Music: Digital vs Physical (NIN - Ghosts I-IV)

Blogged on March 5, 2008 at 10:46

I was very curious about the last Nine Inch Nails (NIN) album! I was reading about all the hype on the way they used to distribute it. I was also aware of people having major problems getting to the download (just like it happened with Radiohead’s In Rainbows). And so I waited…

Yesterday, being tired of waiting I headed on to the official website. Surprisingly it opened on the first try and everything looked rather snappy and fast. I read about the download speed issues and realized we could download the 9 free tracks off of Bit-Torrent, tracked at The Pirate Bay, and uploaded by NIN themselves. I went on to get the free tracks over at TPB.

After listening to them 2 times I was already in love!!! I was even more in love knowing that they provided lossless download options, like FLAC and Apple Lossless. But I was even more impressed with the fact that they give you immediate access to those same downloads when you buy the physical version (that ships in April)!!! So I ordered the $10 (+ $6.99 shipping) physical edition of it!

Since September and my move to the US I haven’t bought a single physical CD. Prior to coming, and just during the first half of 2007, I bought around 40 physical CDs! With the move o the US I came to realize that those physical CDs can be a real logistical PITA: broken cases from the travelling, lots of extra weight that is expensive when flying, etc… Since I got here, I already bought over 20 CDs through the iTunes Store and boy, am I loving it! The fact that I can buy any album on my iPhone, through wireless and get Instant Satisfaction™ is delightful!! Don’t get me wrong, I still love owning the physical CDs and ripping them to MP3s (used to rip them to OGG, but my iPod/iPhone changed my mind) or even AAC+ (which I have been learning to like in terms of quality/size vs the MP3s). But even with all of this, I decided to order the physical edition. What “tipped me” over was the fact that I still had access to Instant Satisfaction™: they give you the same download options when you buy the physical edition.

From my experience with my other CDs, I don’t mess around them much after buying them! I get them, rip them, put them on my iTunes/iPod/iPhone and only resort to the physical discs if something goes wrong or I’m about to travel! I do like the feeling of owning the physical disc, but I’m quickly replacing that with the knowledge that from a mobility standpoint, digital has taken over. In terms of listening, it has taken over a long time ago… at least for me!

I’m also the kind of person who downloads music albums… a LOT! I’m glad I do, because on some cases it saved me money! And saving me money allowed me to buy albums that are REALLY worth it! As an example, I bought Coldplay’s “X&Y” shortly after it came out, but had already listened to it MANY times to the point that when I bought it I didn’t listen to it for a while! Why did I buy it then, you may ask… Because I *loved* (still do!) the album and think it was worth buying! Yes, that’s how I view music purchases: I pay when I feel it’s worth the price! If prices went down, I’d buy more, but I still buy quite a bit of music!!

Having said that, I encourage you to get this NIN album! If for nothing else, do it because they released it under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license, allowing you to do “whatever” you want with the music without having to pay royalties of any sort! That’s a MAJOR step forward and takes some gut feeling to do it! HUGE kudos to NIN for taking that step forward in music. I think this one is even more revolutionary than Radiohead’s album for many reasons like immediate download when you buy the physical discs, lossless formats, Creative Commons license, etc…

Bottom line: I’m *very happy* about this and can’t wait to see more artists doing the same! ^^,

My new computer is coming… :)

Blogged on March 4, 2008 at 09:34

So my Twitter friends followed the whole adventure pretty closely but I need to share it with all of you! I know I haven’t been updating my blog as frequently as I’d want to but the current stress/workload as kept me from sitting down to actually right something. But this is too good to not stop for a few minutes and share!

As you probably all know by now, Apple updated their laptop line(s): new Macbook and Macbook Pro. Many of you know that I have been waiting for this update since last November and had the needed funds ready since January (around the Macworld). I was getting really frustrated but finally, on February 26th (yes, the best month of the year - not because of Apple, don’t worry :p) I ordered my own Macbook Pro. I uploaded the order details to my Flickr but here it is:

(click for full size)

It’s coming!! =) Expected shipment is between the 6th and 11th of this month (March). It’ll arrive 4-5 days later!!!

In other news, my 2×2GB Kingston (from newegg.com) will arrive later today, and the rest of that order (VMware, the backpack and .Mac) have all arrived 2 days after the order (the backpack got here the next day actually).

I’m REALLY looking forward to it! I’m currently working on a PowerMac G4 867Mhz Dual with 1GB of RAM! No matter how good these machines perform considering they are 6-7 years old, they don’t have enough “juice” for all the work I need to get out of them! Adobe CS3 apps are heavy and I’m a “multitasker”, which requires me to have several apps open at the same time! Now if you consider web development only, I need Firefox+Safari and Textmate, CSSedit (at times), Transmit and Fireworks! Just the browsers take quite a bit, and if you add all the “normal” applications (Adium, iChat, Transmission, iCal, Mail, Things, iTunes, iPhoto, Linkinus, Twitterific, Pownce, Terminal, etc…) you understand why I’m *suffering* at this time and in desperate need of a new machine! And I’m not even going to mention not being able to run VMware/Parallels/Bootcamp with Win/Linux or playing games or… argh (mental note: “relax… it’s almost over!”)

It’s coming but… WHY IS IT NOT HERE YET???