Damn - it's Monday - again

Welcome to yet another week in the year of 2006. Sounds rather, dismal when you put it that way though. It has been one of those years though - judging by the resounding wish of many - 'I am so looking forward to starting a fresh year'. Personally, I like to take a positive approach - if it doesn't make any difference in the grand scheme of things, there is no point in me sitting and fretting about it. Especially when there are so many worth while things to complain and seek action.

I want to respond to 'the wandering guys' entry about the death of CDs. Good topic and one that gets me going. I don't know for certain, but I think the death of the CD is a ploy - according to online and in store CD retailers there is still a very large market share that wants, must have and needs to have a physical pre recorded CD. Though sales have dropped off, there is still an incredible demand.

I know why and I'll share a story with you (you likely have had the same experience) and let you see where I am coming from.

Let me start by saying I am pretty internet/e-commerce savvy. I spend huge amounts of time each day online. I navigate several 100 new and unique websites per week. I use a wide variety of applications and online tools. I would say I am one of the more experienced users.

Today, I started to do something I've wanted to do for sometime, set up a reviews and referral section for music that I can share with you. Though there are several players in this area from a 'supply of online music' perspective, very few do it with the volume that iTunes does. It also pains me to say it, but very few do it with the 'ease' either.

First of all, with iTunes, you can browse the catalog, select the tunes you think you might like, load them on to a playlist and save. All without committing to purchase. You do need to create an account though and download the required plugins that allow you to do all of this. Not really a huge issue.

There are next to no security issues when you are working with a major provider like Apple. That is not the case with some of the other sites. I did a search for 'music downloads, Canada' and it returned 90 million responses. Needless to say, there are not that many bonified sites, but still, that's a few to go through.

I found sites that run on subscriptions, with unlimited downloads, others are per track, others per month with limits. So, how do you know which is the best for your needs, if any at all?

I can't answer that one - it involves some soul searching on your part. Here though are some things to consider before you click the 'purchase' buttons.

a) how much music do you buy per year, per month? If you don't buy anymore than a few cds a year, would you actually consider downloading on a regular basis? Do you own a MP3 player? Do you move cds from the house to the car? Do you share music with your friends? If you don't own a portable device, don't listen to cds in your car, don't share music; then chances are good that you won't be using a download service to its fullest and are likely best to just buy tracks as you want. If you find your use rate increases, then certainly consider the subscription services.

b) how technology challenged are you? Are you comfortable with dealing online, using e-commerce? Do you Google everything? Do you use email a great deal? These are all simple questions, navigating online forms, search functions, download instructions can be laborious and frustrating. Often people tell me, 'I just can't be bothered going through all of the steps'. I am sure that companies make a huge percentage of their revenue from accounts that are opened, funded and never used. Purely out of frustration, lost interest and forgotten passwords.

c) do you know what you like in music or are you more of a 'like it when I hear it' kind of person? We all tend to listen to new music that is recommended to us. With all of the choices available, it is no wonder. There are two downsides when it comes to download sites - #1 many don't have samples of the music - so if you have never heard the tune, don't know the artist, how would you know if you would like it or not. iTunes does have a sampler, which is something that I must have - experience has taught me, that just because it is on the charts, I may not like it. 2) search functions on most of the sites are either poor or you need to be exact - say you don't know exactly how 'Strait' is spelled and you enter 'Straight' - the search function, will return '0'. They are not like Google searching which assumes you made a mistake when the returns are low.

d) are you more of a radio on junkie? There are other opportunities to finding and listening to the music you want to hear. Satellite radio in Canada has exploded. Our household has been a subscriber to 'Sirius' for almost a year now. You can take Sat radio in the car with you, have it in your home, listen online and even carry it with you in the form of a player that is just like your MP3. (the just released STILETTO 100 SL100)
allows the user to do a variety of things, including an auto record of the artists who you want.... downloading for us simple folks - unit will apparently be available in Canada later this month, though is available online through Sirius US)

d) how cheap are you? If you don't want to pay to download the latest hits, there are alternatives. Peer to peer sharing is still alive and well. There are problems with free though. First of all, nothing in life is free! Keeping that in mind.... with P2P sites come of variety of bots, spies and creepy little viruses. Even the top notch 'killers' don't get them all. ('Daughter' lost a monitor to a virus last week - not to worry, her system, her virus, her using an older than Grandma, 14" low res monitor until she gets hers fixed should'a listened to Mom!).

Quality is also an issue on P2P. As well, it doesn't solve the problem if you don't know exactly what you are looking for either. Though many use the Peer to Peer offerings, there are so many problems associated with the sites, that often unless you are very computer savvy, you are best to leave them to kids and those that know how to get rid of the problems when they arrive. (ahhh, so much in life is better left to those who know.......)

Rounding out this little entry and just so you can have a good belly laugh for the day; it took me all of 2 hours to figure out how to create a playlist in iTunes. Signing up was easy, figuring out the search, add to playlist, save playlist took the time. Before you ask, yes, I read the instructions - any easier - not on your life.

Now that I've navigated through the process though, I'm set up and ready to go. I will let you know in a few days if it was worth the aggravation or, if it would have just been easier to go to the local CD store, buy a copy for $14.95, plunked it in my player on the way home and enjoy.

You can all relate, I know you can. You are just about ready to abort an entire online experience, as you have not been able to figure out how to do something. Then out of the corner of your eye, and the top right corner of your screen, you notice an icon.... you slide your mouse over it and poof - 1 hour of looking for 'how' and one click later. By the way, halogen desk lamps are extremely hot. Don't be tempted to move one close to your screen to see that top right hand corner, and then leave it there - flat screens melt quickly.

Have a wonder Hot Cherry day - we'll catch you throughout the week. Oh, almost forgot - I don't really think the CD is dead just yet - not until working online becomes a whole lot easier for men (who don't like to read instructions) and women (who can but still can't seem to figure things out) in our technology rich society.