I just want to take this opportunity to thank iTunes for being the best thing that has ever come into my life. I mean, just yesterday I was able to purchase $25 worth of music without leaving the comfort of my pajamas or my couch. Now that's my kind of technology. When I was younger I had wished for the ability to purchase just a song or two from an album without being stuck with the whole (sometimes terrible) cd. Yes, cds were an innovation unto themselves and I should have been happy with that, but I was a dreamer. If I could have just bought the track Smoke from Natalie Imbruglia's, Left of the Middle, my parents would have been $15 richer. Upon thinking of that song, I downloaded it from iTunes in a second and am listening to it right now. Man, some things just don't hold up over time, that's a shame. Back to listening to The White Stripes and admiring the genius of iTunes.
Now I know that there are music purists out there who claim that iTunes is the downfall of all that is great about listening to music. People who lived to go to the cd store on every Tuesday to pick up the newest releases. To take those home and spend 10 minutes breaking them free from their plastic bindings and put the cd into their player of choice and listen as they read the cd booklet. I can appreciate that way of buying music too. I used to live like that. I never went on Tuesday's specifically, but I always enjoyed the trips to the cd stores at the mall. Or even to Portsmouth's one and only place to buy any music, The Record Shop, where every cd was $18.99-onsale for $2 off. But, I am a girl of convenience and iTunes caters to that well. iTunes knows me, it looks forward to my frequent visits. So much so, that it compiles a list of about 15 songs that I "might" like. When I went to The Record Shop never once did the dude behind the very tiny counter ever recommend anything that I might like based on what I was buying. Now, you might say that this is a way for them to make more money, maybe even go as far as to say that I am being taken advantage of. It's not like that, really, iTunes cares about me. iTunes wants me to know what else is out there, to not miss out on bands like Portugal the Man or Stars. Just because I am a huge KOL fan doesn't mean I will shun all other suggestions that iTunes throws my way. They have their finger on my pulse and know just what I am looking for. Except for Cold War Kids, according to iTunes I should be in love with them. Unfortunately they are just not my bag. I guess in a way iTunes is my dealer. It knows how weak and vulnerable I am to their suggestions and that no matter how broke I am, I will keep coming back for another hit. Even if all I can afford right then is a couple of songs until I can scrape together enough money for the whole album, I'll do it.
I used to pirate music illegally just like all of you. I was a fan of Limewire and Kazaa and I loved it. Downloading illegally did come with a lot of freedom. If you hear about a song, download it, who cares, you aren't paying for it. It's not that I switched to iTunes out of guilt for stealing from the artist's royalties. Lil Wayne has diamonds for teeth, I think he's going to be alright. It's just that in some ways, downloading from anywhere but iTunes became a pain. Some songs wouldn't download completely and I started getting a lot of viruses too, which ultimately made me lose music due to wiping the computer clean and re-loading it all back on. It just started to seem worth it to spend 99 cents and know for sure I was getting what I was downloading. But, like Nas says, "99 cents adds up." And it certainly does. I think some more of the genius behind iTunes is that my credit card info is saved so all I have to do is push a button and boom, I own the new Bird and The Bee release, just like that. I don't physically see the money leaving my account so I don't feel sick about it until I see my bank statement, and I like that. If I were more conscious of what I was spending I probably wouldn't have near the amount of wonderful, wonderful music that I do have. Now to me, that's like money in the bank.
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