Mp3

I find listening to streamed music strangely.... empty-feeling compared to owning the mp3.

I have no idea why this is.

They SOUND the same... but the fact that an mp3 is so much more... mine... it just makes it much more personal, I guess.

There's a bunch of music i'm totally looking forward to buying just so I can get this feeling, even though I can technically listen to them anytime I want online, for free.

Streaming media just makes one all too aware of the reality that music is the property of the artist that made it and we only hear it because they're allowing us to... You don't own a streaming song anymore than you own a song being played live or a song playing on the radio.

But an mp3 you CAN own, collect, manipulate, trade with friends, etc. You make it your own. We already make music part of ourselves, so when I can own the music that makes up parts of me, and use them at my discretion, its so much more satisfying. To the degree where any other option seems empty.

Napster changed everything. Or rather just made us see things that could have always been there, but weren't. Let the cat out of the bag. Now there's no going back.

And that's why streaming music sounds just a little empty to me. Play a stream and and mp3 of the same track and sure they'll be the same tune, but one is still stuck in the old paradigm.