[Cloverfield]

I really don't listen to much variety in music, and even more rarely buy albums (or CDs if you must). The radio is usually fine for me, as I find that often there are a lot of songs you don't like when you buy a CD, so it's best to just get the ones you like on MP3. If there is a band I particularly like, or a CD I particularly want, I will buy it though.

I used to have a major problem with the Final Fantasy music that I listen to. You never used to be able to buy the CDs over here in Australia. So what do you do, unless you order online and get them imported from Japan, the only way I could listen to the music was downloading MP3s. And this is even worse for those Final Fantasy music fans who don't have a credit card, and cannot order online (parent's won't buy for them, etc). Napster ended up blocking Final Fantasy music, and people were furious! Until they found the other sites/programs that allowed for downloading them.

But as soon as I found a store in Australia which sold the CDs, I purchased them. I still have my MP3s though, as it's a good way to randomize songs from about 15 CDs worth, plus I can listen to them at work.

The ironic thing is, that I found out my copies of the Final Fantasy CDs weren't offical after all that. Apparently, there are record labels in Hong Kong which copy the official versions of Japanese soundtracks (video game and anime) and sell them overseas. So in this case, even when you try to get the official CD, you don't... and just end up giving the priates the money. Some of the US online stores have the official ones, but Australia, it's the pirate ones or back to the MP3s.

Abe Babe...