I'm not entirely sure what the big fuss is about, frankly. In fact, her post really doesn't make much sense (I blame the public school system).
It appears she's saying that she likes streaming music, she might buy a single song here and there, but no way is she actually going to pay for an album. Not when she can "swap" music with her friends. She admits that she stole a bunch of music in her younger days, but kids will be kids. Of course, she doesn't call it "stealing"; just "ripping". She also is keen to "support" her favorite bands, but she's not sure how to do that, other than to buy their T-shirts.
She's only purchased 15 CD's in her lifetime; yet her iTunes library exceeds 11,000 songs.
Emily is all about the "convenience".
Convenience is important in our all-too-harried world. I, for instance, love my cup of coffee in the morning. So, I stroll into my local Starbucks on the way to work and "rip" me a free cup. It's just so much more convenient that way. I don't have to dig into my purse, find some loose change, or a dollar bill or two. I wish there was a way to "stream" a cup of coffee into my hand every day. I would just love that.
Someday I might buy one of those Starbucks logo stickers and paste it up in the back windshield of my car. That way, I can say that I truly support Starbucks, while I pilfer free cups of coffee. If only there was a way to swap cups of coffee with my friends. Maybe someday, some smart entrepreneur will invent something like that. My friends and I would totally use that method.
Some days, after work, when I'm tired, I stop at the local McDonald's drive-through on my way home. I shout my order into the speaker on the wall, and then I just whiz right on by that guy holding out his hand for money; right on to Window #2 to grab my food. It's so much more convenient that way. Oh, I do get some quizzical looks from the "help", but I feel that they just need to get with the times. I'm busy!
I found a cute top at Target the other day. I was lucky to find it in my size! I only stopped in to pick up some dental floss and a tub of hummus, when I happened to take a shortcut through the Isaac Mizrahi collection, and there it was! I didn't even bother to try it on! I just grabbed it, stuffed the container of hummus under my arm, and marched right on out of the store! Time was short! Some guy tried to follow me, but I just strode confidently and purposely to my car, slid into the driver's seat and pealed away. I had stuff to do! I want to say here and now that I absolutely support Target. If there's ever something in a Target store that I feel justifies me paying money for it, you can bet I will do it! If not, I will just swap clothes with my friends. None of them paid for their clothes, either, because they are busy, just like me.
As you can imagine, I like my reality TV! In fact, that's why I'm in such a hurry most days. I need to get home to queue up my shows on the DVR. Oh, I don't actually pay for cable. My neighbor next door pays for it (he's from the old school), so one of my friends showed me how to tap into my neighbor's connection (I call it "ripping"). It sure saves me from having to pay a cable bill every month! Talk about convenience! I have tons of TV shows saved on my DVR, and I never paid a penny for any of them!
I don't know about you, but I get really irritated when I've just finished up a nice restaurant meal with a bunch of my friends, and some "wait person" walks over and slaps a tab down on my table! People can be so rude! My friends and I are having a really engrossing conversation, and we're interrupted like that! Well, we just get up when we're ready to go, keep on talking and laughing, and stroll our way out of that fascist establishment. Nobody dares stop us, because they can see that we have more important things to do than dawdle idly at a cash register and pay.
In essence, what I'm trying to say is, what's the big deal about stealing music? I honestly don't get it. Times have changed. Our generation is not one to fawn over Bob Dillan or whoever, and save up our pennies to buy his or her latest mp3. Although we would totally support him or her by buying a sticker or a T-shirt, if we liked him or her, or knew who he/she was.
No, what we really want is free music everywhere, all the time. And I've heard all the arguments about, oh, he spent a hundred hours making up a song, and then recording it and doing a whole bunch of takes, just to get it right. Oh, boo hoo. And I spend at least an hour at the nail salon every week, getting my pedicure! Does anyone feel sorry for me?
If it's fast and if it's convenient, and mostly, if it's free, I might give an artist a second glance. Otherwise, he is just totally wasting my precious time.
And if it's good, and I really like the song, I will play it, oh, about a thousand times, and sing along in the car. And I will feel really jubilant.
But is that worth paying for? Give me a break!
