tenthofjune

I went looking on iTunes for an old album I used to have on tape, and sure enough – there it was for £7.90. Hmmm a bit pricey, so I looked on play.com and there it was for only £4.99.

So for almost three quid less, you get:

• a real CD in a case with professionally printed cover notes. For iTunes, add the cost of a case, CD and printer ink;
• no crippling DRM;
• full bitrate recording instead of high compression;
• you can still rip the CD onto your iPod;
• if you get fed up of it (or wasn’t to your taste) you can still sell it on.

Most CDs are available from play.com and cdwow.com for around £7.99, so even at that price it’s still better to get the CD.

So what, apart from satisfying your impatience, is the attraction of downloading music?