I talked up “Diva” so much last time that a sense of proper decency came over me. I should be an honest man, show a genuine commitment, and put down some money for the cause. Even though it is far beyond its shelf life I wanted to put in my own small affirmation that the record today is worth some merit and holds value to me. I thought I’d just go out and buy a copy of the album, but it raised the question of how do I convey that value back to Annie Lennox, or any other artist, without just paving a row of intermediary fees that falls short of my intentions?

I have to come clean that I initially got ahold of the record by downloading it through a peer-to-peer netowork, and it was a high quality (320 kbps) rip of the CD. Coincidentally I have several unopened CDs from when I got a digital copy and followed up with buying the disc just to be proper. Most often the reasoning/rationalization was that I didn’t want wait to get the physical copy so I’d simultaneously order the physical copy and download a digital copy. Over the last couple of years things have progressed somewhat in that Amazon sells a lot of albums at a reasonable $5 for digital downloads, and now they even complement many physical CD purchases with an immediate download of the record. I can remember a few years ago feeling the drudgery of ordering a CD from Amazon and then just marking the days and weeks on my calendar until I could give the disc a listen.

Again I was going to rely on Amazon for a physical copy. I thought about buying the digital version for about $10, but I knew I wouldn’t get anything better from that – the rip/compression would be a lot lower than what I already had. I priced out the physical copy, which would give me the actual uncompressed tracks along with whatever artwork/liner notes there were, and it was going for about $14. I was feeling devoted at the time, so I went ahead with the order, but then Amazon informed me they expected delivery date was some time 2 to 3 MONTHS from now. And so the order sat there for a few days since I didn’t feel any urgency. As sometimes occurs, I was wandering aimlessly in Walmart and I was curious to take a census of the “Lennox, Annie” slot in the music aisle. Amazingly, yes there was a “Diva” CD and it was five dollars. Boggle. I decided to buy it then and there and to cancel my Amazon order out of mild frustration. The question still hangs over me of how to give a record justice. I have no naive delusions $5 for a record at Walmart hardly makes it out of their front door, much less a trickle of revenue back to the source.