revolution

I haven't posted anything in over a month and I don't really have a reason for being absent. But I felt the need to point it out. In case you didn't miss me. Anyway, moving on.

Recently I've made a few changes to my music consumption habits. When I bought a new car last May, for whatever reason I started listening to fewer CDs while I drive, preferring to listen to my iPod on shuffle. And now, when I listen to entire albums as I drive, I often use my iPod instead of digging out a compact disc. As a result, I purchase far fewer CDs. (I'm not sure how having a new car forced this change upon me as my last automobile was just as capable of connecting my iPod through an auxiliary input.)

(I've also been buying less vinyl, but that has more to do with my wanting to save money and is neither here nor there.)

Buying fewer CDs has led me to download more, almost always from Amazon MP3 (the exception is when I buy a record that comes with a download card). While I enjoy the convenience of downloading, it's nowhere near as fun as buying an actual CD or record (nothing beats buying a record. Except for live music (be it playing or spectating)). Since I find less joy in downloading I don't listen to as much new music as I used to. So I started using Spotify (the free version, which has the most annoying ads of all time) as an attempt to remedy that.

At work I switch off between Spotify -- to check out albums and tracks that I would consider purchasing -- and Amazon Cloud Player -- for stuff that I've already bought. I'm seriously considering trying out Spotify Premium: all-you-can-eat music on any device (well, not my iPod) for $10 a month sounds like an OK deal. Sure, that monthly fee adds up but it wouldn't be hard to save that $10 somewhere else -- not eating out two times in one month would account for that and then some.

However, I'm adverse to the idea of using Spotify on my phone. Why? It will kill the battery in no time. "Just get a car charger for your phone," you say? Yeah, that's an option. I should probably have one anyway. What really scares me, if I make the leap to Spotify it's highly unlikely I'll download much of anything. (Unless it's like my favorite band or something, or if, again, I purchase an album on vinyl and it comes with a download card.)

I know what your next question will be, "Why do you have to download your music?" I just really like owning my music (the reasons for said idiosyncrasy are topic enough for another post). Furthermore, I like detaching from my phone sometimes and using my iPod, where I can't access Twitter, Facebook, email, texts, the internet, you get the idea. (It's sad that going from one electronic device to one that is less sophisticated is my idea of "detaching.")

So you see, making the leap to Spotify encompasses so much more than forking over a paltry $10 a month. It's the beginning of a possible revolution of my music consumption habits. In short, it's a big deal.

What would you do?