Technology Fail!

[hwango]

I'm a big fan of the Culture Kultür albums Revenge and Reborn. It's been 5 years since Reborn, and I was starting to wonder if we'd ever have any more releases from them. But at last - Spirit has been released! And for a mere $35, Amazon would import me a copy. Wait, no - that's really more than I want to pay for a CD. Ah, we have an affiliated seller who can get it for about $28. Blah. Or I could download the MP3 version, which is unsatisfying - no booklet with lyrics, the slight loss of sound quality, etc. But hey, only $9. So I was going to suck it up and just get the MP3. I figured with my crap internet connection it might take all night to download, but it was worth a shot.

Well, I installed the Amazon Download Thingy, which is required in order to get the album price. They have a link to download a free test song to make sure it works. Guess what? It doesn't! Awesome! I can't tell you how glad I am they included that button so I didn't just throw away my money.

So, where are we now? We're looking at the band web site to make sure we can't just buy an actual CD from them. Hmm, not directly, but their stuff is sold through Caustic Records in Spain. I can get it for 15 Euros including shipping. So how much is that? Well, I'd be paying through Paypal, so let's see how much they think it would be. Hah, their currency conversion tool is broken!

Clearly, it is time to fire up the death ray and put an end to all of this nonsense.

Eventually I found a non-Paypal conversion tool to at least give me an idea. $20.64. Hmm. It's not a number that fills me with happiness, but I'm not sure what other options are worth pursuing at this point.

Comments

[unferth.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure you could convince someone to download the .mp3 version from Amazon for you and arrange some form of in-person transfer, should that end up being the best option despite the various down sides you mentioned. It'd be no big deal for me, just for instance.

[hwango.livejournal.com]

I wasn't sure if that would work - I didn't know if there was some kind of fiddly juju on the files to keep them from being handed around. But the user agreement says that you're supposed to be able to burn your own copies (for your own use, of course), so I guess that shouldn't be an issue.

I may very well take you up on that offer. Less than half price and not worrying about the CD being devoured by international shipping are both big marks in favor of downloading. I'll let you know what I decide - thanks.

[unferth.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Amazon sells .mp3 files, and those are DRM-free. Which is one reason I always buy from them instead of iTunes when I can. Not that I'm distributing them, since I'm a believer in copyrights, but it's nice to have the option to back them up and transfer them between my various computers.

As long as I don't keep a copy for myself it's clearly ethical to download the files on your behalf, and I care about that more than I do about the exact details of the end-user agreement/license terms. Well, that and what will actually work - but the Amazon-sold MP3s should be freely transferable.

[fenris-lorsrai.livejournal.com]

this place has it for less, but apparently has a minimum order (http://www.grooves-inc.com/culture-kult-uuml-spirit-caustic-records-cd-album-pZZa1-858772039.html?currency=USD)

If it's amazon's own tool that's going kerflooey, you could try grabbing it through one of the Amazon clones, like downloading it from amazon UK (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Spirit/dp/B004B6XC5O/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1290410033&sr=8-12) or amazon germany (http://www.amazon.de/Spirit/dp/B004B5LWYI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1290410289&sr=8-1)

You can also set up a search it on Ebay and have it mail you anytime one is listed. Or do same through Google Alerts and it'll tip you off when its listed anywhere. 'tis a sneaky way to find that type of obscure thing. Just make sure to use quotation marks around the band name or you may get lots of junk.

[hwango.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link - I suppose I could poke around and see if they had anything else I wanted. If nothing else, I'm amused that rather than template it as "orders of at least x get free shipping!" it's "orders less than x pay a Your Order Is Too Small fee!"

And that's an interesting idea to try downloading it from an Amazon clone. I don't think I ever would have thought of that.

[gunthersdncemix.livejournal.com]

That is interesting. I once ordered a product for a friend in the UK from amazon.uk to avoid shipping/dvd format complications but never thought of it for mp3's.