When I was young and broke, music was a precious thing. I could only ever afford one CD at a time so I’d pore over reviews and haunt listening posts to make sure I got one I liked. And when I got it home I’d play it over and over again until I’d saved up enough for the next one.
I got to know those CDs pretty well. If pushed I could probably recite the lyrics of every song on The Crossing by Big Country even now. And I reckon if I heard the opening note of any song on any of those CDs I’d be able to tell you in an instant what it was as well as the songs that followed and preceded it.
Then back in April 2004 I read an article about a Russian MP3 site that sold whole albums for less than Apple charged for a single song. Better still, the article quoted an Intellectual Property lawyer who said it all looked legal and above board. The site, AllofMP3.com, claimed that it paid the artists according to Russian law, and from all accounts wasn’t a front for either the Russian Mafia or Chechen rebels. I’ve been a loyal customer ever since.
Since then I have discovered other sites like MP3spy.ru and MP3search.ru. Each has their own little speciality like indie or dance and an insanely cheap pricing policy. I’ve signed up with all of them and over the course of 2005 downloaded over 44.8 gigabytes of music. That’s another 8,110 songs added to my hard drive. It pains me to say it but I’ve become an addict.
The price these sites charge means that it’s not an expensive habit. But it has devalued the whole experience of listening to music for me. I don’t have enough time to listen to the all songs I have downloaded properly. I just put iTunes on shuffle and let it play in the background while I work. Occasionally a song catches my ear and I look up to see what it is, but generally I haven’t got a clue what I’ve been listening to. It’s just not sinking in.
To test my theory, I opened iTunes on my computer and told Party Shuffle to choose ten songs released in 2005. After minimising the program so I couldn’t see what songs had been picked, I clicked on the play arrow and set about trying to guess what they were. I didn’t get a single song right. Even when I limited myself to guessing the artist, I only got three out of the ten.
Hence I’ve decided to make 2006 the year I download less. I’m going to limit myself to two or three albums a week and not download any more until I’ve listened to them at least two or three times each. Trouble is, it’s only Tuesday and I’ve already reached my limit.
BTW the songs iTune threw up were:
Kick in the Teeth – Supergrass ** Mucky Fingers – Oasis ** Ashtray – I am Kloot ** Du Var Min Arme – Kent ** Sing For Joy – Frank Black ** Modern Mafia– Athlete ** Frenchy, I’m Faking – Architecture In Helsinki ** Shitty Weekend – Surburban Kids with Biblical Names ** If You Say You Love Me – El Presidente ** The Hardest Part – Ryan Adams & the Cardinals
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Hi Peter, thanks for your e-mail earlier. Can’t believe I’m first one to stick a comment on re this topic – just learning how the blog works too with comments, etc., total luddites are we in North West UK.
That said, I do have an MP3, which leads to the pitchfork wielding villagers of Cheshire being somewhat perplexed as they sit on the train with their 1980 Sanyo tape cassette personal stereos…..anyhow..I digress.
I have only got a 512MB player and I have to say that it still gets filled with superfluous crap !! [even though the tracks seemed a good idea at time of download]. I think its human nature that the cool song you hear when you’re in that ‘special’ location is NEVER on your MP3 ! I would say that of the 135 or so songs that my MP3 holds, I guess that no more than 35/40 get played on any sort of regular basis – ain’t it strange how the brain works ? [maybe just mine], which leads to a constant deleting/updating loop, in which I simply replace superflous crap with more crap !!!!
One final thought [which has featured in the blogs before]…no matter how cool the tracks on your MP3 are, it’s always gonna be something like Maroon 5′s ‘This Love’ which sticks in your head from a holiday [Caesars Palace, Blackjack tables, October 2005].
Anyone else doing this constant deleting/updating/never listening thing re MP3 ?
I’ve just got an MP3 player but haven’t had time to fill it up with music yet! I had a look at the sites suggested by Peter but I’m not sure how trustworthy such sites in Russia are. Any opinions on this? Can anyone recommend any other good sites for downloading MP3 files?
Although this doesn’t quite qualify for the song which reminds you a holiday thread, I thought I’d share the following with you …
My daughter, aged 7, has discovered her first musical hero. She has fallen madly in love with the lead singer of a Belgian boys band called, wait for it, Zaboyz. He is a spotty looking thirteen year old called Tad (who, with his long blond hair looks more like a girl). Since Christmas Day, dear daughter has played their one big “hit” over and over and over again.
If I hear “Laissez moi ma liberte” once more, I think I’ll scream!!!!
Wendy in Paris
Hi Wendy, I’m pretty new at the whole downloading thing too- I tend to copy stuff across from CD’s and I just download stuff from my ISP’s website : downside is you have to pay for the tracks, so I would love to hear of any free sites particularly.
I know that song you’re talking about asI have just recently returned from vistiting my brother-in-law in Brussels and saw those guys on TV……..you have my sympathy !!
Alex, Chester UK
Hi Wendy,
I’ve been using the Russian sites for about 18 months and nothing dodgy has happened on my credit card. In fact, a few times they’ve even forgotten to bill me!
However, I can’t vouch for how the money is used. Russia is a bit like the Wild West at the moment so it could be funding all kinds of things
And Alex, if you’re after some free music, check out the music section of http://www.download.com. There’s a lot of dross but sometimes you come across some real gems. It’s where I discovered Jens Lekman – my favourite artist at the moment.
Amazon.com in the States also have free downloads. Go to the music section and then click on ‘free downloads’ on the far right of the light blue section. They have some quite well known artists.
Finally, check out some of the smaller, independent labels. They offer free MP3s of some of their artists songs (unlike the big lables that only let you listen to them.) Two that I’ve got some good stuff off are Secretly Canadian (http://www.secretlycanadian.com/mp3.php) and Labrador (http://www.labrador.se/sounds.php3)
Happy downloading!
Thanks for the tips. There’s nothing for it but to get downloading now, is there!!
Wendy (with another headache after hearing at least sixteen renditions of “Ma Liberte”. Now I understand what it must have been like for my mum with Donny Osmond and Puppy Love”!!!
Cheers Peter for the recommendations – had a look at http://www.download.com and copied ‘Black Cab’ by Jens Lekman across onto the MP3. See you have just done an interview with him in Sweden. Only heard that 1 song so far, but reminds me a little of both Nick Cave and Rufus Wainwright !! [snort of derision from any Lekman fans out there !]. Interesting stuff, strange that a guy with such obvious talent [and I'm guessing he sings English language on his other stuff too] doesn’t have a wider ‘international’ audience, but sure he is gonna have soon.
Not a place to download but at least listen for free, is Pandora (www.pandora.com). You tell it the name of a band, song, genre etc, and it replies by playing you a personalised “radio station” of similar tunes.
I’ve discovered some great stuff on it similar to Ulrich Schnauss, one of my favourite guys at the moment – and often it is obscure stuff that the band’s or others’ websites are more than happy to let you download songs from.
After one trial you do have to register on the site with a US postcode… sorry, zip code. However, it’s free and “90210″ worked for me!
Hey Simon, thanks for the Pandora tip-off. It’s very, very cool. I tried Teenage Fanclub – something a bit more mainstream … and Scottish! It threw up a lot of stuff I already had – Sloan, Weezer, Superchunk etc – but I guess that just shows it correctly predicted my tastes. Now, for something more obscure!