A deal that's music to your ears

Have you ever used Coinstar? I love it. Most people don't like the 9% fee attached to the service, but to be able to clear out your coin jar (or in my case my Fred Flare "Nest Egg" bank) is priceless. I bravely enter the grocery store and insert my coins into the Coinstar machine and I know people sometimes look at me wondering if I really need money that badly, but they really don't understand how useful the service is. We have 2 Nest Egg banks that fill up with Saul's change very quickly and he lets stray change sit around. I hate the clutter which makes it worth it to go to Coinstar. And historically I've used the $$ toward a really nice bottle of wine at the store.

But recently they've expanded their gift card alliances and I've disposed of my spare change and have gotten gift cards for Amazon.com which are very useful around gift season. Now they have a program with iTunes and you can exchange your change - CENT FOR CENT (ie no % fee for dumping you coins) -for an iTunes card/credit. I think this is very cool. I'm a big believer in digital music (again to help clear our house clutter) so I love to download songs on iTunes. So next time you think about it, gather your spare change, head over to a Coinstar machine and get $$ toward iTunes downloads.

And here are some suggested downloads from my quirky personal collection:

"Faster Kill Pussycat" (Featuring Brittany Murphy) by Paul Oakenfold. Ok yes she's an annoying actress but she's so great in this song!
"Big Time Sensuality" by Bjork
"Judy Staring At The Sun" by Catherine Wheel
"(Rock) Superstar" by Cypress Hill
"Freedom of Choice" by Devo
"I Will Always Love You" by Dolly Parton. In case you didn't know, Dolly penned and sang the original version of Whitney Houston's mega hit from the movie "The Bodyguard"
"You Are My Sunshine" by Ike and Tina Turner
"Jesus Walks" by Kanye West
"Dream a Little Dream" by Mama Cass
"Here Comes The Sun" by Nina Simone
"Thank You" by Duran Duran
"Hypnotize" by The Notorious B.I.G.
"Baba O'Riley" by Pearl Jam. I had no idea that this song (originally done by The Who and used on CSI: NY) is really called "Baba O'Riley".
"Here Comes Your Man" by The Pixies
"The "In Crowd" by The Ramsey Lewis Trio
"You Are My Sunshine" by Ricky Nelson (I love looking for versions of this song since it's my special song w/Miles)
"Hit" by the Sugarcubes
"Seether" by Veruca Salt
"Hikky-Burr" by Bill Cosby & Quincy Jones