A LAND OF CHOCOLATE

In my ongoing quest to fill the iPod, I run into the occasional disc that iTunes obstinately refuses to rip.

Here's the list to date:

Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, Lucinda Williams
Achtung Baby, U2
The Gift, The Jam
Source Tags & Codes, ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead

At first I figured it was just random, maybe some arcane commonality in the manufacturing process that discouraged ripping. But then I thought about it a little more...

It helps to know first off that The Jam CD is an import that was made in Germany.

Next, it's a little known fact that the word “Achtung” is actually German. I believe a rough translation is “Gee, the view from up here on the precipice of a career slide sure is pretty. And postmodern, too. Yeah, very postmodern.”

After zero research and much speculation, I have decided that Lucinda Williams probably maybe has some German ancestry.

Finally, no doubt some critic somewhere has used the term “Germanic” as shorthand to describe ...AYWKUBTTOD's icy and aggressive soundscapes.

The conclusion, then, is clear and stunning: iTunes hates the Germans.

Oh sure, it humored me by taking care of my Neu! discs, but I'm betting that Tago Mago is pretty much doomed...