Our kids all have MP3 players or iPods.  So as you can guess, I have become very acquainted with iTunes and downloading songs.  The kids have been getting gift cards for music and we have downloaded a boatload of music.  I have come to the conclusion that this method of buying music is extremely frugal and a real money saver.

Think about the old days of buying CDs, cassettes, 8-tracks, and vinyl albums . . . too old for some of you?  You generally paid between $10 and $20 for a CD (maybe less when it hits the bargain bin).  Usually, you get two to three songs you like and the rest is a waste of money.  Yes, you could buy singles, but they were usually more expensive if they were actually available.

Music downloads have solved that problem at about $0.99 a piece, you get the three songs you want and it saves you money by not having you buy the "waste" on the album.  My kid's $20 gift card gets them 20 songs they really want as opposed to just two to three songs.  Effectively, every dollar spent gets you something you want.

This is also a win for the producers of the music-- they save the production and distribution costs of traditional media-- more profit in their eyes.

A final benefit of music downloads is the lack of clutter, no physical media-- I think we can all appreciate that.

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