My friend's band released their last album via download only too. I was bummed out. It just seems to me it is all a part of losing contact with the experience of music...somehow. You know - reading the booklet, looking at a sleeve, flipping over the vinyl,.....just contact, And music stores other than the few indies that survive are atrocious with staff that may as well be stocking batteries. I am glad this forum exists.

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Well, it was no Goodburger.

vinyl is making a comeback, sales are up - the highest vinyl has been in three years - but the money made from stores selling vinyl is little to none. i mean the actual record stores. it often costs more for stores to buy stuff in than they can sell it for. so it either ends up having stores jack up their prices (& this equals people downloading, either for free or legally, cos it's cheaper and more convenient) or making a a tiny profit. it's a weird state right now. a LOT of indie record stores are in difficult positions: vinyl IS making a comeback, but with the competitive prices of vinyl you can buy online, and consumers just downloading music instead of buying it at a store, there's a fairly limited market to actually sell records to.

oh & thank you for the rep g&c.

You got that right sister. Well said. I don't know what is up with people nowadays, but they let the disease of impersonalism (in it's many forms) flourish widely without question. They readily, up-front, allow themselves to be self infected. It’s exceptionally dangerous because it’s imposed on a quality that makes humanity so wonderful: the ability to have a voice, express that voice, create, and in turn become a important part of that process; music.

There should be alternatives, always.

Wow, i didn't realize this was happening. I guess I don't pay enough attention. I don't understand not wanting the sleeve, esp if it has lyrics. Geez....

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"How wrong it is for a woman to expect the man to build the world she wants, rather than to create it herself."

"I postpone death by living, by suffering, by error, by risking, by giving, by losing."

"I will not be just a tourist in the world of images, just watching images passing by which I cannot live in, make love to, possess as permanent sources of joy and ecstasy. "

-from the goddess that is Anaïs Nin

the selling of music digitally to me, makes it seem more about commerce than artistry. its not true in all cases, but it feels like the label is saying, "this band isnt good enough to buy a whole album of their songs. feel free to buy a track here and there though so that we can at least make some money."

it seems to fuel the already 'single' hungry industry. why write a whole album when you can ride a single that will sell fine on it's own? and i do like liner notes and something tangible to hold onto. i dont agree with books going digital either. its not the same sitting in a park on a sunny spring day reading off my laptop as it would be reading a real book with real pages. i dont see myself getting nostalgic about a playlist i organized back in 2006. mix tapes (i call any mix a tape) are good, but it seems like thats all people listen to anymore.

maybe its because im getting out of touch with the youth market, but digital music seems way too impersonal. ipods are the new cell phone. it makes me laugh when things like that become a status symbol. its true purpose is almost secondary. "look how varied my playlist is!" "oh yeah, well mine holds 3 billion songs." "my phone can call egypt, play death cab and book a dentist appointment for me all at the same time."

who cares?