So I got my first credit card bill since Amazon started their MP3 download business. It lists each transaction, so I have one album (prices vary, this one was $6.99) and a number of singles ($0.89 and up). If this isn’t micropayments, it’s close enough for me.

I’ve decided I like this service. I wish the other labels would jump on board. As it is, I’ve downloaded one new album, hoping it would be as good as the others by the same artist. (Jury is out on this.) But I’ve also downloaded almost a dozen singles: “White Wedding” by Billy Idol, for example, or “I Want Candy” by Bow Wow Wow, or “Undercover of the Night” by the Rolling Stones. (All hail the early ’80s.) That’s pure gravy for the labels, since I was never, ever going to buy those albums. (I bought them once in vinyl, back in the day. But they were destroyed in the deluge.)