Albums: CD's vs. iTunes vs. etc.

[jaybag]

I really miss the days when an album was just an album.

I love CD's. I love the sound quality, the artwork, the thought of owning something tangible. iTunes is killing this for me with their "exclusive bonus songs" that you can only get by downloading the album. This is happening more and more.

Tonight I came home from Borders have purchased the new CD "In Ear Park" by Department Of Eagles. Then I logged onto iTunes and discovered that, had I downloaded the album in AAC format and sacrificed album artwork and sound quality for convenience, I'd have been treated to a bonus song. Annnnnd of course I can't just download that one song because it's listed as "Album Only".

But it gets better! Amazon.com's MP3 version of the album has an exclusive song. Luckily that song WAS available for purchase by itself, so I did.

But it gets even better! The Borders version of the CD came with a link to download a free exclusive song. So I got that one too.

So the CD has 11 songs, but there are apparently 14 songs available. I now own 13 of them. And if I can find the iTunes one for download somewhere on a file sharing program, I won't feel the least bit guilty about downloading it (I bought the album, dammit!).

I don't blame iTunes for this, I blame the bands that license these exclusive songs to them.

Thanks for letting me rant. I feel better now.

[obs]

[i]> I don't blame iTunes for this, I blame the bands that license these exclusive songs to them.[/i]

Yep, so buy the CD and pirate the rest.

Buying the exclusive downloads only encourages them to do it more often.

[jaybag]

I will. I just hate that I own a CD that contains 79% of the "album" (11 songs out of 14). I can't wait until books start getting released with "exclusive extra chapters" online. And of course don't even get me started on bands that release the "super deluxe version" of their album three months after the initial release. Ahhh, double-dipping: let's screw the fans that bought the album early! When Coldplay put out the 2-CD version of Viva La Vida, at least they made the second disc available for purchase by itself. I respect them for that (though iTunes of course had an extra song on the original album).

[Bitter Almonds]

<p align="justify">Very few of the bands I dig have gone this route. Coincidentally, one of my favourite bands, Rialto, put an e.p. of songs that could only be bought through a website... 8 years ago![}:)]

[Panorama]

On 11/30/07 I bought the song "We've Got Time" by the band Tandemoro from itunes. I had originally heard it earlier in the year on the music blog http://www.rockinsider.com/
http://www.rockinsider.com/2007/01/rock ... mix-2.html

The version that I heard at Rockinsider was 4 minutes long and the version from itunes was 3:51, cutting off right after the vocal ended, but the 4 minute version fades after the vocal ends, which I like better.

I emailed itunes about the time discrepancy and they refunded the $1.09 fee, but I would have rather preferred the complete version of the song and pay the fee. I emailed the band (twice) through their web site and got no response. I've just sent them a message through their myspace page, so we'll see if they respond. I'll be happy to repurchase the song if I can get the 4 minute version.

http://www.last.fm/music/Tandemoro
You can hear the 3:50 version of the song here (this one actually cuts out before the end of the vocal).

I just don't understand, why put out an inferior version through itunes (and other web sites, including Amazon.com -- they are all at 3:50 as well), when they obviously have the complete version of the song... this makes no sense.

http://www.imeem.com/supermasterninjasp ... _got_time/
You can hear the complete 4:00 version here.

Edit:
I just received a message through Myspace from Mike G. from the band Tandemoro and he's sending me the complete 4 minute version of the song

<HR width="185" align="left">
"Photography with a Vision"
http://www.cooganphoto.com

[jaybag]

That's a great song, Panorama! I like the fadeout as well.

I haven't had too many experiences where the version I hear on the radio or somewhere is better than the one on the album. The only examples I can think of are when an album is only released in a "clean" version though I've heard the dirty version elsewhere. Three examples I can think of:

1. Dynamite Hack "Boyz N The Hood" - even the "Explicit" version of the CD edits out the offensive word in "young n****'s on the pad throwin' up gang signs", but I downloaded the song once and it wasn't edited (strangely this song also has two endings - one where the next-to-last line says "punk ass trippin' in the dead of night" and one where the line is "punk ass trippin' but it's all right" - I'm guessing the Beatles weren't fond of the first one and asked them to change it.)

2. Caviar - "Tangerine Speedo" - before the CD came out I found a promo copy of it for a buck and bought it to tide me over. It had the unedited line "f*ckin' get me a towel, Mr. Tangerine Speedo". When I bought the CD (and there was only one version of it), the word was edited out. So I kept the promo.

3. Katy Perry - "Ur So Gay" - the EP has the unedited version of the song, the CD is edited.

It's not that I demand profanity in my music, I just HATE censorship. At least give me a choice!