My thoughts exactly.
I am a HUGE lover of music; always have been since I was a kid. I was really into "alternative" music in my teens, in the early 70s, and I have tried to keep up with the "good stuff" in a wide variety of genre ever since.
I like virtually everything as long as it's "good," which I define (very subjectively, I admit) as ANYTHING that someone put great thought and effort into.
The dreck that passes for mainstream pop has always been foul to me, whether we're talking about "The Partridge Family" in the early 70s or Britney Spears/N'Sync/Backstreet Boys ad nauseum today.
And I think most "hip-hop" is actually dragging our impressionable youth into the swamp out of which they cannot escape. Yet I think a lot of what passes for "hip-hop" these days is very good (Carl Craig is one name that comes to mind).
So I don't care what the "style" is, as long as someone tries to put wit and intelligence into it.
Unfortunately, the cost of CDs is such that you simply can't purchase enough of them to enable you to explore what you haven't had time to listen to--and it's surprising how much "stuff" that is universally accepted as "great stuff" I haven't had time to hear yet, even after years.
For example: I bought SIX CDs the other day, including one two-disc retrospective of the B-52s. And it cost nearly $100! My budget won't allow me to get everything I want. As it is, my CD collection is about 250 discs, but it's barely passable, IMO.
With my tastes, you'd have to get up around the 1,500 mark before you'd have something approaching "representative".
But the Rhapsody service may quite possibly make it all a moot point. If I can listen to a wide range of things--especially the stuff I've never had time to explore--then I can decide on purchasing the discs later on, when portability becomes important.
IMO, the music industry needs to get in line. They need to understand they'd better come up with a way to make money off digital music distribution, because that train is leaving the station with them or without them!
THIS ARTICLE from a couple of months ago, which includes some details of where Listen.Com/Rhapsody has been and where it may be heading, is a case in point. Just look at the numbers of people sharing music files online; it has GROWN since the effective death of Napster, which supposedly was going to nip it all in the bud.
Anyway, finally getting a chance to listen to all of The Clash's "Combat Rock" as I type. Great!