Oh Amazon, How You Torment Me So!
Cats: Internet, Music|I’ve been ‘that guy’ who’s been collecting Pepsi points off of bottle caps for the last several months. It started because we have vending machines at work and I got burnt out on Diet Dr. Pepper, so I switched to buying Diet Pepsi in the 20 oz bottles. Well, they’re like a buck apiece, so I quickly switched to grocery store-bought 6-packs of the stuff, in 24-oz bottles. Every cap has a code you plug in at pepsistuff.com (no link for them, this isn’t an ad), and for every 5 points you get a free mp3 from Amazon.com, which I can plan on my computer or ipod.
I consider this win-win-win, because I get my caffeinated beverage, at a non-vending machine discounted price, and on top of that I get the equivalent of 20 cents per bottle cap (since downloads generally cost a buck each). It’s given me the chance to build up some of the 80s music library I never legitimately purchased, and to fearlessly buy newer songs for my wife and I, since it doesn’t cost anything except the energy to do it.
But if I collect 60 points, the equivalent of 12 downloaded songs, I could get an actual CD from Amazon. My take on downloading music (legally) is that it’s only worth it if you’re not going to buy the album. So I can buy A-Ha’s “Take On Me” (Best song of the 1980’s) and the 2 songs from The Cure that I really like (”Lovesong” & “Friday I’m in Love”), and I’m only out $3. But if I want an album, I want the CD version so I always have the solid-state backup. Yes, I know I can burn CDs with my mp3s to back them up, but since mp3’s are compressed it’s better to have the CD-quality as the archive. Plus not every one of my friends and vehicles is ipod friendly, etc, so CDs still have a purpose, in my opinion.
But here’s the conundrum: I have enough points to get a CD now, but A) the selection of CDs I can redeem with points is fairly limited, and B) Amazon’s prices for CDs are pretty darn good. I can get a new copy of Radiohead’s “OK Computer” (I lost my old copy in 1999 when I brought it to work to play for everybody at Pizza Hut, but I never found it after that night…You’re welcome, thief! You know who you are!) for the point equivalent of $12, or I can buy it for $7.99 cash money. Well, that’s not a good value for my Pepsi points!
So the CDs that I would consider point-worthy are unavailable, and the available CDs are too inexpensive for me to give up my precious points for. Curse you, Amazon! Mocker of Pepsi Point collectors!!!
Update: They had The Beatles’ “Rubber Soul” album available, which I’ve always wanted to get, and it sells for $13.97 normally. SOLD! for $12 in Pepsi Points and free shipping!
