Good article. The appeal of soley downloading music rather than ripping it from is CD is a practical one for me. I move far too much to drag a bunch of CD's with me, the heat and sand of Iraq really took there toll on the discs's I had brought with me, as well as the ones I bought or borrowed once there. I move my household about every three years, CD's take up far too much room. Also, with my iPod I am now in the position of buying CD's, ripping them, and selling them back used at a significant loss, I too will be going solely download whenever possible. I can appreciate the environmental aspects as well, but it is a secondary concern.

interesting, temple. i never considered that. mind you, i ain't gonna stop buying CD's.

Well, yeah to both of you and my other reason it's ALL digital so the sound quality is no longer an issue.

There will still be, I imagine, Cds not available on iTunes. I have a limited (only 20GB) drive which I need to upgrade.

And SFC, yep, I might be selling all my CDs on e-Bay for the same reasons, (except for some of the Interview Tori discs.

That's another good point.

Just part of my think green for Paddy's Day schtick. That and I spend most of my time on the computer, and primarily it is where I listen - though there is a great satisfaction in cranking that stereo real loud too - much better than my tinny speakers.

i listen to most music on the computer too, but i still buy it and then rip it, as opposed to just paying for the download. I dunno, man, i just like havin a loada CD's sittin about the place. For example, i could've downloaded the Get Over It soundtrack, but would i have been able to have a compace disc sitting right there with Kirsten smiling and with a water-pistol thing on the cover? i think not.

Another good point, I listen to far more music outside of my house, so portability is a must. Last, but not least, sinc radio sux these days, a using the "shuffle" feature on a reasonably full iPod, (I am only at 8 GB, 7 days of music 24/7, who has that kind of time?) I can recreate the glory days of freeform radio with no repeats.

Like you, I will still have to buy what I can't download, but I will be using iTunes first whenever I can. I will keep a few CD's that I can't bear to part with, as well.

Although before you start feeling sorry for me on the tinny speakers - I could feel the tears welling - when I put my big cushion headphones on it booms and all the right depth of woof and tweet of the music comes out.

Between married life andthe sometimes communal living of my profession, I too have come to appreciate a good pair of headphones, and really, some songs were meant to be listened to through headphones, otherwise you'll miss something. If you don't own a set of noise-cancelling headphones and have to fly, I recommend you buy some, the difference they make is incredible.

CD covers are an art form, not quite the same experience in digital music downloads

I haven';t seen many that are an art form; they are so small people hardly bother anymore.

Can you think of a few - that don't involve strategically placed hands over breasts? :-)

Temple, I started this out as a comment - but I am putting up a post soon on CD Covers

must have the artwork, must have the liner notes.

but then again, i'm not really an all-digital guy either.

your attention is drawn to the cover of the Get Over It soundtrack. Kirsten with a waterpistol. art.

OK Aaman. I've got a handy book ofd some 1,000 album covers to counter :)

No-one's wrong here. This was just my realization that liner notes, booklets and the packaging rarely do anything for me past that intitial look - and now that its viable it's the greener alternative.