I’ve loved soundtracks for a long time now. Where that started, I don’t know, but they’re easy to listen to in the car, or while working, without being distracting. Whether they’re movie soundtracks (Robocop, The Red Violin, Alien, Batman, etc.) or game sountracks (Gears of War, Half-Life 2, Halo, Hitman, etc.) doesn’t matters. Getting a good soundtrack with a game, as a bonus, is almost always welcome – except when it’s a 3-song remix disc like that of BioShock.
When I got the chance to buy Assassin’s Creed II in the “limited Black Edition” version (which apparently isn’t as limited as they want people to believe) a couple days ago, I didn’t have to think very long about it. Sure, it’s €85 compared to the regular game’s €55, but the statue, extra missions, artbook and soundtrack would make up for the extra money.
That was what I thought, but I wasn’t entirely right.
It turns out the soundtrack is embedded in the bonus DVD, which means there’s no easy way to get the songs (14 out of 35 from the official soundtrack) into MP3 format on my computer. Hell, even getting the DVD to play was a pain, as it wouldn’t work on my Vista PC at work, nor the XP Home PC at work. Luckily I have more software on this one, so I could play it here.
In the end, I paid for a soundtrack, and I thus feel entitled to it. This means I can do one of two things:
- pay for the soundtrack, effectively paying for it twice
- or download the soundtrack “illegally”
I put illegally in quotes, as the laws here regarding downloading of music and movies state it’s not illegal. Uploading on the other hand, is. So what should I do? I think I’ve made my decision.
If only Ubisoft had put the soundtrack up on Sumthing Digital… then I would’ve bought it without hesitation.
