It would be one thing if your stance implied that digital recording (be it music, movies, photography, etc.) is ruining the art, then sure, I could understand. LPs do have a much warmer, more organic sound than CDs or any other digital media could hope to produce (at least for now). The second you put something down digitally, you’re essentially breaking down the organic information, and thus losing both quality and feel. This is one of the main reasons I’ve been very supportive of the push to return to analog recording, as that new Radiohead album I just got in the mail is SOOO much better in the LP format. It gives a richness to the music that just… well, it’s more than I could eloquently describe.

As for the difference between CDs and digital copies… what’s the point, exactly? It’s basically the same thing. Why don’t you just, y’know, burn your mp3s to a CD? Wouldn’t that be essentially what would’ve happened in the processing plant anyway?

And pertaining to the supposed “feeling” that one gets in going out and buying a CD, I admit that I used to have the same idea. I wanted a physical copy of my whole musical library, or at least the ones which were halfway decent, so a) I could show it off to my friends and b) so I could feel like I was doing the artist justice. The problem with this manner of thinking is that first of all, your friends don’t care what kind of music you have, and second, the artists REALLY weren’t making much money off of that anyway. You feel SORRY for the LABELS?! WHAT?! That, being a musician, is absolutely unacceptable to me. The record industry as it stands is the primary reason why music SUCKS so much right now anyway, and the pittance that they’d been giving out to the artists, who support their entire business structure, is ridiculous and insulting. You want to support an artist? Go out and see a live show, or go on their website and donate directly to them. I say the big name labels are getting what they deserve for running a crooked, self-serving business model for years, and they’re flipping out now because their misdeeds are finally catching up with them.

And finally, yes, consumers are getting greedy. But I feel no remorse for going on soulseek or what.cd and downloading an album. Why? Because first, it makes me feel like I’m sticking it to the man, but more importantly, because I give my money to the artists themselves, who are the ones who deserve it in the first place. If I download something I like, I give back. If it’s crap, I’m going to delete it anyway, no harm, no foul. People need to see music downloading for what it really is anyway: marketing for the live shows. It used to be that the live tour was used as a promotional device for the album release, but nowadays the role has been reversed. Sure, I don’t go into a record store and expect to get it for free. That’s why I download the music on the internet, so I don’t have to feel bad about not feeding into the corrupt and immoral system that the music industry is running right now. The movies are a bit different, because you have all of the people involved in making it, and it’s hard to give back. But producing an album SHOULD only really require 10, maybe 20 people, who should be paid by the artist, or indirectly by the (preferably independent) label who supports them. So really, it’s a non-issue.

In summation: if you want a hard copy, go for it. I’m all for LPs and other analog media, because they do have a totally different experience involved with them. But I’m not going to sacrifice my hard-earned money to get music on a medium that I could produce myself for CHEAPER than what they charge, AND be ripped off by the big labels, who turn around and give only a small percentage to the real deserving party, the artist.

I was reorganizing my iTunes library, and moves the folder that contained my iTunes purchased TV shows. Afterwards, iTunes couldn’t find the shows. No problem, right?

I direct iTunes to look in the new location of the folder, problem solved, so I think. For some reason, iTunes still cannot see the files. I go to check out the files. Everything seems to be normal, until I check the properties of the files. Every one of them is now a 0 byte file, basically nothing.

The files were fried. Of course, like an idiot, I hadn’t backed them up to DVD. So, now a couple hundred bucks in television shows are down the tubes. And, as far as I know, Apple doesn’t have a system for allowing people to re-download purchased files when they are destroyed.

It was an expensive lesson in why I should backup my files. For me, it’s the reason I won’t be buying my shows from iTunes anymore. I know I should backup my files, but I also know I won’t. So, it’s hard copies and rips, for me, from now on.