I want to believe we're only partway through

One of the first CDs I ever bought was the first soundtrack to the anime FLCL. I had never watched FLCL before, and to this day I (regretfully) have only seen one-sixth of the show. That is, one episode. I had heard that a super amazing band, the pillows, did most of the music, which made what apparently was a super amazing anime, even more super amazing.

So when I received the disk, I dutifully admired the cover art and started listening to it. I remember really enjoying track 8, Rever's Edge, which wasn't even by the pillows. (It's by Mitsumune Shinkichi.) Track 13 was Hybrid Rainbow. I was actually really put off by the song. Why is he screaming like that? Does he think he's cool? Why can't he sing normally? I thought. Sacrilege, I know. Today I am a little embarrassed to tell this, but it's how I thought back then. I was a high and mighty preteen; rap, for instance, was only "words said very fast."

Okay. So then I read somewhere (probably Project-J) that Hybrid Rainbow is a great song because Yamanaka Sawao, the lead singer, sings his heart out. I listened to it again in a new light, and I was impressed. It really is beautiful. Emotion, to me, can define beauty in a song. And you can hear Sawao's voice, tense and strained and filled with substance.

The point is, the second time I listened to that song, my world opened up some more. I became more open to different types of music. It must be beautiful and important to someone, right? Maybe I can understand it, too. People like to be defined by the music they listen to. Why else would they be so proud to show off their indie bands, their massive collection on their computer, pay so much to attend concerts? If I can also enjoy their music, then I think I get acquainted with an intimate part of them.

Hybrid Rainbow really is an amazing song, the melody and lyrics and all. I find myself coming back to it over and over again. My favorite part is the part that speaks most loudly to me: I want to believe that here is only partway through.

I will never buy songs from iTunes again

I'll still take the free ones, but I just decided that enough is enough, and I am not putting anymore m4ps into my hard drive again.

Because I deeply dislike Apple and iTunes, and m4ps in general. I used to be so good. I bought every single one of my songs, if I could find it on iTunes. I must've paid hundreds of dollars for them, all the while being an anomaly--because who in my age group really buys their songs, anyway?

But, no. Not anymore.

1. The m4p format. I have an iPod now (it was a gift), but I used to have a Zen. You can't put m4ps into anything but an iPod. To get my songs into my Zen, I burnt them onto a CD and then reripped all the songs as mp3s. Man, I can't believe I did all that.
2. The authorization. Only five machines? I paid $0.99 for this song. There is the technicality people mention that I didn't actually "buy" the song, since I am limited as to what I can do with it. This is true.
3. Authorization. There are times when my computer just unauthorizes itself, and when I try putting in my email and password, they tell me that, sorry, our server is down. Try again later. Let me listen to the music THAT I BOUGHT, assholes.
4. Authorization. What is the point of sharing my library on the local network when other people can't even listen to my music?

It's not even amazing quality or anything. It's expensive and stupid. From now on, I'm getting all my songs through a better source--I'm going to find a better legal source for individual songs (like mp3fiesta or whatever; my choices are far from limited), and I'm going to buy more CDs, and I'm going to pirate them. Yeah. That's what I said.