Paid in full

At the moment, I have 13,050 songs on my iPod. I have several albums waiting on my table to be copied into my system.

Yeah, I know.

I've maybe listened to 10 percent of those songs. That's probably a liberal estimate, but it gives you an idea of how massive the amounts of music I have downloaded over the years. I credit most of the collection to my fellow Bruins at UCLA, where I used a nifty (and now defunct) program called MyTunes Redux to download hundreds upon thousands of songs from people on my local dorm network, all at speeds you wish you could get from your Internet provider (me especially, since Google's free WiFi, while free, leaves much bandwidth to be desired).

But ever since I moved out of De Neve Plaza and into apartments, where there is little to no shared connectivity to any network, immediate access to other iTunes accounts has been lost. Not to mention that, once everyone upgraded to iTunes 7 and higher, the ability for MyTunes Redux to download from other clients was blocked by some update Apple put into the new version.

So I was stuck. At this point, I had a few options. I could a) start downloading off of sites like LimeWire, Kazaa, etc., b) start using torrent downloads, or c) start actually buying my music.

The third of these options certainly did not seem appetizing at first. I mean, to get all the music I did get at UCLA, it would have taken quite a few dollars. Serious cash, which I was not really willing to spend.

But my Weltenschaung changed upon my first visit to Amoeba Records in Los Angeles. It is at this Mecca of record stores that I discovered the religion of used music. Perusing discount bins got me some of the best music I own. I would find rarities, nestled between way too many copies of Jibbs and Hush, waiting for a hip-hop head to snatch it up and enjoy its greatness. Nothing beats the feeling of knowing you will listen to an album for the rest of your life, and you only spent $2 on it (yes, "The Magnificent" from DJ Jazzy Jeff is that good).

Ever since that moment of track transcendence, I have sworn off illegal downloads. Now, there are certainly other means of acquiring music I use that are in legally gray areas (such as the legality of copying music from CDs legally checked out of libraries - one of the best methods for acquiring popular [and really random] music). But now I buy, and more and more, I have been buying new over used, at least for more of the music that is newly released.

So what does this new habit do to my stacks? Well, this year has been a pretty good year for music, and it has brought my total to $447.78 (yes, I keep a running Excel spreadsheet with this information). Editor's Note: This total deserves an "and counting" at the end, since I've yet to buy the new Q-Tip, along with a few other gems. Seems kinda high? For the amount of music that has been added to my library, it was very well spent.

I pride myself on maintaining a comprehensive and respectable music collection. Now I can do it with a little more confidence that I am supporting those artists who make my library so great.