Is It All Downstream-ing From Here?

How do people go about their music these days -- listening, organizing, buying?

I still play my MP3s at home, via my iPod or on my computer. But I sometimes need to get a new release by one of my old favorites (like Blondie, the Pretenders or Paul Weller).

Spotify doesn't appeal to me because I don't listen to new artists or like to sample different music. (I am also a notorious completist and have every b-side, compilation contribution and unreleased demo by all of my favorite artists, so wouldn't be satisfied with a streaming service's selection as a replacement to my existing library. They also don't pay the artists fairly.) The only "new" stuff I have any interest in is the occasional release from one of my legacy favorites -- which invariably pops up in its entirety on YouTube and can be conveniently listened to, for free.

Should I feel guilty and still buy the digital download -- with the understanding that the artist probably gets 10 cents from the sale anyway (am I wrong?) -- or just go about my YouTube business, not feeling guilty knowing that I spend a lot of money on concert tickets?

The old me HAD to own everything. But since there's no album art or real record collection to flip through anymore, it seems less and less necessary. Of course, the next logical question will be how to play the music I already own now that Apple has discontinued the iPod Classic -- the one that holds HUGE collections -- and mine could die at any time ...

Sour Apples

A musical shit storm was started over the weekend when an intern at NPR's All Songs Considered blogged that she has 11,000 songs in her iTunes, yet has only bought 15 CDs in her life. (“As monumental a role as musicians and albums have played in my life,” she wrote, “I’ve never invested money in them aside from concert tickets and T-shirts.") Putting the apples and oranges comparison aside -- she's 20, so wouldn't it have made more sense, and been more galling, for her to have said she's only downloaded (bought) 15 songs from iTunes? -- how do people feel about getting music for free these days, whether it be through borrowing friends' CDs; copying friends’ song files; or being given 15 gigabytes of music by a prom date (as she says she was), especially when (as the New York Times notes) it's not done through so-called "illegal" downloads? I''m pretty agnostic about it, truthfully. I certainly didn't think it was criminal in 1982 when I borrowed my friend Greg's copy of "10 Cents a Dance" by the Flirts and taped it on my Price Club stereo. I always thought I was being kosher by buying the things I truly wanted, and "borrowing" the things I was just curious about -- I still sort of operate by that standard -- but many recording artists are not so forgiving.


The NPR intern says she will pay for convenience, but she will not pay for albums. Isn't that the real issue nowadays, that the Apple product is considered the work of art, not the music?


Instead of being mad at today's generation, I've never understood why musicians haven't targeted more of their outrage at Steve Jobs and Apple, whom Pete Townshend once called "digital vampires." They can't fault Jobs for making a gadget that is so beloved -- or for the convenience he's given consumers, not just how we listen to music, but how we buy it and how we store it, as well. But they can fault him for raping artists by taking such an exorbitant cut for the middle man, so that even when people do pay for music, artists feel robbed. Microsoft has been repeatedly sued for antitrust violations, but isn't Apple the ultimate monopoly? If anyone balks -- like a Pete Townshend -- Apple just says, "Fine, don't sell you music here" and artists are cut off from a majority of the music-buying public. Seconds later, they are left begging for another chance.

S'Mac in the Face

My disdain for all things Mac is well-documented. Although I always have problems with mine at work, this week has been particularly frustrating with InDesign and InCopy crashing every half-hour. (My loud cursing would probably have gotten me fired anywhere else, but everyone else working on the Macs in my section is yelling too, so I kind of blend in.) But this isn't even about that. As regular readers know, Michael (sweetly) got me an iPod for Christmas 2005. It died after 10 uses and Apple promptly sent me a new one. But even though I only travel three stops on the subway with it, every time I dare to use it something goes wrong. Each time, I've ended up bringing it home and putting it on the speaker-station my mom got me and it seems to be working fine again, so I convince myself that the problem is me (I hadn't charged it enough, I hit the wrong buttons, etc.). So Michael and I leave for Rome last month and I make sure my iPod is fully charged (the little green battery indicator assured me I was good). I ended up reading and sleeping on the plane ride there, so I didn't pull out my iPod until five days later on the way home. Lo and behold, it's completely dead. The screen lights up and hieroglyphics appear for a second and then BAM! Nothing. Back when I was "slumming it" I could bring my portable CD player and listen to as many CDs as I wanted. If the batteries died I always made sure I had some backups. For reasons that are unclear, Michael's older iPod was working fine even on the way home, but when I asked an iPod enthusiast at work if he had any idea what was going on with mine (did I get another lemon?) he said that the batteries frequently lose their charge even if you don't play it. HUH??? Doesn't that defeat the whole purpose of having an MP3 player with you on a trip? I don't carry around a computer with me (can you imagine?) and even if I had had the station, the plugs are different in Europe, so I still wouldn't have been able to play it. Again: when it comes to Mac products, I just don't get