I feel like Tom Petty just kicked me in the nuts

Generally I am not a fan of Apple products. I don’t like their computers because they work too much like a “black box.” I think the iPhone is an overpriced piece of crap. And for the first few generations of iPod, they would break as soon as your warranty ran out.

I fell victim to the latter scam a couple of years ago. Within weeks after the manufacturer’s warranty expired, my 4th generation iPod quit working completely, and I was without an MP3 player for a long time because I couldn’t afford a replacement. I didn’t plan on ever buying another iPod because the one I’d had reaffirmed my belief that Steve Jobs builds shit. In 2006 though, after hearing that the performance and durability had been greatly improved in the new generation, I caved and bought one. I liked the interface more than any of the rival MP3 players I had checked out, and I was already familiar with iTunes after continuing to use it to play music on my PC. To my surprise, it has since served me well.

One thing about it really chaps my ass, though, and that’s the iTunes store. Now, it’s nice that they release free singles every so often, and it’s cool to be able to buy a single song with a couple of clicks and seamlessly integrate it with my iPod, especially when I don’t want to buy the full album. I am a bit of a traditionalist though, and if I’m going to buy a full album, I’d like to actually be able to hold it in my hands. Buying a CD means I have a hard copy backup that will never go away no matter how catastrophic a computer crash I have. I also feel like I’m getting more for my money, because it’s as cheap as—or even cheaper than—buying the digital album, and I have something to hold in my hand afterwards. And no matter what bitrate you import your music files at, the sound quality of the original will always be a little better on CD than .mp3, .aac, .m4a, or whatever “Apple Lossless” format you import to. Not a big deal to the casual listener, but noticeable to the discerning ear.

So imagine my dismay in learning after I bought the new Mudcrutch album that there was a bonus track available, if you bought the album through iTunes, that you could not buy individually. Not only is the track unavailable in its purest format, but I also can’t buy that track by itself, despite already having paid for the whole album already. My options are to either purchase a digital copy of the whole album, or obtain the song by an illegal download or copy from someone who did buy the album online. I’m not big on illegal downloads, because I am a pretty paranoid guy and I couldn’t do so with a clear conscience. And I don’t know anybody who can make an untraceable copy of the song. So there is a Mudcrutch song I probably will never hear.

I could probably get over that if this wasn’t a recurring theme. Offhand, I can think of five albums with which I’ve had this very problem, and another—Coldplay’s Viva la Vida—that I haven’t bought yet because I’m torn as to which medium I should purchase it on. I don’t fault iTunes, though—if I were in Apple’s position (the company, not Chris Martin’s hideous daughter), I’d probably do the same thing. They're essentially saying, “If you want to hear an extra track that you can’t find anywhere else, buy the album from us.” That’s just smart business. But by entering into these agreements with Apple, the artists are depriving some of their fans of music.

It’s never incensed me before quite like this instance, but Tom Petty is a guy who has openly criticized the music industry for driving up CD prices, taking advantage of consumers with unfair marketing tactics, and so on. But on this record, where he returned to his pre-Heartbreakers roots, to a time when the music industry wasn't a hypercommercial clusterfuck, that’s exactly what he’s done: taken advantage of me.

I've loved Tom's music my whole life, and I always will. But this just seems a curious turn from a guy who has always been a champion of the fans, and I'm not sure how to reconcile it.