Now that Apple offers music through the iTunes program, there is a much better concept for buying music. You get a relevant 30 second sample, which can be used to decide if this music suits me. And you don't have to wait for the cd to arrive. Also, you don't have to pay a monthly subscription fee to the service.

Fortunately the Apple music store is not currently open for non-Americans. Last month I was close to breaking the limit on my Visa due to some impulse cd purchases on the net. I fear what Apple can do to my Visa.

Buying music in electronic format has also drawbacks. If you lose the contents of your hard disk and don't have backups, there is little you can do. Of course, the same applies to cds as well. One of the cds I recently bought, 'World Without Tears' by Lucinda Williams, refused to play on my Sony cd player and on my iBook. However, I managed to read it on my PowerBook G4, and converted it to the AAC format for my iPod.