Well, it's been awhile.  I just haven't felt inspired to write much of anything in the past few weeks.  I started an entry waaaay back on the 13th and simply lost the desire to finish it.  It's complete now, and finally up for your viewing pleasure if you so choose.  There's also this entry from the 29th describing a comedy of errors I had the misfortune of subjecting one of our patients to.  Three entries for the price of one, woo-hoo.

I've been downloading MP3's using Napster for hours at a time over the past week, thinking the plug was going to be pulled on them last Friday.  I was relieved to hear that they were allowed to remain in operation (but somehow I was a bit ticked off that I had spent all that time geeking out in front of the computer because I'd thought they were going to bite the dust).  In any case, I've got lots of new songs that I'm quite happy about, especially the live bootlegs of Neil Finn performances from his 1998 Try Whistling This tour.

Several weeks ago I started to listen to the Crowded House (the group that Finn used to lead) album Afterglow in earnest.  It's a collection of B-sides and various "orphans and strays" (as the album's liner notes put it) that had never made it on to any Crowded House studio album.  I'd actually bought it back in April but wasn't too keen on it after the first listen, and put it away.  After I bought the bonus interview CD earlier this month, I decided to give it another try.  Sure enough, I ended up loving it.

I experienced the same reaction with every album Crowded House put out since their 1986 self-titled debut, and later with Finn's Try Whistling This.  I'd listen to it for the first time, and wonder if this would finally be a Neil Finn album that I didn't like.  It's never happened.  Once I lived with the music for awhile, it grew on me.  Finn's brand of well-crafted, intelligent pop can be an acquired taste, but is ultimately far more rewarding then your average Top 40 hit.

As much as I like his solo work so far, though, after listening to Afterglow, I realized how much I wished Crowded House were still together in their original form:  singer/songwriter/guitarist Finn, drummer Paul Hester, and bassist Nick Seymour.  There was a chemistry between them, especially in their spirited live perfomances, that I don't think will ever be duplicated.  Their trademark harmonies and strong melodies distinguished them from the grunge sound that was becoming increasingly popular, and were a throwback to a time when rock musicians actually paid attention to those things.  The fact that Afterglow, their "throwaway" songs, is so strong an album in it's own right, just confirms that they were one of the best pop bands of their time.

But getting back to the subject of Napster - I hope they manage to stay afloat, even though I think the argument that the recording industry makes is a valid one in some respects.  Yes, the so-called "sharing" of MP3's probably does constitute copyright infringement.  We're getting good-quality copies of songs without having to pay for them.  However - and maybe this is a weak argument, but I'll make it anyway - I personally wouldn't pay the full price of a compact disc to get the majority of the songs I've acquired.  Most of the time I like one, maybe two songs off of any given album, and I've always thought it unfair that the consumer is forced to buy the entire album just for those one or two tracks (which is why, even after nearly ten years of CD-player ownership, I own fewer than 40 CD's).  If Napster or the MP3 format didn't exist, I simply wouldn't have purchased those albums at all, so in my view the record companies really haven't lost any money by my downloading songs.  Actually, I would be perfectly willing to pay a small fee per song if the major record labels made them available individually for legal downloading, but as far as I know, that option doesn't exist.  So I turn to Napster, where I can get the stuff I want without all the filler.

The recording industry is also ignoring the fact that Napster can be a good promotional tool.  I've mentioned before that I've recently become a rabid fan of Collective Soul, and that absolutely wouldn't have happened if I hadn't been able to download a few of their songs first.  I went out and bought a couple of their albums as a result, so I actually contributed to the industry.  I'm always more than willing to buy the complete CD if it comes from an artist who's material I know I'll like, and I wouldn't have known I'd like Collective Soul so much if it hadn't been for Napster.

Instead of trying to quash companies like Napster and MP3.com, I hope the recording industry realizes the potential the technology has to expand the listening audience, and decides to find a way to use it to their advantage.  Who knows?  Maybe everyone can come out a winner.

I'm getting off my soap box now.