Usin' up the iTunes cards
Mar. 14th, 2010 05:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tugrikRecently I found myself with a credit in my iTunes account: a few free $25 gift certificates that I'd gotten as banking perks over the last few years that I never cashed in. To my surprise none of them had expired; typing in all the little numbers turned into music-money. Score!
I really don't buy that much music. Most of my collection is lost in early electronica with a smattering of vocal trance and 80s blended in, surrounded on multiple sides by ambient and experimental things. There's some guilty-pleasure classic rock in there too. But new stuff? Eesh. No clue. Anything popular I already get assaulted-to-the-point-of-burnout on, be it via YouTube, television re-re-reuse or local radio overplay. Why buy it if you've already heard it that many dang times? The few bits I do go buy are single tracks that I pick off here and there.
So, why not be a little completionist, then? First I started going back over my old standard bands to see what gaps I had in my collection. I bought an Art of Noise import that I've not had since college (long since lost the casette), a remix Enigma collection that I didn't know was out and a few things that were missing from some favorite 80's albums. A few Mika tracks, a few trancy things that I liked back in the late 90s and then a music video or two (some old Gabriel classics, a few Moby vids and even that funky animated version of 'Land of Confusion' that was out last year).
I did actually find one new album (from an already-favorite artist) out: "These Hopeful Machines" by BT. On the plus side, wow, I really like it. BT keeps exploring new ways to edit up his unique style; I love the experimentation. On the slight minus, buying the online version you only get two hour-long "Side-A" and "Side-B" tracks, to 'preserve the album feel'. Bah. I have a gapless mp3 player setting; let me use it! If I'd known the physical CD version actually had the tracks separated I would have gone and bought it at a store... something I've not done since 2002 or so.
What's surprising me is how much music and video I got for those little gift-cards. My daily headphone listening at work will now have a good chunk more variety. Now if only there was more newly-released music that was to my taste...
This just means I need to get out more, music-wise. I'm sure there's a ton of stuff I've simply not stumbled over yet that I'll completely adore. Or, heck, a ton of old genres to re-discover. I still expect that someday I'll trip and fall into a pile of, oh, I don't know... maybe experimental jazz or something... and end up thinking "why have I never heard this before? I gotta get more!"
I really don't buy that much music. Most of my collection is lost in early electronica with a smattering of vocal trance and 80s blended in, surrounded on multiple sides by ambient and experimental things. There's some guilty-pleasure classic rock in there too. But new stuff? Eesh. No clue. Anything popular I already get assaulted-to-the-point-of-burnout on, be it via YouTube, television re-re-reuse or local radio overplay. Why buy it if you've already heard it that many dang times? The few bits I do go buy are single tracks that I pick off here and there.
So, why not be a little completionist, then? First I started going back over my old standard bands to see what gaps I had in my collection. I bought an Art of Noise import that I've not had since college (long since lost the casette), a remix Enigma collection that I didn't know was out and a few things that were missing from some favorite 80's albums. A few Mika tracks, a few trancy things that I liked back in the late 90s and then a music video or two (some old Gabriel classics, a few Moby vids and even that funky animated version of 'Land of Confusion' that was out last year).
I did actually find one new album (from an already-favorite artist) out: "These Hopeful Machines" by BT. On the plus side, wow, I really like it. BT keeps exploring new ways to edit up his unique style; I love the experimentation. On the slight minus, buying the online version you only get two hour-long "Side-A" and "Side-B" tracks, to 'preserve the album feel'. Bah. I have a gapless mp3 player setting; let me use it! If I'd known the physical CD version actually had the tracks separated I would have gone and bought it at a store... something I've not done since 2002 or so.
What's surprising me is how much music and video I got for those little gift-cards. My daily headphone listening at work will now have a good chunk more variety. Now if only there was more newly-released music that was to my taste...
This just means I need to get out more, music-wise. I'm sure there's a ton of stuff I've simply not stumbled over yet that I'll completely adore. Or, heck, a ton of old genres to re-discover. I still expect that someday I'll trip and fall into a pile of, oh, I don't know... maybe experimental jazz or something... and end up thinking "why have I never heard this before? I gotta get more!"
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no subject
Date: 2010-03-14 12:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-14 04:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-14 05:06 pm (UTC)If you have a flash drive I could put a sample of a bunch of different stuff on there. I have about 2400 CDs, so I'm sure we can find you some great new stuff. :)
no subject
Date: 2010-03-17 10:50 pm (UTC)Secret Agent? (netradio)
Barry Adamson?
Laurent Garnier?
But yes - definitely want to compare collections and find new threads to follow! Thank you!