How to buy music on iTunes or at your favourite shop

Update 2011-03-12: Added “Don’t buy samplers” rule.
Update 2011-04-24: No longer against iTunes deluxe albums.

A few of my rules for buying music. Some apply to iTunes, some to all music media.

• Buy full albums. Get to know your artists. Stop listening to what the Man tells you to listen to by only buying singles. The hidden gems sometimes make it all worth it.
• Start by buying the “best seller” album. Then, buy your way down the list. You’ll likely be pleased up front and then find hidden treasures as you dig deeper. This works best when you don’t really know if you like the artist yet.
• Don’t buy greatest hits compilations. They never quite include all the real hits which, if you’d done yourself the favour by listening to all their music, you as a real fan would know.
• Don’t buy deluxe albums. There’s something scammy about iTunes deluxe albums. We complained about the high cost of albums and they finally came down. Now they go back up to get two extra songs?
  • I’m no longer against iTunes deluxe albums completely. I’ve come across a number of deluxe albums recently that are priced well ($9.99). Having said that, I don’t support buying deluxe albums on release as the price is often too high to justify. It’s just another way to bilk you of your money.
• Don’t buy “iTunes Sessions” albums. iTunes branding is lame. Let’s have artists producing real albums.
• Don’t buy samplers or “various artists” albums. Inevitably, most of the songs are horrible. I’ve had a few, rare samplers in my day that contained a lot of good stuff, and a whole lot of samplers that were mostly useless. Do yourself a favour: Preview real albums and if you like the sound of it buy it.