Thursday, May 10, 2007

CURSE YOU, CITIBANK!!!

I am so angry with Citibank right now. They have earned my eternal hatred and also a potential well-worded letter of outrage.

Why?

Because! They sent me a $25 gift card to iTunes to thank me for being a ‘valued customer’. And I said to myself, “Eh, what do I want with this?! Huh, maybe I’ll just re-gift it…I just don’t see what all the fuss is about with this whole i-music-pod-casting-whatever thing YOU KNOW, vinyl was good enough for me, I just don’t get this whole download-thing …”

So I went to the site, you know, just for a quick peek…

It took me all of about ten minutes to burn through the whole $25. Seriously. And a lot of willpower to resist downloading about sixty-zillion ‘just one more!’ (which is also how I can go through fifty bucks at the dollar store). And now I’m finding myself wondering where we put those awesome speakers we used to have on the tower computer (didn’t that system have a subwoofer? Right ON!) and about these i-Pod things and how I might get my hands on one, because I’m pretty sure I’m the last person in the northern hemisphere without one, GOSH I am such a dinosaur…!

Also, I’m completely sure my playlist is proof that I am a terribly unbalanced person. Country, R&B, Soul, Rock, Classical, Alternative, Pop, Dang That’s So Old We Can’t Believe Anybody Wants It, Wait – did she just download Redneck Woman?!...

YEEEEEEEEHAW!

The sad truth is, the first time I got myself into serious trouble with credit cards (yes, there was more than one time – I am not one to learn a lesson the first time around, I need repetition and also to have it repeated and maybe reiterated a couple more times before I ‘get it’) it was on music. A $3,000 stereo system (at the time, I was making about $18,000 a year), buying new albums every eight seconds, going through money like water buying singles (remember those?) and blank cassette tapes to burn the vinyl onto so I could play them in my car…and then a CD player for my car (and this was when they skipped more than they played – I am still amazed at how far that technology has come!)…

I am so angry with Citibank right now. You know, this is just like walking up to a recovering alcoholic and waving a bottle of rum under her nose. “Just one little drinkie-poo! C’mon! You know you love it…”

ARGH.

I wonder if they have any 12-step programs for recovering music-holics.

Maybe I should just head over to the i-Tunes store…surely, if there is such a program, they’d have a link to it, right…? Ooooooooh! Check it out!!

…So don't delay act now supplies are running out
Allow if you're still alive
six to eight years to arrive
And if you follow there may be a tomorrow
But if the offer is shun
You might as well be walkin' on the sun


Crap. Iiiiiiiiiiiii’m a goner…they’ve got “my” music…quick, name a rewards program that carries i-Tune cards!!

(Double crap. How pathetic is that? Might as well put a sign on my blog: Will fill out surveys for i-Tunes…please, c’mon, man, hook a sistah up, I’m dying over here! They've got WILDFIRE, and I haven't heard that in, like, TWENTY YEARS!!!)

8 comments:

Jen said...

hehehe... I can hook you up. Go to any Wal-Mart and buy a gift card or an i-Tunes card. The Wal-Mart gift card is for use at walmart.com and the songs are only .88 instead of .99 like at i-Tunes. You can evedn get a rechargable music card from Wal-Mart. When it runs out, you go back to the local Wally World and put more on it. Or get a program like Frost Wire... only you didn't hear that one from me. *whistling an innocent tune as I slink back into the dark corners where people like me lurk, waiting for the innocent who dare to stray into the seedier side of music addiction*

Amy Lane said...

That's okay--you'll figure it's money well spent when you hear your kids saying stuff like, "I really like the Rolling Stones"--"yeah--what's your favorite song of theirs?"--

Heard that this morning... treasure it always...

KMK said...

Some Coinstar machines let you put your money onto an iTunes card (or Starbucks cards). Not really a reward program, but at least you don't have to spend thousands to get $25.

RM Kahn said...

I love it when my son discovers groups like, The Beatles.... or Bad Company. My Ipod has 3184 songs on it and I carry a full cart in Itunes so I can shop whenver I have the extra $$. Who needs a 6 disc CD player in thier car when you have an Ipod. I wonder what I'll do when I fill up my Ipod?

marit said...

hmmm-what's an iPod???LOL!
By the way- I've tagged you for a little game-please see my blog for more info. Have a nice day (with or without music...)

PipneyJane said...

This is what I've got: http://tinyurl.com/269gxr (and, yes, it's pink). It plays MP3 and WMA files, as well as being a DAB digital radio. It's only 1gb, but I wanted a portable digital radio as well as an MP3 player and that was the largest capacity available.

My biggest disappointment is that the only radio station I can get at work is "Planet Rock". Great for general listening (I try not to head-bang in the office), but useless when you want to listen to the cricket.

- Pam

Unknown said...

Perhaps your next hobby should be music piracy! Its cheaper.

Seriously though, if you're really thinking you may become a repeat customer you might consider using a different service. There are a number of places out there that will give you unlimited downloads for a monthly fee of about $15-20. The catch is that the music is licensed and will stop playing if you stop paying your fee, but at least you can download 10 albums a week without finding yourself homeless with a $2 million bill from the RIAA.

Another thing to try exploring is internet radio...pandora.com, shoutcast.com, live365.com, sonafm.com, etc, etc. You'll find all kinds of artists and songs you never would have heard of otherwise.

Christi said...

Green Linnet (greenlinnet.com) has a free MP3 every week that you can download. They used to have about a dozen MP3s in the archive, but today they just have two. I need to remember to check there weekly. They also used to let you stream (not download, though) the audio from a full album at a time, but they've redesigned the site and I haven't figured out yet if that still works.

Amazon.com also used to have dozens of free MP3s, but they seem to be gone. It looks like they replaced the free downloads with a podcast of "Music you should hear" instead. I downloaded quite a few from Amazon, but being on dialup really limits how much I can download. I'd rather pick what I want than wait hours for a podcast full of fluff to download anyway.