Wincing The Vinyl Away

Alright. I recently admitted that I did not go out and buy The Shins new album Wincing The Night Away, when it was released officially a few weeks ago. Three reasons really came into play. First, I was broke. Second, I have had a perfect copy of the album for several months. And Third, I honestly played it out so bad, that I didn't even have a desire to listen to it in its true form.

So for the first time in years, I broke my own rule. A personal rule that states the following....

It is only ok to illegally download an anticipated album if I commit myself to an "eventual purchase".

Now obviously if the supposed anticipated album that has leaked turns out to be terrible, then the commitment to slap down money to buy it does not exist. It ends there.

But with an album such as Wincing The Night Away, which I am crazy about, there is no doubt that I have to own the real thing. I feel good about supporting the artist, not so much financially, but just to get out there and contribute to the number of albums they sell. To show them and the label that I want this band to be able to continue to make music. It's also important to me to keep my own collection of cd's and each bands catalog up to date.

Feeling my regret over the past few weeks, I ended up wandering into Bert's on Saturday. I wasn't really concerned at that point about catching up on my Shins collection. I just wanted to wander in, and buy a random cd (Writers Block) that I can't download from eMusic. Plus, I like Bert's and I like Bert. It's important to support my local music shop.

While scanning the walls that are covered in new vinyl records, I noticed that he had Wincing The Night Away. My chance to redeem myself perhaps. Though I am a serious vinyl collector, I have never bypassed a CD purchase and moved straight into vinyl. Until this day. I noticed the sticker on front of the record. It stated that inside the package of this vinyl album there was a code that would allow me to download mp3's of each song.

Now, this is nothing new. I have seen this concept appear from time to time on other vinyl albums. Personally I think its a great idea. Many people consider vinyl to be the "true format". So If i can buy a copy of an album in its true vinyl form and be able to download the album on its dreaded low quality file format...then Im all in!

So now I own Wincing The Night Away. Giant 12"x12" artwork, bonus poster, free mp3 downloads from Sub Pop....and my own copy of the album....in its true format. All for only $13.99.

And future anticipated vinyl releases that will include free mp3 downloads are the new Ted Leo/Rx album and the new Arcade Fire album.

Very exciting.