Library Music

I hate iTunes for a lot of reasons. Overcharging, overspending, overMac-ing. Slow and clunky. Inflexible. Blah blah blah. Mostly I feel like it's a rip-off.

Especially now that I remember that the library doesn't just have books and books on CD, but CDs- regular ones. And a pretty good collection at that. Case in point: I checked out 32 CD's tonight. I've had 'Load up mp3 player with travel music for trip' on my To-Do for a while. So now I can cherry-pick my way through ripping CDs, illegally listening to songs long after I return them to the library. It was a spectacle getting them through the self-check-out without the library attendant seeing me. Not that it's against the rules to check out that many, but I jammed most in my purse all the same. It made my next stop at the hardware store a bit awkward, but the evening was spent in my favorite way possible, sampling song after song to my heart's content.

Among my spoils:

• Justin Timberlake, because whoever said Samba is the music of passion hasn't listened to JT
• Stevie Ray Vaughn, because of Guitar Hero
• Radiohead, Gwen Stefani, Wilco, and Sly and the Family Stone, mostly because I want to be cool.
• John Mayer, 3 albums, because I unabashedly love his music
• Muse, James Taylor (Best of), Mariah Carey (the Ballads!), Lady Gaga, Ingrid Michaelson, Fiona Apple, and Elton John, because you can't go wrong
• A bunch more worth a song or two (Gotye, Christina Perri [to mess with Porter], Sigur Ros, Brandi Carlile
• A few wild-card surprises (Idina Menzel, Rita Wilson (as in Tom Hanks' curly-haired wife [she's not bad!]), and Almost Alice "Imaginative compositions brought to life by the fantastical world of Alice in Wonderland")

I left the library realizing that I know- most people know- just a tiny sliver of all musicians who produce CDs. There are so many non-celebrities out there making music who no one will every listen to. Good ones probably. And American Idol losers. And there are are at least 3 Britney Spears albums that I've NEVER heard of. How did that happen?

In better news, 3LW and JoJo are still on the shelf, so generations of library piraters can enjoy subtly autotuned 8th grade divas of taking a stand against cheating no-good boyfriends. (Each of these videos is seriously well worth watching, especially the rap interlude in 3LW's No More)

All travel playlist recommendations are welcome.