My new source of music

I've talked about the Napster service before where for a set price of $9.95 a month, I get to "rent" my music, via downloading selected titles and listening to my library of songs on 3 different PCs as long as I'm a subscriber. Napster FAQs $5.00 more will let me transfer the music on a player "to go".

Napster is a great service in that I can sample full length versions of the songs versus 30 second snippets at the iTunes store. On my PC, I've downloaded nearly 60 gigs of music from Napster. But with my move to an iMac last December, my feasibility to use Napster has waned as the service is Windows specific. I have discovered a lot of great music via Napster's excellent search engine whether by song, recommendations or by artist. For someone stuck in the seventies with classic rock and a mixed bag of tastes (passing on rap, hard rock and today's country), the most consistant venue that is available to me is WRLT - Lightning 100, a progressive station here in Nashville. Other than WRLT, I'm five years behind the curve on today's popular music. Besides, my focus and livelihood is more bent on smartphone software these days rather than music, so I will fall behind.

Some favorites that I discovered on Napster? Sarah McLauglin, Dido, Norah Jones, Annie Lennox, Suzanne Vega, Beth Orton and Nelly Furtado just to name a few in the female category. Now I've heard Annie Lennox's Diva album with the song "Why" and "Walking on Broken Glass", but the beauty of Napster is the ability to download the entire album or for that matter their entire catalog. Hear a great song on the radio? Download the whole album.

Like a particular song? "The Water Is Wide" has 10 popular versions out of a 136 selections! So I can hear Karla Bonoff's popular version redone bluegrass style. Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon? How about the reggae version by the Easy All Stars - Dub Side of the Moon.

There's the Rhapsody music service as well, which is appealing as it works on the Apple platform. Similiar to Napster, the fee is 9.99 per month.

I haven't had the desire to sign up for Rhapsody, mainly because I'm playing my collection of songs through iTunes that I've transferred from CD's - there's 9615 items, 27.8 days, 42.29 gb of content plus podcasts. So I think I got enough to listen to while working away at the iMac all day at home.

I've tried eMusic, but they focused on mainly independent and indie stuff, but I didn't have that much patience to or earspace to go fishing.

Check them out -
"Start downloading your FREE MP3s today and take two weeks to decide if you like eMusic. If you're not 100% satisfied simply cancel before your trial period ends and there's absolutely no cost. Keep the 25 FREE MP3s as a gift just for checking out eMusic."

Speaking of podcasts, another good source of discovering new songs is Coverville, "a podcast, produced three times a week, that focuses on cover songs - a new rendition of a previously recorded song." I highly recommend adding Coverville to your podcast list - some of the music is uneven, but there are some real gems to be discovered.

Here's a quick snapshot of the available music download services ...

I'm quite familiar to the whole eCommerce mechanism of digital software downloads - that's the business I'm in with Palm and now WindowsMobile software for smartphones, but when it comes to music, I cherish having the real physical goods in my hands. I often thought about making a late night trip down to Tower Records to see what's left of their inventory before the doors finally close.

So what is my new source of music? It's a good mix of the old and new - YourMusic.com

YourMusic.com is a music subscription service that is simple and inexpensive. All CDs are just $5.99 each. Plus, shipping and handling is always FREE. Such a deal.

You commit to buy 1 CD a month, which goes into a queue just like Netflix. Each month your CD ships, with tax and your credit card is charged. You can unsubscribe anytime and also buy any CD in the catalog for $5.99 each. What I like about this service is I'm getting the real CD, not a digital download. BMG is the brains behind YourMusic.com. Long and short, it's a throwback to the record club days. Except you pick the selection of the month.

The catalog is pretty decent too - at $5.99 a pop, I can fill in my CD collection and enjoy the classics as well. So for my first month, here's what's coming in the mail:
Norah Jones - Come Away With Me (my first queue selection for November) $5.99 + .55 tax = $6.54
And three selections from the catalog at $5.99 each plus 1.65 tax - total $19.62
Suzanne Vega - RetroSpective: The Best Of Suzanne Vega
The Kinks - Muswell Hillbillies (Remastered)
Joni Mitchell - For The Roses



Each of these CDs (without the art or permanent, physical CD) would cost at least .99 per song at iTunes or $9.99 per album ($11.99 for the Vega album). What makes the deal even sweeter are the double albums in my queue - still at $5.99 each. Hate paying full price for a less than satisfying album? How about a used copy from the flea market - even worse -

$5.99 is my sweet spot. Yup, I reliving my twenties through YourMusic.com