Finally! This is how music should be sold

At least to old codgers like me who are completely disinterested in iPods and their ilk. MP3 players? not for me, thank you very much. I carry enough junk around anyway (just the diabetes gizmo's alone are enough) to think that carrying yet another one just so it could help me become oblivious to my surroundings just is not appealing. People are finding more and more ways and reasons to disengage from other people, and MP3 players are a supreme enabler.

Anyway, that was a little rant there. Sorry.

I just found out that Walmart.com offers an absolutely fantastic service called "customize your own CD". It finally delivers on the promise I heard all the way back to 1995 - that one could go to an online store, build one's track-list, have the store burn the CD, package it, and send it to one's home address.

I'm not sure how long Walmart has been offering this, but considering my recent Country addiction, I was thrilled to find this existed.

In other words, I just spent $20 on a CD and felt great about it. Why? because the $20 are very well spent; I got 20 songs of my choice, put in the order I desire, on a single CD I can put in the car and enjoy on my long bay-area commutes. And they aren't some low-quality MP3's, oh no. They are the actual digitally mastered CD tracks. And of course, since this is a regular CD, there's no DRM and all that crap. If I want, I can transfer them to my laptop, or another CD to listen to at home, or what have you, and not be in any danger of violating any moronic copyrights protection act. Heck, I can MP3 the suckers for my own use if I really want to, but alas, I have no MP3 player.

For me, this is music heaven. I'll reserve full judgment until I receive the CD and listen to it, but assuming it all works well, I'll be ordering a few more of these moving forward. The convenience factor is overwhelmingly positive, and ability to browse and listen to samples is fantastic (although I do so wish they would put in longer samples than 30 seconds), and it's just the perfect way to buy music.

And by the way, I would never, ever have bought any of the related albums. The music industry needs to realize this is the right approach; while it doesn't allow them to charge me $20 times the number of albums, it does allow them to get me to pay $20 they would otherwise never see.
And you bet it will lead me to spend more $20 increments like that. Sure, crap songs don't get sold as they do in the current bundling model; but why should they?

Anyhow, my first country CD, my mom would be so proud. Here is the list of songs I chose:

Sunshine & Summertime, Faith Hill
Before He Cheats, Carrie Underwood
Because of You, Reba and Kelly Clarkson (wow)
Anyway, Martina McBride
Moments, Emerson Drive
Lucky Man, Montgomery Gentry
Harper Valley PTA, Jeannie C. Riley (I love her rendition)
Never Wanted Nothing More, Kenny Chesney
Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off, Joe Nichols
Honky Tonk Badonkadonk, Trace Adkins (if this is Honky Tonk, I love Honky Tonk)
Online, Brad Paisley (how could I not?)
Little Bitty, Alan Jackson (oddly enough, my favorite Alan Jackson song)
Good Directions, Billy Currington
Watching You, Rodney Atkins (the song that "got" me into Country)
Our Song, Taylor Swift (ohhh... she's good, this one)
Teardrops on my Guitar, Taylor Swift (her second on my CD, and not the last)
Take me There, Rascal Flats
So Small, Carrie Underwood (I don't even watch American Idol, but you have simply got to watch the video. Makes me cry)
Tim McGraw, Taylor Swift (clear winner, 3 songs in this collection, I really like her)
Give it Away, George Strait (feels so... genuine)

So there you have it. Can't wait to get it!