I’m not sure Amazon has thought this out completely. They’re now automatically putting “auto-ripped” images of any CD you’ve ever bought into your Amazon cloud. Which is thoughtful of them, I guess. Except that some non-trivial number of Amazon CDs I’ve bought have been gifts to other people. Which means that I don’t own (and really, have never owned) the CDs that Amazon is putting into my cloud.
So, net effect is as if I yanked off the shrink-wrap and ripped the CDs before sending them on their merry way. I know my reaction should be “hey! free stuff”, but I actually find it mildly annoying.
I think all of the entities trying to ram cloud-based stuff down our throats, or, put another way, trying to drag our lives into their playground, are so bent on doing so that it’s the online equivalent of a gang war.
You prompted me to go check and yup, it imported a whole bunch of songs I did indeed purchase on cd… for other people. Too bad for me that these are not my taste in music, but they were on other people’s wish lists.
It goes back to (We’re going to party like it’s) 1999. Or so I’ve read.
I share you’re feelings about the RIAA’s earholes but presumably someone at Amazon mentioned this to their legal department before pushing the button.
If Amazon bought and paid for an MP3 album and then gave that album to you, the artists are getting paid for that and the RIAA would get its cut, right?
Oh, I just got an email from Amazon, and now my cloud is updated with 5 CDs. I bought Dru Hill? I do not recall ever participating in something like that.
hipster mode on
Apparently my music tastes are too obscure be to ripped. /off
But seriously, Amazon is great for getting out-of-print used CDs, or weird imports, that are otherwise not available for download anywhere. I’m not surprised that my Japanese bootleg of an 80’s Throwing Muses performance isn’t on their rip list.
Drinks micro-brew bock in smug satisfaction. No, you wouldn’t have heard of it, it’s only brewed locally by…
Huh?? You mean, like, if you checked the “I want Amazon to gift wrap this for me” box? Because other than that, no one ever tells Amazon if something is going to be a gift when they buy it. (I think this is true even if you have it sent to a different address than your (usual) one).)
Ha! So I got 10 albums in the cloud, 3 of which were gifts that I am utterly uninterested in. Other than those there was a Mitch Hedburg album (Strategic Grill Locations), pretty much my all-time fav album (In the Aeroplane Over the Sea for what it’s worth) and 5 albums from my embarassing indie phase. Doves, Raindeer Section, Elbow? I listened to a bit and don’t remember anything. Thanks for the bizarre memories, Amazon! Still not gonna use your cloud!
I didn’t get that one, but I did get Aftermath and Between the Buttons.
And about 40 more albums. But not nearly all I’ve bought since 1999. The sidebar on the same screen was even giving me recommendations based on other CDs I’d bought which haven’t appeared in cloud versions. I wonder if they’re going to keep on licensing digital copies of more things, and I’ll see more of the back catalog, or if this is it.
Interesting. I don’t remember any way to mark something as a gift (and I can’t think of why you would want to, or why Amazon would want you to) unless you wanted Amazon to gift-wrap it for you – but correct me if I’m wrong about this.
