iTunes = Evil

It all started with PayPal. They offered me 5 free songs from the iTunes Music Store if I verified my bank account. (Sounds like those famous last words: "The first one's free..." have been hit by inflation!)

I took the bait, verified my account and, a few days later, received my iTunes coupon via e-mail. It sat there for a couple days, beckoning me.

Last Saturday morning from bed, I attempted to cash out.

I went to the iTunes Music Store, created an account, and balked -- they asked for my credit card information up front. It's not that I'm at *all* squeamish about that sort of thing, don't get me wrong... but I wanted my free songs NOW, man! Didn't wanna be slowed down by having to hunt down my purse and pull out my card. So I canceled out, a bit miffed by the whole experience.

Yesterday, at work, I decided to try it again. Gave up the card details, picked out my 5 tunes -- all the while never realizing I could actually preview songs before buying them. So I ended up with a song I already had (on a different computer, so no way of cross-referencing, boo...)

But, worst of all, I'd caught THE FEVER.

I spent the next hour or so browsing the Music Store, alt-tabbing back and forth between Amazon (for recommendations) and iTunes (for potential downloads), until I settled on an album to buy. Yes, that's right: BUY. Never mind that I'd only signed up in the first place to get my 5 free songs.

But the album only costs $9.99, I reasoned with myself. That's much cheaper than buying the CD online (even with my employee discount), plus tax, plus shipping, and then (worst of all!) waiting for it to arrive.

On top of that, iTunes is sooo easy! And that's *precisely* how they hook you in. One click of the button, and the songs "magically appear" onto your hard drive in a matter of 10 seconds. Instant gratification junkies UNITE!

But I'm proud to say, I stopped after the one CD.

Today (woops) I bought another.

I started to wonder, how much money would I spend in a year if I bought one $9.99 CD every day?

But then I realized, I was never very good at math :-)