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23 September 2007 - The One Where Max Becomes a Corporate Whore

Enough was enough.
For the past two and a half months, I haven't been able to download music or movies off the interweb. I've been stuck with the same playlists for the past two months. Even on shuffle, you get tired of the same songs over and over again.
I had previously taken pride in being off the grid and staying away from the system. But those days are over. I have become another cog in that amoral, soul sucking machine that feeds off the lifeforce of a hairless Keanu Reeves. I'm speaking of course, about Apple.
Yes, I finally signed up for the iTunes Music Store. So all of you with your Che Guevarra t-shirts, you can stop reading right now.

At the Railway Campus, we're not allowed to use any file sharing programs such as LimeWire or Bittorrent. When I heard about this, the first thought that ran through my head was "Is this a Communist country? I'm sorry, I thought this was America!" Then upon realizing that my passport had just been stamped and I was not, in fact, in America, I shut up. Down here I can't hide behind the first ammendment like I was Cindy Sheehan.

But finally, I had had enough of the monotony. I heard the Gipsy King's version of "Hotel California" at the end of Entourage, and I needed to have it.
Then I heard Gus Black's cover of Ozzy's "Paranoid" during the opening credits of "Californication." And I needed it like Cuba Gooding Jr. needed a bigger part in "Pearl Harbor."
And a dollar is such a small price to pay for quality music and your support of recording artists. And plus, now that I have a debit card linked to my checking account, it's not even like real money!
(Sidebar: Before shipping off to NZ, I opened up a checking account. This gave me the freedom of my first debit card. One more step closer to financial emancipation...except that my folks regularly make deposits in my account.)

I have had one prior run-in with iTunes. For the life of me, I couldn't find the elusive Radio-only mix of Whitesnake's "Here I Go Again" on Limewire. After over a month of hunting for my hair band Holy Grail, I gave one, Jack Evert, a dollar and asked him to download it for me off his own account.
(Sidebar II: You might be asking yourself "How different can two versions of 'Here I Go Again' be? What is "a world of difference," Alex? It's like the Apocalypse Now: Redux of the musical world. Want proof? Go buy the song for yourself. It's only 99 cents, and if you mention that I sent you, I get five free hours on AOL).

But now I'm a part of the Apple system. And I'm having the time of my life! (Hey, T-Bone!) It's so easy to download the top songs of today and yesterday. I'm currently subscribed to about 10 podcasts (favorites are A Prairie Home Companion, This American Life and Gordon Ramsay's 'Fast Food.') and I'm digging the celebrity playlists.
I'm out there and I'm loving every minute of it! There's only a thin layer of gaberdine between me and full-fledged corporate whoredom. Yep. I love big business. I hate the first amendment. And I'm probably voting for a Mormon in '08. God Bless America!

-MGD

Vernon Davis Fun Fact of the Day:
Vernon isn't an alcoholic. The beer is addicted to him.

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