they might use PayPal on their website or send me to iTunes, but they had their own overlay window which required me to sign up to Topspin (you have to look in the terms and conditions to discover what your signing up for – which I did), and then enter in my payment details.
I’m currently downloading all 622MB of MP3 + FLAC audio goodness which I’ll put on my iPod and probably not listen to it for a couple of months. 
Oh. Yeah. The band is called Metric. You should check them out at ilovemetric.com. They use Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace. You can buy their music on iTunes (for US$9.99) and Amazon MP3
(for US$5.00), but it’s only going to be 256kbps MP3s.
Yes, Nielsen, people that steal/borrow music do pay for it too!
