I finally stopped buying CDs a few years ago. They were all just ending up on my iPod and then gathering dust on my shelf and taking up space.
Unless I already had an existing CD library of the band in question (Metallica, Rush, and other favorites that I got into at the dawn of the CD era), I made a conscious decision to enter the new digital era gracefully and enthusiastically and purchase everything from iTunes like a normal person.
There was only one problem. I miss getting new CDs.
I miss ripping off the plastic and prying open that annoying seal on the top and pulling out the booklet and looking at pictures and reading lyrics and holding it all in my hands.The album artwork always helped define what colors I would see in my head when I listened to the album and how I would feel when I heard the music. (Those who "see" music in colors will understand.)
On the other hand, we've all grown tired of waiting. For anything. Including the music we want to hear the moment we want to hear it. When I want a new album, I don't want to wait a few days for the CD to arrive in the mail. I want to hear the music now. We're all much more impatient than we were ten years ago.
So iTunes.
The problem for me, however, is that iTunes is not the reliable and wonderful seamless experience I want it to be at all times. For some reason, my library seems a bit corrupt and songs aren't transferring onto my iDevices and iCloud is a joke and right now I'm just feeling completely frustrated by the whole thing.
I want my MCDs!
Which is why I'm so excited by the notice I just got about Amazon and their new AutoRip program. It lets me have my cake and eat it, too. Which is an expression I've never really understood, but I feel like it applies here.
With Amazon AutoRip, I can buy a physical CD with all its liner note glory and photos and visual joys. And as soon as I do so, I can instantly download the album in MP3 format, put it onto my iPhone or whatever, and go for a run. It is the ultimate best of both worlds solution.
From a business perspective, I think this is a great move by Amazon to counter the competition from iTunes, which pretty much dominates the industry and rightly so. Because if I'm going to pay $11.99 for an album, I may as well get a physical copy as well to do with as I please. It's worth that extra step or two to get the songs from the Cloud Player onto my own iTunes. At least I have a physical backup of my music and I get to keep the music experience a bit more visual.
Of course, I'm also in the minority of people who still like to buy entire albums. And I'll obviously buy my singles from iTunes. But for those of us who still like to hold music, I think this is a smart move by Amazon.