Throwback: My Journey of Downloading Songs

I opened my Music app again and saw felt the nostalgia

Before 2006

Waiting 1 hour for a song to download p2p via Limewire. if I like the song, I'll check the other songs of the artist. If I like the artist, I check the song list of the album and download the whole album overnight. I will then arrange the meta tags of the files and organize them into my Music folder, which is still alive today.

I usually listen to the songs in the album in order, because I need it.

If I was a very big fan, I'd buy the actual CD and then rip the songs out of it.

2005 - My first Apple iPod, I bring it with my Nokia all the time

2007

Still have my iPod, never had an iPod touch, just plain iPod. But downloading has been faster. A whole album for just under an hour. I only sync my Music files on my iPod, never used the other features.

2016

Bought my first iPhone, switched from Android. Maxed out to 128 GB while everyone got the standard storage (since capturing videos is not yet popular), because the Music files that I collected since pre 2006 were at least 60GB.

Happy with my iPhone 6 and listening to music on it. All in one, wow!

2018

Discovered Spotify, but only using it to discover new songs. I toggle between Spotify and my Music app when I listen to the artist. When I like a single song, I still check out the other songs of the artist and I still download the whole album to keep it in my Music library. A habit I got decades ago.

Data was expensive.

If I have the songs on my iTunes, I listen to iTunes, not on Spotify.

2020

Even if I have the songs on my Music app, I listen to Spotify, not on my Music app.

Noticed I don't open my Music Library that much anymore, only open it when I'm offline.

It's been years since I pirated a song. Not counting the times I use certain songs for my Youtube videos. Only < 1% of my Music library is actually paid for and went to the artist

Albums have been cheaper nowadays, relative to the inflation. Prices of the songs hasn't gone up as much as labor costs and food costs.

Finally! After all these decades, I have the disposable income to feel comfortable purchasing the albums and contributing to the artist. But I don't purchase all the songs that I like. I have to really really like the whole album, I will donate to the artist by purchasing it from Apple's Music app.

Special mentions to A Story Told, Scott Helman, Camila Cabello, Marianas Trench, Carly Rae Jepsen, The Script.