Downsides of being out of the country (I): Buying music

Since I’ve been doing a series of posts on nice things about not being in the states, it only seems fair to write about some of the things I miss here and there. And one of the most important things in my life that I miss is buying music. It’s not to say Brazil doesn’t have a booming music industry of its own, and they certainly get a lot of major (and even a suprising number of minor) titles. However, as some of you may have noticed, I’m Mister Trend – my music tastes generally exceed what would be and is shipped abroad. Thus, there are some CDs I’d hoped to grab that may not arrive here for awhile, such as the new Beck album, and there are others that I doubt will ever get here, such as the new Decemberists album (see above post). Certainly, I have digital means of getting these and the numerous albums I’d hoped to have that are released while I’m out of the U.S., but the sensation of downloading isn’t the same as buying a CD, and I can’t support the artists who are deserving of my oh-so-trendy money. So for those of you in the U.S. who can go out and by the new album by some band nobody’s ever heard of….I envy you.