Does anyone feel that getting leaked songs before an album is released decreases one's enjoyment of the album when it is released?

Or do you feel that it enhances the anticipation?

Is it a good thing or a bad thing?

It doesn't ruin it for me. If an album is worth its weight, it'll wow me once I sit down with the headphones and really get into it. Unless a song is stellar, I listen casually before the released copy is in my hands. I've never regretted hearing leaked tracks before hearing them properly on the album.

If it's PJ, or any other of my favorite artists, I know I'm going to buy the album anyway. In that case, it'd bother me to hear all of it before I actually get it (I'm fine with getting a couple of songs though). It's like opening a christmas present when you already know what it is. But if it's a random artist, it doesn't bother me.

it is definitely a different experience. I like it in part because you get to absorb the album piecemeal, instead of getting it all at once

Why would the arbitrary release date chosen by a record company change in any way my enjoyment of the music?
the leaks these days are the exact same as is going to be released, not an inferior, rough version (though that's interesting too).

I sure was bloody glad I had been listening to Avocado on loop for the 10 days before the Astoria.. made that show more enjoyable not less! and from the singing around, at least half the people there had done the same.

This is interesting...My only experience is from hearing Comatose, World Wide Suicide and Gone before Avocado was released...but i really do think it affected both the way i heard/hear Avocado, and my opinions on the aforementioned songs. Particularly with Gone...i would have preferred to just stumble upon that after listening to the whole album, as opposed to downloading it in a frenzy after hearing about the live versions in Atlanta etc. I liked the solo Ed version, but i think it robbed a little bit of the magic that was added to the finished version. I also love Comatose, and similarly i was spared of that initial blast after hearing a dodgy live recording of the song in it's workings.

The 'christmas present' analogy by Badmusic is probably the easiest way to describe it.

Gone was on the holiday 10c Vinyl, so not really a leak!

I actually like hearing the finsihed versions when I've heard live versions first since it is like discovering the song for the first time again. You get that experience twice. Plus on your first listen you'll have certain expectations and you get a nice suprise when the song twists or turns in a way that you haven't heard before. I love getting the live versions first

Yes. And if at the end the album is worth alot as a whole, you won't get BLOWN AWAY or GET YOUR ASSKICKED so hard, when you finally listen to it as a whole. :thumsbup:

I usually try to resist temptation. As fans we always want to hear the next new, big thing from Pearl Jam. But by the time I buy the cd, I usually find myself skipping over the tracks I already know. I have to force myself to listen to the album as a whole at times. Sometimes I get a new appreciation for the songs I already know in the context of the album, and sometimes I'm just sick of the song. It's like a catch 22, get your immediate PJ fix or wait for the artistic piece of an album to be listened to all at once.

Downloading ruined Riot Act for me.

I shall never do it again.

Probably more the fact that it was a bunch of arse that ruined it.

I think it's perfectly fine to get leaked stuff in advance for my own personal tastes. It enlightens me as to whether I am going to spend my money on something or not. With PJ always the case of course. It gets me pumped though and I love that. It's like waiting in line at midnight to get the new album or something. It adds that excitement for the new stuff to me.

I kind of enjoy it. I find it very hard to sit down with an album and listen all the way through.

Certainly i can do it once or twice that first night I buy it, but after that it happens much less.

Getting a leaked track here or there then allows me to hear some material, get some ideas about it, and consider the songs as individuals. Then listening to the album places them in a context that's different and usually illuminating.

Otherwise, it may not be until a tour that i can actually starts to think of the individual songs.

I disagree, but still find that really funny

i'm not quite understanding how downloading it could have it ruined the album for you in general. the anticipation of first listen, maybe, but the whole album an sich?

Yeah it kinda ruins it(for PJ only just cause I love them so). Especially in situations where you hear half the record ahead of time and then when the record comes out you really only get 6 new songs(one of which is bound to be something like Pry To or Red Dot) and then when you are listening to it you realize you won't hear any new songs for 4 more years and you get all bummed out.