My Obsession With Jimmy Eat World and Why iTunes is Bad

So, I have this obsession with Jimmy Eat World's music. It is not as bad as my fascination with Facebook, but I cannot get enough of my Jimmy.

It stems from about three years ago when I was in a long-term/long-distance relationship with a guy who was a musician (or whatever you call an 18 year-old who has a garage band) and absolutely in love with Jimmy too. Everytime we would hang out, Jimmy always came along and would play in the background.

Entering the relationship, I had heard of Jimmy and listened to the usual "Sweetness" and "The Middle" when it played on the radio, but had little knowledge of this band. But, being a sweet and dedicated 18 year-old girlfriend, I hung onto every world and let my boy completely educate me on "the world" of this band.

Being that he went to college in Miami and I was at Texas, I received homemade CDs in the mail with tons of Jimmy songs, along with other "emo-ish" songs of the time (Yellowcard, Something Corporate, you name it) and would play these on my stereo. I memorized the songs that characterized our relationship like any other youthful teen would do.

As all "long-distance high school relationships that go to college" do, we broke up. For about 1.5 years I tried to avoid Jimmy. It was painful to listen to those words and that voice because it evoked so many memories. However, as I got over the relationship, I returned to Jimmy.

Intro, iTunes... where in about 3 seconds you can make an impulse decision to download $1000 worth of songs, and immediately have buyer's remorse.

A couple of months ago Jimmy released a new album called "Chase this Light." I saw it pop up on iTunes and I had to download the music. I even updated my "status" on Facebook to note how happy I was to be listening to new Jimmy music. It was bliss!! The new music kicks major ass.

However, being a student, I have really been trying to conserve money. Especially with iTunes, where each song is $1... slightly expensive. I remember the days when music was free. I was unfortunate enough to not have a computer at the time of Napster and be able to download thousands of music like the rest of the world. However, my friends would make CDs for me... so music was still free. Now, I hate having to pay so much for music, but do it because it all streamlines from iTunes to iPod to being backed up on a server somewhere in Cupertino, California.

As I was getting ready to go to downtown Austin last night, I made an impulse decision to download everything iTunes had to offer of Jimmy Eat World. Negative $50 and two seconds later, I was in Jimmy bliss, rocking out to "Clarity," "Night Drive" and all of my old favorites.

I immediately had buyer's remorse. I could have used that money on three vodka tonics, a cab and a trip to Taco Cabana!! But alas, iTunes is so good that it is bad. It encourages impulse decisions. But, I do have my Jimmy... and that is what matters.