Live from Austin!

I just picked up some more Christmas music from the Amazon MP3 store. For all that I like the iTunes Music Store, the Amazon MP3 store is better in every way.

First off, the selection is far, far better. I say that because I don’t buy DRM I can’t easily remove, so the iTMS’s rather anemic selection of “iTunes Plus” albums compares badly to Amazon’s library.

Secondly, there’s the format issue. For all that 256kbps AAC is theoretically better than 256kbps MP3, in practice I tend to encode with LAME’s standard preset, which averages less than 256kbps and is practically indistinguishable from CD in my personal testing. I think it’s easy to be too picky about digital audio. If I could approach my vinyl-buying self of 1983 and offer him his record library in 160kbps MP3s on an iPod, he’d leap at the chance. So given that the quality is good enough, I’d rather have MP3s I can play anywhere than AAC files I can only play most places.

Amazon have the convenience angle sorted too. In fact, it’s a little bit too convenient–it’s one click to buy an album once you install their downloader. The downloader automatically files everything neatly in folders by artist and album, and adds the tracks to iTunes when it’s done.

But enough about the technical jiggery-pokery. The actual music is what counts. First of all I picked up the Vince Guaraldi Trio’s album of music from A Charlie Brown Christmas. I’m not a jazz fan, and I’m not a big fan of the TV adaptation of Peanuts either, but somehow the soundtrack is perfect.

Next I picked up a couple of Cocteau Twins Christmas singles from a compilation. This is where digital downloads really shine–I can buy two songs for 89¢ each rather than a 4-CD compilation I don’t want.

I then went looking for quirky Christmas music, and found Tis The Season For Los Straitjackets.  I already have a Tijuana Brass Christmas album and a two different Moog Christmas albums. I’m kinda disappointed that Señor Coconut hasn’t tried his hand at a Kraftwerk Christmas album yet.  Ah well, at least there’s the 8bits of Christmas.

Also in my collection are Mark Mothersbaugh’s Joyeux Mutato, and the Illegal Art A MUTATED CHRISTMAS release. Plus, of course, a hefty dose of bootleg/mashup Christmas tracks downloaded from the web.

If anyone has any other recommendations for quirky but listenable Christmas albums, please post ‘em.

Today’s the big day. The iTunes Music Store has started actually selling DRM-free music. I decided to vote with my wallet and go find and buy something. I’m hoping that in a few weeks we’ll see a press release stating that EMI’s music sales tripled, or something like that, and the other labels will get that clue they’ve been missing.

Unfortunately, it seems as if everyone else has had the same idea, and Apple’s Internet connections anre buckling under the strain. In a way that’s a good thing, but it’s a bit frustrating.

It seems like everyone has an iPod. My officemate at work has one. Half the people on the T who are wearing headphones are wearing little white Apple earplug headphones. Even penniless graduates have iPods. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before I see a homeless person with an iPod, begging for iTunes Music Store credits. Yup, it looks like everyone has a goddamn iPod.

Except me.

It’s not that I don’t want one. They’re really nice, especially now they have the all-touch-sensitive control surface and the backlighting. The sound quality is good (according to Stereophile magazine’s tests, better than most CD players). With a 40GB iPod I could put basically my entire music collection on, plus some radio shows and audio books.

It’s not a money issue either. I have the cash. No, it’s a guilt issue. The iPod exceeds the threshold at which I feel guilty for spending money on frivolous pleasures like music.

It goes without saying that we don’t have an HDTV either, even though it would be great for my movie addiction.

I also can’t persuade myself that it would be OK to get a maid, much as I would like a spotlessly clean and reasonably tidy house. I tell myself that it would be pointless because we just don’t have the space for all our stuff, but I know that even if we did have the space and started out with a clean house, I’d feel really bad about paying someone to clean and tidy for us.