I held off from using any pay-for-music-download sites for the longest time. I rarely, if ever, used the “free” ones, either; I don't like the idea of the artist not getting anything in return for their efforts. Instead, I would buy a lot of CDs from amazon and occasionally from other sites (or, once in a long while, in an actual real life store). For the past few months I did not buy any new albums. That's a pretty long dry spell for me as I usually buy every month or so. So, I was in desperate need for a new music fix when my brother Dan said to check out the new Jack Johnson video. The catch? It was only available (for free viewing) on iTunes. So I took the plunge and downloaded the software.

The video, if you haven't seen it, is pretty cool. I always like videos that are a little different than typical fare you might see on TV (assuming they still play videos on TV; these days they seem to be a rarity). A few days after watching the video his latest album was released. I wanted it. I checked out iTunes. I checked out Amazon. They had about the same price (which was frustrating; why? shouldn't a download-only version be a lot cheaper?). I took the plunge and bought the iTunes version, partly as an experiment but also because I wanted it right away. And because I've realized having the physical CD means little to me anymore.

So now, as expected, I'm an addict. I need more music. Thankfully a friend at work gave me a few of his bottle caps that had codes on them for free songs, so that cut down on my expenses a little bit. I definitely appreciate the sense of immediate satisfaction. I also like how you can get singles or get a song or two off an album very easily. I do think they should have larger discounts for buying the full albums (I'm a little biased, as I prefer getting full albums when available).