So I bit and downloaded iTunes 4 and started playing around with it. Haven't ordered anything yet, but I'm sure I will — it's too temptingly easy not to. And fast! (If you have a broadband connection, anyway.)
But there is one teensy fly in the ointment... their categorization system.
Celine Dion, I regret to inform Apple, is not World Music. Nor is Yo Yo Ma a Latin performer. I don't really consider Irving Berlin an Opera composer. Oh, he's not — it's just that his songs were performed by Kiri Te Kanawa. (Update: Suicidal Tendences? Hip hop? Shurely not.)
Also, in their Soundtrack section, they have several items with artist names like "Original 1953 Broadway Cast", "Original Broadway Cast", and "Original Nashville Cast". That may not be useful information, but I don't know how other record stores deal with it. Probably the same way — it just seems more glaring here, since apparently you have to browse by artist before you browse by album.
Still, it's all pretty darn cool, and it's only the first couple of days.
