Using iTunes, Good Deed of the Day, Taking Care of Kid

I went to sleep at 2AM this morning. I should have been studying up until then but I decided to take a break and listen to some tunes on my computer.

I then remembered that my sister gave me an iTunes gift card for my birthday and I figured it'd be a good time to check out iTunes.

Now although I own an iPod-mini (2nd Generation - no colors) I never shop at the iTunes store. That's mainly because I'm too lazy to get new music. Which is bad if I ever want to become a world class DJ (don't worry I'm pretty far from it). But I'm slowly changing that.

I also never considered shopping on iTunes before because though some of their stuff is DRM free, a majority of it isn't. Which isn't a problem because I have an iPod but that means I can't spin it as a DJ (won't work on my Serato gear).

In addition, there's something called sampling bit rate which tells you the quality of the track. On iTunes, most tracks are at 128kbs. Which is fine for casual listening on your iPod and for the regular listener. However, I like to hear quality in my music. And (not that it's something to brag about) I can tell a difference between 128kbs and 256kbs. I think most people can if they listen hard enough.

128kbs is probably not desirable when you're in a club because the song doesn't translate that well coming out full blasting club speakers. The songs sound weak. And when you mix in other songs you've ripped at higher bit rates, you can REALLY hear the difference.

But I digress. Long story short. I don't like having 128 kbs songs.

So I wind up buying CDs so I can have the luxury of ownership (well within legal boundaries of course), and the luxury of ripping at whatever sample rate I wanted.

But I had to redeem my gift card and use it one day...so why not last night? I decided that I would not purchase any English songs because I could get them here in the States. Instead I figured that I'll beef up my Japanese song repertoire. I mean it's hard for me to find JPOP CDs here in NY and I'll be paying import prices so they'll be crazy expensive. And plus I need some new tracks to listen to.

Given I was in the US, the JPOP selection within iTunes was pretty limited. Even so, there was more in their inventory than what I had in my song bank.

I was in the store for quite some time and noticed a couple of things:

1. The Money Counter. When you redeem your gift card, a counter shows up in the upper right of your iTunes application indicating the amount you have left to spend. Which is really cool. It reminds me of a slot machine in Atlantic City. Only it doesn't go up (unless you put more in...which is how it works in AC as well).
2. I started buying and I couldn't stop. iTunes makes buying and sampling so easy and simple. You click on 10 things to buy and you've spent $11 dollars in 5 minutes. I told myself after each purchase, "OK...this is the last one for real...BUT I REALLY WANT THIS OTHER ONE TOO!!! *click*". It's like a kid in a candy store.
   
3. They come with the digital album cover for free. I knew this but I never had much use for it considering my iPod mini isn't capable of displaying it. But now seeing it on my computer screen, makes me a bit more appreciative on it. It is art after all. Apple please come out with that 3G phone soon.
   
4. 128kbs is not bad but it's not great. 128kbs isn't that bad. But I still wouldn't play the tracks in a club. I found one track that was DRM free by Utada Hikaru and I bought that for 99 cents. It came with a 256bps which I more than appreciated. I really hope other tracks come at that rate as well in the future because 128 really sucks.
   
5. Instantaneous Gratification. I only realized this just now but when you buy something and download it right then and there and own it--that is instant gratification! You can listen to it immediately. There is no CD to open. There is no ripping songs involved. You buy it, you got it, you play with it.
   

Overall, I am pretty happy with the iTunes store. And probably will giving more of my money to Mr. Jobs in the near future (3G iPhone please!).

On to my good deed. I was on the F train this morning during rush hour and happened to be fortuitously positioned near a seat where a passenger was getting off early. I sat in and about two stops later I saw this cute Asian girl and her mom (she was 4 or 5) and I let the little girl sit in my seat.

EDIT...like most of my posts. I was not able to finish this one. I'll leave the "Taking Care of Kids" topic for another time. I'm sure it'll pop up once again.