Ah, if only the vomit I had to clean up in my college job as a church's Sunday host/custodian had been as lucrative.

Wow, I never knew churches were such magnets for the nauseated. Of course, the ministers that could make me throw up are generally only on TV, at least when I'd ever see them.

Christ, Dana. I'm so glad you're feeling better. And so sorry about the MRI trauma.

A guy here is giving out chocolate because it's his birthday. V. civilised.

If a thing ever needed to happen, it's this. Maybe when I get home to where my comics are...

Shrift, the code is here. None of my web hosts have PHP 5.0, or I'd have it up already. I might poke to see if I can code it down, but then I'd be insane.

msbelle, you were right about the Rahsaan Patterson joint. V. much what I like.

Has iTunes changed how you guys purchase and listen to musica a lot? Yesterday I found myself ordering 5 albums from Barnes & Nobles and one album and four songs from iTunes. I'm not even clear why I made that split--some of the hard copy albums I ordered were available complete on iTunes.

Rahsaan Patterson

YAY!

I do not think I will buy tangible CDs anymore - maybe box sets.

I have bought much more stuff unheard since using iTunes. What has changed more is the way I listen to stuff. I hear so much more of my stuff now. I have an entire list of "unplayed" tracks, so I can expose myself to the tracks that I don't really know.

Has iTunes changed how you guys purchase and listen to musica a lot?

Yes, quite a lot. I generally try to download an album from eMusic (higher bitrate, cheaper), and if they don't have it I'll buy it from iTunes. I make exceptions for music that's sonicly "complex", as it won't compress as well, or stuff that I just want maximum fidelity. And of course, stuff that I can't find in either iTunes or eMusic I then hunt down in Amazon. Or if I happen to be in a record store I might buy something from them. But that happens much less often these days.

Dana, I'm so sorry. Ugh.

What has changed more is the way I listen to stuff. I hear so much more of my stuff now. I have an entire list of "unplayed" tracks, so I can expose myself to the tracks that I don't really know.

Oh yeah, I do that. I find I'm much less likely to listen to an album from start to finish. Oh, and I used to buy a lot of CDs where I just wanted one or two songs - buying just those tracks online saves a lot of money.

eMusic (higher bitrate, cheaper)

Really? I've never used them, but I keep getting "50 free downloads!" coupons in my magazines. So far, I've never followed through because they wanted my credit card.

I buy much more music than I used to pre-iTunes. Being cheaper, instant, and not having to find more space for CDs is a big draw.

Now that I've finally processed that half my music died in Katrina, I'm going about replacing it. Some things are automatically replaced in kind--Prince I'm getting in hard copy, no discussion. Some things I realise that I didn't like all the album, and I just buy a few tracks from iTunes. Yet, I still decided to get the Tina Turner album from iTunes. Others I realised that I didn't remember many of the tracks, but I find the artist interesting enough (Meshell Ndegeocello) that I'll buy the whole thing and listen to it--via my "New&Unheard" playlist. One day I'll have listened to every song.

It would be cool if there was iTunes exclusive content--like you get an extra track if you buy it there.

I need to look at this eMusic thing.

The worst thing about iTunes is that I can hear a new song on a TV show, google the lyrics, and have bought it before the commercial break is over.

Really?

Yeah. I don't have my main iTunes computer in front of me to look up some eMusic mp3s, but I think most stuff is about 160 kbps, VBR.

Oh yeah, eMusic gives you mp3s with no DRM.

I am using eMusic and I know their catalogue is growing everyday, but I found them to have more indie than popular stuff.

There are iTunes exclusives - just look on the front page.