No such complaints about the Amazon MP3 store. On the other hand, I bought a copy of Ratt’s Back for More (don’t ask) and it has a skip in it. How the hell does a publisher’s copy of an .mp3 have a skip in it?
Album art is much, much more than just the front of the cover. At the very least there’s also the back. There can also be liner notes, gatefolds, posters (Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon and Queen’s Jazz come to mind), etc. etc.
With CDs the album art is smaller, but there’s still room for booklets that contain lyrics, pictures, full credits for each track, stories behind the songs, sometimes even a small poster. I’ve bought several albums by artists I’d never heard of because I recognized the sidemen listed on the back cover. I’ve never seen an MP3 that had the full personnel listed in a tag.
Yeah, a postage stamp sized jpeg is not quite the same thing as a physical booklet with pages of stuff you could leaf through.
Aye, take the True Soul V.1: Deep Sounds From The Left Of Stax compilation that I just got. If I had bought it on iTunes (or amazon or Napster or w/e), I wouldn’t have gotten the “56- page, full color hardbound book chock full of photos, ephemera and extensive liner notes”. Ditto for Psych Funk Sa-Re-Ga! and it’s awesome 26 page book detailing the songs and careers of the artists, with beautiful reproductions of the original album art.
Plus, the quality of the recording is much better in CDA format, and I can rip mp3s at whatever bitrate I prefer.
I’m puzzled by the OP.
I lost a few songs that we purchased years ago. Didn’t buy them again and didn’t make a fuss about deleting them.
On the most recent iTunes update, a new feature appeared that allowed me to re-download the songs:
Open iTunes
In the upper right corner (at least on my Mac) there is your email address. Click here to access your account.
Log In
In your account there is a link to view account history. Click it.
Look at your account history. You should be able to see all the songs you have ever purchased. If a song is on the list, but not in your library, there should also be a button to re-download it. Click it.
Hope this helps.
When I bought the digital copy of Duran Duran’s latest CD, via iTunes, the traditional “CD booklet” was included, as a .pdf. I thought that was pretty cool.
For the OP, I echo sachertorte. Unless you changed the account that you’re using, your history is in iTunes and can still be accessed. There’s almost zero chance that your music is gone forever. Glitches happen, there’s no need to impugn an entire company and its founder over a glitch.
Oh sure, you could do it the easy, rational way… but then you miss a good opportunity to bash Mac and Steve Jobs. And where’s the fun in that?
I have three words to those who bash Steve:
Apple
Stock
Price
Thanks, Steve! Please live forever. 
Well, I did call Apple and got things straightened out. The biggest problem I had was that when I tried to redownload the lost songs was that it told me I couln’t download them because they weren’t purchased with my Apple ID, which of course they were. So, I’m happy and Steve Jobs doesn’t suck so bad after all. However, I still won’t buy any more itunes cause I’m afraid doing so will delete what I alreay have.
Another one who buys CDs. If anything ever crashes, I’ve still got the originals. And I love Steve Jobs and Apple.
Huh. I tended to have them full screen. And I looked up album art, and it always seems to refer to the covers. And I haven’t seen books in most CDs in almost 10 years.
If you are complaining about the lack of extras, then I 100% agree. It’s part of why I just listen on YouTube. If I’m not going to get any extras, I might as well not pay. Heck, it’s why I still buy physical copies of movies (albeit second hand).
I have an apple laptop, an apple desktop, two ipads and everyone in my family has iphones.
Despite all that I HATE APPLE TOO.
I found a gently used 5th generation ipod in my yard the other day…I almost ran it over with my lawn tractor. Checked with the neighbors, nobody claimed it…bought a $3 USB charging/data cable from Toys R Us the other day, and by jove, it works!
Thanks Steve!
Hmm…I thought booklets were still standard. I haven’t bought a CD since about 2005 or 6 (and that one did have a booklet with lyrics, art, etc.) Is the CD cover now just a single-sheet insert?
Actually, a lot of bands I know put out vinyl, which then comes with a download code for the MP3s. It’s kind of a neat system.
I will never understand why people don’t take advantage of the free engraving to put their email address on the back of their iPods. If I ever lose mine, I’ll at least have a hope of getting it back again.
It’s not a bug, it’s a feature. They were going for the whole “retro vinyl” feel, you see.
I had the same thing happen to me Thursday. I downloaded two Typhoon albums, they worked fine, then a few hours later, when I connected my iPod to my computer to transfer my purchases, one of the Typhoon albums plus half a Cake album vanished, and when I tried to re-download them, I got that same error message. I emailed iTunes support, and they finally fixed it this morning and I could download them again.
You can’t have your Cake and iTunes, too.
You’ll certainly have the last laugh when the AACpocalypse comes.