"Buy It"

[Editor's note: As you can see, I changed the format here. Please feel free to weight in on the new look.]

I just made my first legal music download.

I know, I know. I am decades behind everyone else with their iTunes and Rhapsody and whatnot. I admit - I had been downloading music illegally for a while (and truth be told, if I really liked the artist, I'd go to a music store - physical or online - and by the CD.) But that route was often limiting, and well, illegal.

But now I joined my brethren in the 21st century. I had been nervous about the whole process, mainly because I just don't fully understand it. Questions like whether I can burn the songs on a CD or email them to a friend or put them on my mp3 player or another computer daunted me, and I can't say they are fully answered. I was also unsure which music service to use and how they were different, and frankly, researching the topic just seemed boring and confusing to me.

Now I am finding it's just too easy. My credit card information is saved, and all I have to do is find the song or artist and click the "Buy It" button. Then the song miraculously appears in my jukebox and then neatly organized by artist in my music folder. This could be dangerous. My first downloads were a song from randomly obscure Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark (it came on recommendation) and the awesomely ubiquitous Sean Paul. I am poised to make more purchases.

In other news, I finally mustered up the motivation to send my resume and clips to two places. I am not massively overexcited about either of them, but they are the gateway applications - kind of like the gateway purchase. When you are shopping, you sometimes have to just buy something small off the bat to get the spending rolling. After that first purchase, it somehow becomes easier to find what you are looking for and lay down the cash for what you need.

So now, I am hoping that will just set off a firestorm of available jobs and a deluge of motivation on my part. We'll see.