I listen to too many songs to be able to afford to pay by the tune. Most people do the same (who wants to buy every song they like on the radio?) but don’t realize it because we are so used to an “ownership” frame of mind.

The thing that nobody really wants to admit is that music, for the most part, is disposable and the media we download/buy now is not permanent. Many people say “but I want to own the music I listen to”, but fail to realize they don’t really want to own all of the songs they like and that the mp3/wmv/aac files they buy now are no more permanent than the cassette singles from a decade ago, the 45s from 20 years ago, the 8-tracks, the LPs, or any of the other forms of music we have all bought. We thought those were permanent, too, but where are they now? I have bought Jane’s Addiction “Ritual De Lo Habitual” at least 4 times and was happy surprised a few months ago when I discovered I still have 1 copy of it.

I won’t listen to Beyonce’s new CD again, but I listen to it in full on Rhapsody. Not 30-second samples, the full CD in the order it was meant to be heard. I didn’t like more than 1 or 2 songs. I would have never heard any of them if I had to pay per tune. And I would not have been able to make the educated decision of whether I wanted to hear the full CD.

While I’m ranting and rambling, one last point:
Radio music is so bad these days because of the extremely short playlists. Why are the playlists so short? Because radio is an on-demand medium. People tune to a station because they know what they will hear. They don’t know the exact song and time, but they know within an hour or so. But true on-demand isn’t possible on today’s airwaves.

Thank goodness that $6 a month will buy me true on-demand, along with recommedations and more radio stations than I could ever listen to.

I still buy CDs but most of my time is spent listening to music on my mobile or streaming on my desktop. These new subscription services have given my love of music a new life. I have never been as excited about music since the days I spent all of my lunch money on used tapes at Repo Records. Except now I get more, better music, and can still afford to eat.