Quite simply, I never would have gained the experience of a wide variety of music if it weren't for downloading music. Music samples are usually 30-seconds and tell you nothing, and radio only plays the same 10 songs. I also bought a lot of music thanks to downloads. It's helped me avoid a lot of bad purchases.

I still download regularly, but not as much as I used to. It's in part because now I know what I like. But it's also in part because about half of my music collection come from independent artists and is purchased from CD Baby, where music samples are generous (often 2 minutes of each track; Ani DiFranco lets you stream entire songs, and the entirety of her latest album). A lot of indies put up some mp3s for free (a song or two on my iPod is the best reminder that I want to get a CD in a few months). Oh, and Pandora is awesome for finding new stuff. Plus iTunes putting some J-pop in the U.S. store.

The music industry was just stubborn about entering the new age, and now that they're starting to meet me halfway, I'm willing to as well. But, honestly, big labels exaggerate how much music downloads hurt sales. I only wish that it would bankrupt them, or at least encourage them to stop shoveling crap at the public. Honestly, the music industry's afraid because there's now other venues for us to find music and *gasp* think for ourselves!

...yeah, that was an essay.