musical cleansing

listening to: a lot less songs....

today i followed Nick's lead.

i did what i had been thinking about but probably would not have gone through if it weren't for my roommate suddenly doing it first.

i deleted all of the music on my computer that i did not pay for.

(well, i still need to check on a couple albums that i'm not sure if i really do own or not)

over 1000 tracks gone, some of them were favorites.

but actually i found that a lot of stuff i will not miss.  there was a lot that i don't listen to much at all, and too many songs that i don't even like.  but i think that this will actually help me to appreciate more the musc that i really do like.  and i do want to support the bands that i like by buying their material.  i want to be in a band someday, and i'd appreciate every kid who would do this same sort of thing.

i think it goes without saying (but i'll say it) that I won't be downloading any more music that isn't downloaded legally.  Portugal. the Man encourages downloading though... even of their own stuff.... i wonder what to do with their music then.

but anyway, i'm happy with my decision.  i still have to go through and clean out an external drive and my Zune, but i'm well on the way to being legal in my music listening.  i really, really, really love music and listening to cool bands that I haven't heard before, and i feel like going legal is going to stifle that a bit, but i can live with it.  as i was deleting stuff i made a list of what music i am going to need to look into buying because i'll be missing it too much.  things like Justice and The Devil Wears Prada and Dub Trio.

that being said, i've thought about gift music.  music given to me by friends.  here's the principles i'm going to go by:

1. I will not accept music files.

2. I will accept burned CDs from somebody if it's in the form of a mixtape.  a collection of songs that they think i'll like.  i will not be able to accept plain 'ol copies of an album.

3. I will not put any of the tracks from these burned CDs onto my computer/mp3 player, just leave them on a CD and play it that way.

4. No ripping of anything that I don't own.

i think that's about it.

i need to get a CD player in my car now.  for sure.

or at least put in a radio with a working tape deck.

i'm going to want to find a good service for downloading (and paying for) individual songs.  i hear that amazon has got a pretty good thing going, dunno if they do individual tracks or not.  i don't even want to hear a word about itunes.

i love music and i want to do good by it.

let's do this the right way, yeah?

yeah.

(that all being said, if anybody out there owns real copies of any of the following band's albums and you don't want the CD anymore, talk to me.  maybe i can buy it from you at like a used cost? :)  

-The Devil Wears Prada

-Justice

-Miyavi

-Ratatat

-Silverstein

-Anberlin

-Drop Dead, Gorgeous

-Dub Trio

- La Dispute (i think i don't own Vancouver)

-Muse

-Portugal. The Man

-Protest the Hero

-Russian Circles

-The Human Abstract

-The White Stripes

-Daft Punk

-Every Time I Die

-Regina Spektor

)