RULEZ (or WHAT A F***IN' GEEK!)

[scumfactor]

I'm about 1000% sure that absolutely nobody but me cares about THISThe UK chart rules are ever changing. When I first started really collecting imports, the rules for singles were pretty loose. You could release as many different formats (7" single, CD single, 12" single, etc) with whatever marketing gimmick you could think of (posters, postcards,

Comments

[grunter]

Downloads are not collectable. That's my hard-n-fast rule. I don't care if they qualify for singles charts. I don't care if they're "supah-cheep" and wildly plentiful. If the song isn't pressed in wax or somehow stamped onto a digital disc, "'t'aint real."

I am Luddite. Hear me roar!

[scumfactor]

yeah, i don't really care so much about the new downloads rule. i'm more happy about the reinstatement of the 4-track e.p. (which is a separate rule from the downloads thing) i usually don't pay for downloads unless they aren't physically available on CD or vinyl.

[grunter]

The trouble with e.p.'s is that, in the wake of brick-and-mortar failures all around, there's typically no place willing to stock such items. I still really value the experience of going into an actual shop, devoted to music, to physically flip through the bins to find the tunes I'm searching for. Instant online gratification totally kills that experience. Slowly, extremely reluctantly, I'm having to move my interest in non-mainstream albums (in non-standard formats, like the e.p.) onto 'net stores like Amazon.com - just because there are few, if any, real-life stores, as alternatives.

I hate, hate, hate what downloading has done to the music business.

[scumfactor]

The trouble with e.p.'s is that, in the wake of brick-and-mortar failures all around, there's typically no place willing to stock such items. I'm having to move my interest in non-mainstream albums (in non-standard formats, like the e.p.) onto 'net stores like Amazon.com - just because there are few, if any, real-life stores, as alternatives

Sadly, that's already been my experience for about the last 10 years. Even the few indie shops left around here in L.A. (Amoeba, for example) tend to not carry the bands that I like so I've been having to resort to ordering online anyway.

But I'll agree with you in that there is NOTHING like being able to go into a store and physically buy music. It's way more gratifying then hitting the "Buy Now" button on the computer screen.

I don't really have a problem with downloading but it really makes me laugh (as an elitist collector) when kids (literally) count their downloaded mp3s as part of the "collection". Sorry kids, you don't have a music collection, you have a bunch of files."