True, if one wants to enjoy the virtual pleasures of the MP3 format they must make an investment: First, you need high-speed Internet access (with DSL -- which on average costs $150 to set up, and $50 a month to maintain -- it takes about 40 seconds to download a 4MB song; on a 28K modem it takes 15 to 30 minutes). Next, to enjoy decent sound quality, you must link your computer to your stereo. Finally, you need lots of disk space (MP3s chew up space like nobody's business, so you need at least 10 gigabytes for a carefree download). The total sum for this upgrade is about $400. But, hey, it's worth it: Would you rather deny the future and get stuck in the past? That is not the American way! If we worried about pres-ervation and history, we'd be no better off than the Europeans, whose continent is nothing more than a huge museum. So to hell with these damn CDs (and LPs) that clutter our living rooms -- now's the time for invisible products.
As I enjoy hiphop music -- which is appropriate, as hiphop is the first truly virtual and postmodern music; music that's made from other music, from other musicians who bothered to do such trivial things as learn how to play an instrument -- it is hiphop that I search for and download from the Web. There are literally thousands upon thousands of hiphop files floating on the Net -- some are illegal, others are not. As I don't care to get into trouble with corporate lawyers and such, I will only mention a few of the legal sites that offer MP3 hiphop.
www.mp3.com
MP3.com has a huge hiphop section, and if you are willing to trudge through a veritable swamp of bad hiphop files for an hour or so (which is what I do, as I'm an insomniac with a powerful computer), you will occasionally find something tolerable. Once I found a file by a Christian rap band from Houston, Texas called IBC (Influenced By Christ) that actually wasn't half bad. All I had to do was overlook the delirious rap about Jesus battling Satan in the streets, and I was nodding my head.
www.hiphopmusic.com/mp3/mp3.html
If you want rare "live appearances" or "sneak previews" for big names like Eminem, then this is the place to go. The Underground Railroad Line has MP3s of a "classic radio appearance" by the Wu-Tang Clan ("from way back in 1992, with 5 original members"), and A Tribe Called Quest ("live on WBAI for 8 minutes straight"). "If you heard this anywhere else," they claim, "they stole it from here...." The Underground Railroad Line represents one of the great advantages of MP3s: If you are a connoisseur of rare recordings, then this is the best and, in most cases, only way to obtain them.
www.soundclick.com/charts/hiphop.htm
Now, I'll be honest -- there isn't a decent hiphop file to be found on this site. In fact, the best thing they have to offer is a band called Bawston Strangla, with a track called "Shamrocks & Glocks" ("True underground Irish hiphop," they claim). And the most impressive thing about this neo-House of Pain band is that the white rapper uses the word "nigger" (a word not even insane Slim Shady has uttered) twice on this hardcore "leprechaun gangsta" jam. The only reason why I bother to mention this website is that it allows visitors to vote on posted songs, and seeing as I can't vote politically (I'm not American yet), this affords me the opportunity to participate in some form of democracy while I'm waiting to become one of you.
I will agree that the MP3 form is not at the level of CD music in terms of quality, but it is our duty as Americans (and soon-to-become Americans) to embrace this new technology. If we don't do this, our economy will crash. So none of this un-American stuff about holding on to the past: Get into the brave new world of MP3s, or else.
