Downloads vs. other formats
Posted on August 8, 2007
Filed Under Music |
I’m in a bit of a decision rut at the moment. I’ve been a member of emusic.com for about 6 months now and every 4th of the month I get 40 track points so I can download to my heart’s content.
While I am a fan of the service, one of the best there is, especially for discovering new music from independent labels, I have a problem. I have found that music I download is devalued in my mind. Not for the fact it is cheaper than a CD or LP, but the fact it isn’t actually anything but a file.
I’ve found myself downloading albums I’m not actually that impressed with, and probably wasn’t impressed with while I listened to the previews just because it isn’t a hard format. I don’t get the sleeve notes to peruse, find out that one producer is the same as another album I like.
There’s also the “burn it yourself” factor. I have to get blank CDs and burn them, not a bad thing in itself, but I just end up with a blank CD case and a blank looking CD, not well designed. Ok, I can then put it on my iPod, great, so are most of the CDs I own. I rented a car the other day, wanted a few CDs, but realised a few of the albums had been downloaded from emusic, so I ended up without as I had no blank CDs to hand.
So I’ve decided, if I like an album, I’ll buy it on CD or LP. I now use emusic to download albums I kind of like, not much, but hey, but of a waste, especially if you realise the album is a bit better than you had originally thought.
It’s a little disappointing to download legal music. I might just stick to getting the CDs, at least you can browse shelves full of them.
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