On the way home from watching fireworks at my mother’s house, I was discussing my plans for obtaining the new Crowded House album which will be released in the US on Tuesday. Should I order from iTunes or Amazon?
The plus side for iTunes:
- Practically instant availability.
- Environmentally friendly - less packaging and shipping.
- Two bonus tracks - plus a third if I pre-order, although that third track is a live version of a song I already know.
The plus side for Amazon:
- Liner notes.
- At the moment, it does look like Amazon is a dollar cheaper than iTunes.
Part of me can’t believe I’m even still debating this - I’m gonna look at the liner notes once, maybe twice. But part of me still wants that artifact and access to whatever knowledge is found within.
My hunch is that I’m gonna err on the side of one fewer thing to clog up the house, but you never know.
You know my take, our actual house is crowded enough with stuff. Buy it from ITunes and download the liner notes. It might even come with the digital booklet PDF that renders the discussion moot.
No digital booklet, but I was able to start listening to the album at 11 PM tonight, so I’ll take it.
When R.E.M. comes out with another album, I’ll probably go either the CD or DVD-Audio route with that. Otherwise, I think it’s all virtual from here. Which means I oughta do some backing up.