Pepsi / iTunes Rocks...and Wikipedia is Pretty Cool Too.

I have been keeping track. Since the Pepsi/iTunes music giveaway has started, I have clicked that button 48 times! No, I have not actually consumed 48 Diet Pepsis, but it is pretty close. I have had colleagues, and even a couple of my students donate winning caps to the cause. Of all of the Diet Pepsi that I have purchased, only five bottles have been duds. And those five have come from the vending machines on campus. I learned pretty early on that if you tilt the bottle just the right way, you can tell if the bottle is a winner, or if you see the dreaded "PLEASE PLAY AGAIN" on the cap. Some poor schmuck posted the secret on the Internet and got himself Slashdotted for the courtesy. What a drag, share something for the good of the world, and either have your bandwidth allowance shot 15 minutes into a new month, or get a bill from your hosting service that is bigger than your mortgage payment. Not that I wouldn't mind the experience. For the truly geekish, it starts the clock on your 15 minutes of fame.

Back on topic...the iTunes Music Store is pretty awesome for your iPod, and potentially pretty bad for those of us with occasional impulse control issues. The Pepsi giveaway has been a cool way to get "free" music. Free in quotes because of course you have to by the cold carbonated caffeine to get it. Hmmm, which way to look at it? Spend $1 on a bottle of soda and get a free song, or spend $1 on a song and get a free bottle of soda? Actually, in MI, you get 10 cents deposit back as well. Who knows? Who cares? I do digress.

48 songs. Mostly free. Legally downloaded. As long as artificial sweeteners don't end up causing cancer, I am OK.