today i did something i haven't done in at least 2 years

I bought CDs. I actually went to a store, picked them up off the racks, and paid for them.

Seems rather quaint, doesn't it? Almost like dialing a rotary phone. Or balancing a checkbook.

99% of my music consumption these days takes place via Rhapsody, most of that at my desk (either at work at home) with headphones. Occasionally I pipe it into my stereo at home. There's just so much that it seems I never listen to an album from begining to end anymore. For that matter, if a song doesn't grab me in the first minute or two, I just grab another of the million or so at my fingertips.

Which is to say, I've become exactly the kind of consumer the recording industry has been so afraid of.

...or maybe not. After all, I did by CDs today. Four of them, to be exact.

One was the new Tool album. Which I probably would have bought in any case, but especially since it isn't available on Rhapsody. The other three are what's interesting. I got two by Arch Enemy and one by Apocalyptica...both of which have only a few tracks available on Rhapsody. Both of which I probably never would have heard of without the ability to surf from artist to artist at a whim.

The plural of anecdote isn't data, but still, I can't help but think the recording industry is going to be OK...