My future of music - a progress report

I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact that in the future I probably won't be "buying" music, the future will be like Spotify or We7 or last.fm. When I want to hear something I'll just go online and I'll hear it. Maybe I'll have paid a subscription or maybe I'll grit my teeth through the ads but I won't be "buying" or "owning" anything.

I've already reached the point that I documented the first steps toward a couple of years ago. With a very few notable exceptions I now buy all my music as downloads, if I can't buy it for download I'll either do without or find another way to get it onto my computer .

I am happy that I have come to terms with not having to make that commitment and therefore don't feel concerned about the plastic and paper, the petrol and packaging, the trees and climate change that buying those physical objects involve.

Today I downloaded The Mummers album from eMusic and it's very typical of my recent buying, I'll hear a track I like (in this case on "Later...") and I'll take a chance on the whole album, but I suspect that this is where the next change will come. I didn't need to "take a chance" I could have shot off to Spotify and tried out the whole album before I made a commitment to buy. While I've managed to fight off the desire for physical declaration of my love, I still love the feeling of gambling, of taking a step in the dark. I know that will probably change but I'm happy with how far I've come in the two and a bit years. And while it's maybe not how I imagined the future would be I think it's probably a good thing.