ynotds's Journal: First 60 iTMS puchases = 60 different artists

That probably says a lot about my take in music.

If iTMS carried everything on my wish list, I could have got past 90 before feeling obligated to go to seconds, but as it stands the pattern will have to break in my 7th monthly selection of 10.

While my collection is still dominated numerically by tracks ripped from my own purchased CDs, with iTMS tracks only accounting for 8%, those tracks have now passed 50% of my 5 star rated tracks. (Some purchases are rated 4, and I don't plan to ever buy many single tracks that I would not rate 4 or 5 on my current use of the scale.)

iTMS has also encouraged me to but a new CD or three, including one from Amazon that I would have happily bought for $A16.90 if iTMS had not kept it in limbo but still listed for several months. I'm on the lookout for a couple more when I next pass a big CD retailer.

Compared to what I've invested in vinyl, CDs and even cassette tapes over the years, the $A101.40 to date on iTMS seems miniscule. It even pales beside the cost of an unsatisfactory acquisition of a turntable and related paraphernalia with the intention of digitising some of my old vinyl. Now it looks like working out that there will be so little that matters left which I have not obtained through other legal channels, that I will just let that project collect dust.

Having now assembled a solid proportion of my favourite tracks, I've started to make more creative use of playlists. Unsurprisingly "Signature Songs" is the largest of those new playlists with 30 to date, and that doesn't include another 10 in my "Absolute Favourites" and therefore inelligible for my other sub-genre playlists.

Depending on how long it takes Apple to make real inroads with the recalcitrant labels, and with the to date neglected archival tracks that are now starting to look relevant to long tail distribution models, I expect to one day still have to face harder decisions about sourcing those last handful of must have tracks.

But for now it all sounds plenty good enough.