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Buy your next pieces of music online!

I collect music. Beautiful, catchy, specific pieces music, but unlike other so-called collectors I only keep the songs I really like. My brother who lives in England is what I call an mp3 addict; he keeps everything and anything that he finds available for download. He is one of those people that the music industry and the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) says is costing them untold billions of Dollars in lost revenues. When I last visited him several years ago he was pulling songs off Kazaa as fast as he could get them. Most of it was in my opinion, trash, a waste of bytes.

Whilst I will not get on a soapbox to discuss the pros or cons, or legalities of the actions of mp3 addicts around the world I did want to bring to light a relatively new concept, one that is sure to change the very fabric of the universe: Buying the songs you want!

It's a bizarre concept I know, but nowadays there are several major players in the single song purchasing market (see the list below). For as long as I have been alive I have had to endure the eternal damnation that comes with having to buy a 20 song CD just because I happened to like 2 songs. Artists have been throwing together CD's containing 18 songs that can only be categorized as mediocre tripe and accidentally including 1 or 2 decent songs since the 1940's. Even Elvis did it, except he conveniently forgot to include the decent songs.

Apple, who I am not a big fan of in any way, pretty much made the whole concept work. Several other companies had attempted to make it work but it never took of. In the end it took the panache of Steve Jobs to finally take the concept mainstream. Thanks Stevie boy.

So, getting back to my collection. My mp3 collection is by no means astoundingly large, right at 2000 songs for my wife and I combined. When I visit people I will, on occasion, spend as much time visiting their CD racks as I will spend visiting them. My theory is that everybody in the world has at least 5 good songs in their music collection. Opinions on the actual numbers vary, but 5 songs is my bet. It is important to note that this number rapidly drops if Elvis, Michael Jackson or the Beegees are included in the owners CD collection. According to the age-old bartering tradition everyone's 5 or so special songs get traded for my 5 special songs, further strengthening the species just like procreating with strangers obviously does.

If I hear an interesting / catchy song on the radio or while I am at a bar I carefully write down a piece of the lyrics so I can research it when I get home.

New songs found in this manner are added to a list cleverly named wanted songs. Weeks and months may pass but every now and then, while scrounging through someone's CD collection I'll find one of these wanted songs. The bartering process begins and ultimately it ends up as part of my mp3 collection. Occasionally a friend will make an idle promise about giving me a copy of Mezzanine from Massive Attack and then fail to deliver for eight months, but using this method I have carefully grown my music collection up to the extremely eclectic mess that it is now.

So what am I getting it, what is my point? Simple, buy them online, dollar per song downloads, = no more list!! Well almost no more list.

The retailer I chose did not have everything, nevertheless I made myself a CD containing 18 of my most wanted songs, had it shipped to me all for the charming price of $22.37! 3 days later my custom made CD aptly named Obscure Songs That Might Make You Cry... arrived, complete with a slightly customized CD case. High quality, great (indeed, impressive) selection, no cashiers to put up with, all from the comfort of my house!

So here is my soapbox statement about downloading music: Why should I wait for a friend to happen to have a CD that has the The Who's Baba O'Riley on it? For $1.24 a song I am willing to buy my music again. I am hooked.

Currently Apple's iTunes, Napster, Musicmatch and Real Networks are amongst the bigger players in the single song market and they have large, quality selections of music to prove it so check them out!

BTW, I am still looking for for the folling songs:

Take It Easy - The Eagles

(Get your kicks) on route 66 - Bobby Troup

Heaven - Brian Adams

On fire - Bruce Springsteen

Shame of Life - ButtHole Surfers

Dig this vibe - DJ Krush from the Blade soundtrack

Your Song - Elton John

Rapture - IIO

Canned Heat - Jamiroquai

To Be with you - Mr. Big

One night in Bangkok - Murray Head

Divine Thing - Soup Dragons

Belfast Child - Simple Minds

With a Little Help From My Friends - The Beatles

Hey Jude - The Beatles

Lola - The Kink's

Like Janis -Rodriguez

Oh yaah - Yellow

Rebel Yell - Billy Idol

Any suggestions??? lol.

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