Today I did my first all digital purchase of music. I know, I’m behind the times, and a picky old man. Though itunes is a slick store, I’ve never bought anything from them. I really didn’t see the point of buying less than CD quality, in a less than standard format, with controls on how I use the files. CD’s seem like a hell of a deal by comparison. But Amazon MP3 opened up today, and all that changed. The files they sell are MP3s encoded at 256 variable bit rate. This means that the files will play on pretty much any hardware, are very good quality (almost lossless), and contain no restrictions on usage.

I picked up The New Pornographers, some older Calexico, and Regina Spektor. The purchase was pretty easy, and delivery was pretty painless as well – the files sound great, and downloaded quickly. It could use a face lift, but I’m a fan of the service so far.