99¢ a song? How can I lose?

April 16th, 2004

I thank God every day that I don’t own a credit card. That’s because I know that no matter how responsible I think I might be with a credit card, the instant I acquired one, I would open up the iTunes Music Store and overcharge that thing so quickly my head would spin. 

It’s like some sort of drug addiction. You browse through and say to yourself “Hey look: ‘It’s Oh So Quiet’ by Björk! And it’s only 99¢!” So you buy ‘It’s Oh So Quiet’ by Björk for 99¢ because, hey, it’s so damn cheap. Later on, you win a free song in your Pepsi bottle, so you figure “Hmm, I could go grab ‘Sign’ by Nobukazu Takemura with this.” So that’s what you do. 

And that’s how they grab you. 

Soon you find yourself driving to the Apple Store in Valley Fair Mall to buy a $10 gift certificate so you can grab up the Debut album by Björk. Next you’re standing in the supermarket looking through the Pepsi bottles to find winning pieces, so you can grab the iTunes exclusive BA BA TI KI DI DO album by Sigur Rós. Before you know it, you’re trading sexual favors for spare change and spare Pepsi bottle caps on the street corner. 

I should know, I’ve been through it all. Except for the sexual favors. I would never stoop that low… at least until the Pepsi giveaway ends on April 30th. My God, what have I become?