I used to listen music all the time when I was a teenager. Some of the highlights of my youth was hours spent listening to Jean Michel Jarre or Queens Greates Hits. And when Guns N’Roses released “Use Your Illusion" they, literally, rocked my world. Listening to music back then meant sitting down in my room, concentrate and actually listen to the music, the lyrics and capture all details and enjoy every aspect of it. I really enjoyed listening to music.
I have enjoyed many genres through the years, but closest to my heart is rock, 80-ies metal and country! Yes, I do like country music. I need to be able to understand the lyrics of a song in order to fully appreciate it, and lyrics with a story is enjoyable, and no music tells more stories than country music.

But then I stopped. At some point I stopped listening to music. Music became something that was on in the background, in the car or perhaps listening to whilst working. But I stopped sitting down just to listen to music. I stayed sort of updated for a while, paying attention to what the current hits was and so on, but music just wasn’t that important anymore.

I think this had something to do with the myriad of new forms of entertainment. With the PC, internet and video games in addition to books that needed to be read, and more and more TV channels combined with CD’s becoming a bit more expensive for a period.

But after a while the internet and PC introduced some new options for acquiring music, although it did not take that long before Napster was not an option anymore.  And there was a huge lack of good options to purchase music legally over the internet.

Even though I have had MP3 players since my first Sony 128 MB in 2000 and the Creative Jukebox 6GB, I never sat down to enjoy and listen to music. My CD collection was ripped and transferred to MP3s, but it was only something used whilst doing something else. But I kept expecting great services for purchasing music as legal downloads, to be just around the corner. But time passed, and even today I can say that a great service has not risen yet. iTunes and others work but they are far from great. But more on that later. This period, where buying CD’s seemed old fashioned and great online MP3 store options were missing, interest in music died even more.

Now you can read a lot in the news about the music industry complaining about sales dropping, and they blame pirates. Musicians blame their fans. Gene Simmons and Kiss, are amongst those who blame their own people and crowd: 

"The record industry is dead," the Daily Star reported the singer saying. "It's six feet underground and unfortunately the fans have done this. They've decided to download and file-share."

Ticket prices for live shows goes up to compensate, and the record industry makes their attack on piracy in perhaps not the smartest manner possible.  Attacks on individuals who download because it’s there, instead of only going after the big illegal distributors only creates more hostility.
For me personally I do not want to download illegal music. I want to pay for it, get superb quality, files with god ID3 tags, cover images and no hassle. But as long as this has been lacking – well I just stopped buying and listening to music, in any format, all together.

But this has changed. This year I have found my long lost love for music again. And I have 10 year worth of releases to catch up on. I spend more and more time, sitting quietly listening to music. And  what is the reason: The iPhone.
I am, like so many others addicted to my iPhone. I love it. I love the fact that I have the one device where I can have my music, my contacts, the internet and more piled into one item I always bring with me.
I have had MP3 phones like the Nokia N95, which was great, but none of the MP3 players or phones I have previously owned has had a natural symbiotic connection to a service. And that is the essential factor for the device to succeed. Apple has done this years ago with the iPod, but with the iPhone they reach even wider.
This might see "where have you been the last 5 years" to existing iPod/iTunes user. But I have never owned an iPod until I got the iPhone. Mainly because I did not like all the limitations of iTunes, I never bought an iPod, but alternative players, mostly from Creative.
But the iPhone is useless unless you use iTunes, so it got installed. And even though my old MP3 archive was imported to iTunes so that I could sync it with my iPhone, I now have a music store that is always there. I love that I can click around and preview the songs. (Remember in the old days, when you went with 10 covers to the clerk in the music store asking if you could listen to them, and saw the grudge on his face as he knew you weren’t going to buy any of them)
It’s there so I use it. I can safely say that since I got my iPhone I have bought more music that what I have done in the last 5 years!

I am still very skeptical about buying too much music through iTunes though. I keep taking backups because I know that you cannot download it again if you lose it. You have to buy it again. Since I don’t want to mess up my iPhone working the garden, I bought an iPod shuffle as well. This causes me some trouble switching the synchronizing back and forth between it and the iPhone. Do not know why. And also the quality of some of the files from iTunes is really crappy.
So the service is not what I dreamt about, and I cannot understand why. Why do I buy the files one time, instead of buying the rights to the songs, being free to download them as many times as I like? Why is the quality so poor? I am willing to pay a bit more for it.

I really like to concept of Microsoft Zune though. Where you play a monthly fee of about the price of a CD but then you can listen to all the music they have available. But if you want to downloaded to other devices or burn audio CD’s then you pay for the songs or the albums themselves. You can create playlists and cards and share with your friends. They have created a community around the music and their device, and at a monthly fee that gives full access. This is a concept I like, this is what I pictured 6-7 years ago. Unfortunately Microsoft has not been able to released the Zune in Europe yet.

I can only hope the recording industry soon will join it's customers in the 21st century and sit down with musicians, Apple, Microsoft and other suppliers and come up with business models that they all can be satisfied with.  That gives us, the customers, the option to buy great music, at good quality, for our preferred device in all territories across the planet.
One big record company has to be the first to let go of old principles, releasing music on all platforms, in all regions and take the first gamble on that sales will increase if availability increases. If one large company takes the first step the others will follow.

But for now the iPhone and iTunes is the alternative I have, and combined they do make a very nice service that has given me back the joy of listening, exploring and finding great music again. So I am guessing I should be happy - for now.
The device has made me starting to spend money buying music again, so the music industry shold be happy as well. And I guess the iPhone has given the iTunes sales a bit of a boost. (Perhaps someone can find a link for it and comment on it) If so I hope the record industry acknowledges Apple, and others on this,  and listens to the deals they, I at least hope, are proposing.

Now I will find my iPhone and continue with the next chapter of one of the many Audiobooks I have also purchased through iTunes and relax the rest of this wounderful friday.

Thank you Apple - for giving me back my music.