Old 97's, or my foray into album downloads

So the Old 97's are playing at Higher Ground tonight. My Bro and I will be catching this one, I've wanted to check these guys out since the turn of the century. When I first picked up Too Far To Care that disc as well as some live shows off dimeadozen.org were in my car deck for weeks on end. Since that peak, the 97's may have faltered a tad, slipping into semi-generic alt-pop territory a bit. Where the writing on TFTC was simply amazing ("If that phone don't ring one more time/ I'm gonna lose what's left of my mind' you make a big impression for a girl of your size/ now I can't get by without you and your big brown eyes", "So I sidled up beside her, settled down and shouted, "Hi there."/ "My name's Stewart Ransom Miller, I'm a serial lady-killer."/ She said, "I'm already dead," that's exactly what she said. ", "Just like California was not even there/ Since it's gone I'm so withdrawn/ I ain't got no one nowhere/ Right beside the ocean my darlin' Clementine/ Well the water got high and she never got dry and She was a water sign"), later material was merely pretty damned good, especially "Muder or a Heart Attack" off Satellite Rides.

So I saw this spring that a new album was out, on New West Records nonetheless, a killer label that I have high respect for in terms of putting out quality product, both in terms of artistry and sound quality. I heard a track, "Dance With Me" on a promo compilation and was a bit dismayed; it sounded squashed like most new releases today. Having been burned on some new records I chose to sit this one out even though the reviews were really solid. I've seen the LP at Pure Pop, but haven't picked it up. This morning, I decided that I had to hear this album if only to be primed for the show. No time to buy it, needledrop it, and dump to digital so I can play it on my Sansa while driving the tractor, so I did the Amazon download thing. I haven't downloaded an album since my foray into eMusic years ago, and their 128 kbps downloads left a lot to be desired. Well click away I did this morning, and the album was loaded up and ready for the car in about ten minutes.
Sound quality? Not bad at all, and the squashed mastering wasn't there from that one track I had heard. Sure it would be nice to have on vinyl, but after dropping $9 for the download I doubt I'll drop another $18 for the record. I don't plan to d/l my music from now on, and this did break my NY resolution to but my music locally, but in a pinch, when i just had to have it, it worked.
So now I'm just pretty psyched to see these guys live, finally.

TB