Perfection?

Some of the music on my computer contains the cracks and pops of an imperfect compact disc. Some of the CD's I have ripped on my computer were burnt CD's who's original source was another burnt CD. Now, I could download another copy of whichever album I want, but I prefer my imperfect copies for various reasons.

I am currently listening to Radiohead's In Rainbows. My dad burned me my copy, and he received his copy from a link posted by one of his band members though an email. I have no idea where his band member got it from, but I'm more than positive that if one were to trace the lineage of my copy of the album one would end up at the original link posted on Radiohead's website.

That doesn't really matter to me though. What matters most is that, according to my iTunes, I have listened to In Rainbows about 50 times, and if I were to re-download the album for the purpose of sound clarity, I would then be engaging in an entirely different listening experience, and it would not be the In Rainbows I know and trust. I anticipate the cracks and pops of Jigsaw Falling into Place and the bass peaks in House of Cards.

Sure, I bought In Rainbows the day it came out, and sure, I could rip it onto my computer, but I could've done that January 1st, 2008, and I'm not about to do it any time soon.

I'm going to end this post by saying, without getting into too much detail, yes, Radiohead is the perfect band, yes, In Rainbows is a perfect album, and yes, my "imperfect" copy of the album is just as perfect as yours is.