You mean, *pay* for music?

Yes, I know this concept confuses some, but it still does happen. For instance, I broke with tradition today and bought a CD. It was a very weird feeling. Too weird. But you see, it's easily defensible. I actually wanted more than like, 2 or 3 songs off the album. I never buy an album unless I can actually say that I like more than a few songs because really, it's a waste of time and money to buy a mediocre album for a couple of hits. That's what downloading is for!

I bought 'Hot Fuss' by The Killers. Never heard of them? They are a sort of synth-glam-rock band out of Las Vegas, with a couple of hits on the charts right now. To shamelessly advertise, find them at http://www.islandrecords.com/thekillers/site/home.las

Now, to this file-swapping controversy, I would like to point out that these sites where you pay to download sure have a lot of points that make them better than the Free sites: secure downloads; safe, controlled environments; excellent quality, etc. But the Free sites let you search out those really obscure songs that most people wouldn't be caught dead paying to download. You know, those really hard to find ones that were semi-popular in like, 1975 or whatever. The non-chartbusters. Somewhere out in Free-SwapLand, there's a fan who's got what you are looking for.

Rod's home now, and he's practically dancing around, wanting to play World of Warcraft because he's a frigging junkie. So I guess, excellent and long-suffering girlfriend that I am, I'll turn over the computer to the big baby.