So much for the economic downturn. I can’t help myself from spending money. I feel I ought to be saving for the looming catastrophe which is sure to come sometime this year, however the ease by which one can spend in the twenty first century is undoubtedly one of the technological wonders that has taken consumerism one step closer to perfection. One can either despise or embrace it. I for one am tempted continually to break out the plastic to purchase things that seem irresistible and all so alluring at the time, before any rational thought can dissuade the urge to gratify the departure of  hard earned coin, let alone examine the motivation behind the escapism of online shopping.

My latest expenditure to leave as rapidly as it came was music, to fill my hard drive space with the bits of data it so craves and I have way too many bytes to even contemplate why I even need so many memory platters – perhaps just for the sake of security or an ill conceived sense of security . I have filled a good part of it with electronica that can be found on the web if one looks hard enough. But my carbon emissions from this excess is a little extreme and I feel torn by the needlessness of it while enjoying the process of accumulating it. Perhaps the old adage of less is more is a truth I have trouble accepting. What it all boils down to is laziness. Hard drives are somewhat easier to manage than DVD, storage wise, but at the same time it is far from a green alternative especially when it is unnecessary. But One has to have a hobby and mine happens to be technology and geekiness. I could just sit around knitting, play sport or some other less sedentary activity but I have taken to the quest of invigorating my mind with the intricacies of technology while tinkering with it.

Well this hobby ain’t a cheap one, the last thing that saw my wallet shrink was the web store at http://www.emusic.com/ and I couldn’t believe I hadn’t stumbled upon it previously. Well I think I had but I recall that it didn’t have the content I was looking for, but searching again last night and I had another look. I was pleasantly surprised to find where all the Metal was!

Forget Bigpond and 7digital. This site kicks ass and it stirs the morbid curiosity of this metal head with thousands of albums to fill the empty platters of hard drive space with. I signed up for a 12 dollar subscription, it only has a subscription service but it appears to be fantastic value compared to the other mentioned sites. I get 30 downloads a month for a US$95 annual subscription fee, so it’ll work roughly as 3 albums a month  for 8 bucks per month. I was paying 8 pounds an album from 7digital so it definitely seems more attractive.

I also get 25 free downloads as an introductory offer, got ten left but I’ve added a couple more albums to my play list. And the best part is; they are DRM free! Can’t go wrong there