(and, why is it necessary that you hear those tracks right now?)

Well, anything can happen, can't it? I would hate my life to be cut short whilst waiting around for some record company to get their shit together to release And Now it is So Early because my ethically superior Mudcat conscience would make the music turn to ashes in my ears if I were immoral enough to download one for nowt.

Sometime soon, someone had better deal with the issue.

I couldn't agree more. The situation is well out of control even unto the verge of a national crisis. The answer is a huge government-funded archive containing every track ever recorded in the history of recorded sound in MP3 ad FLAC formats. These would available for download by anyone for a nominal cover price of 14p (MP3) and 19p (FLAC). There would be no hard-copy allowed - not even CD-Rs. Record companies would simply record their artistes and upload their albums for punters to download onto their specially equipped hi-fi systems & computers etc., complete with text and graphic material where appropriate. Each file would be encoded in such a way that any form of duplication would result in a deadly virus being unleashed into ones system. I reckon that should sort it out no bother.

See my thread: BS: Petition for Government Sound Archive