Ideal Bite

Do you really need the paper liner notes to the new Nelly Furtado album?

10.12.2006

Submitted by idealbite on Thu, 10/12/2006 - 5:00pm.

The Bite:

Unless you plan on having Nelly autograph it, buying the CD is a waste when downloads are right at your fingertips. Likewise, downloading a fave episode of Lost is an easy way to get your Matthew Fox fix minus all the plastic.

The Benefits:

Better for yo' motha (Earth). Many jewel cases are made from PVC, the production of which releases toxins into the air.
Downloading also avoids the resources used in production and shipping of the discs.
Downloading costs less. Just get the songs or episodes you want. Season 1 of The Office costs $11.94 on iTunes; the DVD will put you back about $30.
If you want, you can always burn your music to a CD. Some video services, like CinemaNow, allow you to burn select TV shows and movies onto a DVD (and most TVs allow you to input directly from your computer using a cable).

Personally Speaking:

Heather became ridiculously obsessed with Lost last year and watched all 2 seasons on her laptop after downloading from iTunes. (The part she doesn’t often confess is that she watched all 2 seasons over the course of like 10 days.)

Wanna Try:

iTunes - start here for mp3s and TV epis ($1-2).
eMusic- songs for just $0.25.
Rhapsody - access all their songs for free for 14 days.
Napster- all the hits and a bunch of exclusives.
CinemaNow - the #1 movie download site.
MovieFlix - classic movie lovers can watch certain titles for free.
Earth 911 - some recycling services accept CDs and VHS tapes. Check this directory to find out about your local service.
SecondSpin - if you gotta go retro, buy CDs used instead of forcing additional production.