The month is just a few days from ending which means a couple of things. First, the summer is basically over. This sucks because the summer rocks. Days are longer, I can drive with my window down without freezing and everything just feels better. Secondly, Amazon will refresh their monthly sale of $5 albums. This is awesome because what could be better than a $5 album other than free one? The RIAA not breathing down your neck is what.
Amazon’s mp3 store is the biggest competitor to the tower in the sky iTunes. When I say the biggest I don’t mean that this is a neck-and-neck race. iTunes is estimated to have up to 70% of market share of all digital downloads. In my opinion, Amazon is far better because they were faster to the game with DRM free music, they undercut Apple’s prices on standard albums by a couple of dollars, but most of all, it’s because of sales like these. At the beginning of every month Amazon will highlight many popular albums in this special where they go for $5 to download. That’s not all. Every day in the mp3 store an album will get cut down to as little as $2.99!
The albums that Amazon chooses do not slouch neither. Occasionally you will find a flop like one of those Gregorian chants comps or something like that but mostly they will be something really will want. This is a great way to find new music because many times the sales tend to feature lesser known or up and coming artists. Because the album is less than a combo meal at Burger King you won't feel much guilt and if it turns out that it’s not that great after all, then you don’t feel that mad either.
I’ve been taking advantage of these deals for several months now. At the first of the month I’ll log on and peruse the pages like a kid in a candy store, bookmarking the albums that strike my fancy so I can purchase them throughout the month. Every day or so I also log on to see if there is any special deal that I can’t live without. I get really excited for this ritual. It’s one of the first things I do when I get online. As you can guess, I am amassing a collection. I already have a large hoard as it is (I will not divulge how many gigs), but day after day, month after month it just gets larger.
You’d think a music fan like myself would be in a world of bliss? No, these gifts are also curses. You see, I am now in a situation where I am acquiring more music than I actually listen to. And I know this is an affront to music fans everywhere. Shouldn’t you be listening to music all the time, they would say. Well no, I happened to have the unfortunate situation of working in a job where I can’t pop my iPod in and go to town on the musical groves therein. I also believe I happen to suffer from a condition known as Diversified Musical Hyper Activity Disorder, or DMHAD for short (not yet recognized by the DSM or other psychological groups). With this condition I might start some new music, but then I have to change the song to something that’s catchy that I know. But soon enough I have to change that song as well. It’s a vicious cycle.
In an act of healing I’ve prepared a list of albums that I’ve purchased in this way that I have either not listened to at all as of yet or not listened to in its entirety, familiarizing myself with all the songs. Believe me, this is terribly embarrassing but making humor is appealing even if it is at my expense. Here it is:
A Tribe Called Quest-The Anthology
The Antlers- Burst Apart
Antonin Devorak-New World Symphony
Avett Brothers-I and Love and You
Battles-Gloss Drop
Beastie Boys-Hot Sauce Committee Part 2
Beastie Boys-Licensed To Ill
Beastie Boys-Paul’s Boutique
Beck-Mellow Gold
Black Star-Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star
Bon Iver-S/T
Broken Bells-S/T
Cage the Elephant-S/T
Ce Lo Green-The Lady Killer
The Clash-London Calling
Cold Cave-Love Comes Close
Cold War Kids-Mine is Yours
Deerhunter-Halcylon Digest
Eisley-The Valley
Erykah Badu-New Amerykah Part Two: Return Of The Ankh
Explosions In The Sky- Take Care, Take Care, Take Care
Fleet Foxes-Helplessness Blues
Florence + the Machine-Lungs
Foo Fighters-Wasting Light
Grinderman-Grinderman 2
Janelle Monae-The ArchAndroid
Jay Z-The Blueprint
Juassic 5-Quality Control
Kanye West-College Dropout
Kings of Leon-Because of the Times
LCD Soundsystem-Sound of Silver
LCD Soundsystem-This is Happening
Led Zepplin-Houses of the Holy
Lupe Fiasco-Lasers
MGMT-Congragulations
MGMT-Oracular Spectacular
Mogwai-Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will
Monsters of Folk-S/T
Neutral Milk Hotel-On Avery Island
Ornette Colman-The Shape of Jazz to Come
Queen-Night at the Opera
R.E.M.-Murmur
Ra Ra Riot-The Orchard
She & Him-Volume 2
Spoon-Ga, Ga, Ga, Ga, Ga
Swans-Great Annihilator
Swans-My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky
Temple of the Dog-S/T
Them Crooked Vultures-S/T
The Ting Tings-We Started Nothing
Titus Andronicus-The Monitor
A Tribe Called Quest-The Anthology
Tune Yards- W H O K I L L
TV on the Radio-Nine Types of Light
U2-Boy
The Velvet Underground-The Velvet Underground & Nico
Veruca Salt-Eight Arms To Hold You
Vivian Girls-Everything Goes Wrong
Washed Out-Within and Without
Wye Oak-Civilian
This is in no way a complete list documenting my condition. I’m not counting the scant few albums purchased from iTunes or the many that I’ve gotten from friends. Do I have a problem or would you perform the same in my situation?
This is a testament to my age and the age of our times. I remember when I was much younger the feeling of bringing home a CD. On the drive home I would rip the shrink wrap off and anticipate how good it will sound. I would go through the booklet and read some of the lyrics and scrutinize the liner notes. I would even thoroughly study the Thank You section to see if I could spot any familiar names. And when I got home I would play the heck out of that record. I would listen to it while playing video games, I would listen to it while doing homework. I would know that album.
I remember how exciting it was to find new music back then, too. This is something that I’m a little unsure about, whether I liked newer music more when I was younger or if the music a decade ago was just better. Both arguments work. It did seem like bands from years ago were more creative but now I’m older and a little more set in my ways. Whichever theory is right the fact remains that now it’s easier to find music but in turn I feel saturated with what I think is mediocre sounds. I feel bored.
In this digital age we’ve traded a lot to have instant gratification. There is no anticipation in purchasing new music, it just happens. Word of mouth is no more. We now tweet our discoveries. The personality of music seems to be what’s missing the most. While our entertainment becomes three dimensional, we become 2D and flat. The last remnants of how we used to experience music are in the live music scene. Even this is changing as I can watch Arcade Fire on YouTube perform live in Madison Square Garden and feel my pulse quicken in excitement. It's as if I was already there, but I’m not but this does not bother me.
Don’t get me wrong, I love digital music. I was apprehensive about the whole thing but I became sick at having stacks of CD’s sitting doing little more than collecting dust. We were at this point long before we realized it. We would buy a CD from the store, come home and rip it to our hard drive or iPod and then what would we do with the CD? That’s right, just leave it on the shelf making them nearly useless.
Knowing all of this will not stop me. In a couple of days I will boot up my computer and make a time of seeing what is on sale, oooh’ing and ahhh’ing over certain selections while making plans for monthly purchases. Maybe this is the one last anticipation that is left to me: instant music for cheap.
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