A Weekend of Music

150 songs for $20! Here's the story...

If you read my blog even casually, you will know about my love for eMusic. The problem with eMusic is that sometimes there are albums I would like to get that do not appear on the site. The alternatives are the many music sites, most especially iTunes Music Store. However, I end up paying for one album the same amount I pay for 3-4 albums on eMusic. Also, the songs come with the ridiculous DRM (or whatever acronym is used) to keep me from moving the songs to as many computers and iPods as I would like. We have three iPods and I use my laptop and computer at work to listen to music as well. The point is, I get frustrated by the limitations. The nice thing about eMusic is that the songs come to me in mp3 format with no overlaid protection. These files are just easier to own. I am not enough of an audiophile to be able to tell the difference in quality between mp3 and aac or wma or whatever else. Plus, I am enough of a cheapskate not to want to pay so much for an album of which I will not have more control.

With all that in mind, I turned to the questionable music site allofmp3.com. It is a Russian site that observes Russian law to offer songs for next to nothing. I do not understand all of the technical and legal details. All I know is that I could get albums for less than $2 and they would be in a format I could control. Gail and I had been wanting a handful of new albums that eMusic did not have--Gnarls Barkley, Phoenix, Zero 7, and Keane--as well as a couple of older albums that we had lost in the transfer to a new computer--Dixie Chicks (Fly) and Paul Simon (Graceland). I got all of these albums plus the new Dixie Chicks and the new Paul Simon for $10.

There is this moral side of me that wonders whether or not buying these albums so cheaply was right. I am still pondering this ethical dilemma. I may not go back to allofmp3.com. I am, however, enjoying some great music.

In addition to these bargain prices on major label albums, my eMusic account renewed on the 23rd, so I spent a bit of time this past weekend downloading some albums I had tagged for purchase.

Finally, my good friends from church gave me a copy of their new album. All total, I spent $20 and ended up with 150 songs. I have listened to them all; some of them multiple times. All are recommended.

allofmp3 downloads:
Gnarls Barkley, St. Elsewhere
Zero 7, The Garden
Dixie Chicks, Taking the Long Way
Keane, Under the Iron Sea
Phoenix, It's Never Been Like That
Paul Simon, Surprise
Dixie Chicks, Fly
Paul Simon, Graceland
Raconteurs, the remaining songs from Broken Boy Soldier that I did not get on eMusic

eMusic downloads:
Alexi Murdoch, Time Without Consequences
El Perro Del Mar, El Perro Del Mar
Alice Smith, For Lovers, Dreamers & Me
Camera Obscura, Let's Get Out of This Country

Gift from friends:
Distance Fighters, Movable Things

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• Music