In today's virtual age, downloading music is a big deal. With sites and services such as iTunes, Amazon.com, and even Wal-Mart hopping on the bandwagon, it is obvious that downloadable music is the way of the future.

So let's say you are looking for a Jack Johnson CD, or perhaps even just one song off of a CD. Why should you buy it in a downloadable format, instead of just going to the nearest store and purchasing a CD? Here are a few reasons why a Jack Johnson download is the best choice.

You can download just one song... or two, or three, or four. Can you imagine the look on the cashier's face if you went to your nearest music store and told them, 'I just want 4 songs on this CD, so how about I only pay you four dollars?' The chances of that working in your favor are pretty slim.

When you buy a Jack Johnson download, on the other hand, you can opt to download as many songs as you want, whether that is just one song or the entire album. This means less money spent on music you don't actually want, and more money to spend on the music you do want.

You don't have to worry about your CDs getting damaged. CDs seem like fragile things, don't they? An unlucky scratch, and suddenly your favorite song no longer plays. A sticky fingerprint, and you have to figure out how to clean the disc without scratching it. And if you drop it, you might as well start shelling out the money you'll need to spend in order to replace the CD!

A music download, on the other hand, can't be scratched, get dirty, or break. Your computer can, of course, but you can back up your music and burn CDs just in case. And because the master copy is on your computer you can burn more than one CD -- just in case one gets scratched, soiled, or dropped.

You don't have to worry about your CDs getting stolen. Back in the day, CDs were easy targets for a thief, especially when people stored them in fat carrying cases. The obvious benefit was that they had all their CDs in one place. Unfortunately, that also benefited the thief.

Now, if you have all your music stored on your computer, you still have the issue of having everything stolen -- if someone steals your computer. But you can protect yourself from this in a way that CDs can't offer: most downloadable music can also be backed up or burned onto CDs, so that your only copy is NOT on your computer.

Music downloads take up less space. When you buy music via the Internet, instead of having yet another CD case to find space for, all you need to do is make sure you have the space on your hard drive. And since bigger hard drives usually don't take up any more room than a smaller hard drive, music downloads are a great way to collect lots of music without having to make room for all those CD cases!

Music downloads are (almost) instant. The best part about buying a Jack Johnson download is that you get to listen to it almost right away. Instead of, say, buying a CD from Amazon.com and waiting almost a week (or longer) for it to arrive, you can listen to your music just as soon as it finishes downloading onto your computer. And if you decide you want a certain song in the middle of the night, you don't have to wait until the next day to go buy it; you can get online and buy it at any time of day or night.

Obviously, there are a lot of good reasons why a Jack Johnson download is a better choice than buying the music on CD. Many people have transitioned from buying their music on CD, to buying it online. Even though music downloads sometimes have digital rights controls embedded, preventing you from making too many copies or playing the music on unauthorized computers, there are plenty of advantages to digitizing your music collection. Not only do you get instant gratification and the ability to buy just one or two songs you like, you also get a format that is easy to store and less susceptible to damage or theft. It's easy to see why digital music is so popular!