It's that time of year again. The time of the year when I try to find a pirated copy of the latest album from Les Enfoirés, the French musical group that raises money for the folks at Les Restaurants du Coeur. Not that I want to pirate the music. I'd be more than happy to pay $10 or even 10€ for the album. That is, if I could find a channel to purchase a legitimate digital copy of the album outside of France without a French credit card. And, as I've blogged before, it's not exactly easy to find a pirated copy of the album, given that the proceeds from album sales go to help the impoverished. It's absurd to think I can read newspapers from around the world without a hitch and browse the Web on my iPhone, but I can only obtain this music, which was probably created using digital tools, by physically importing a jewel case and plastic disc from France.

On a related note, I just obtained a copy of Ellie Goulding's new album "Lights," which has just gone on sale in the UK to great success. It's actually not bad, and it's also very difficult to obtain through legitimate channels in the United States without paying $50 for an imported copy. I also recently downloaded an interesting album of world music titled "Un cri dans l'ébène" from a group called Titom, which can be found in the iTunes Store and at Amazon.com. It reminds me vaguely of the soundtrack to the British drama-comedy television series, Monarch of the Glen, though nowhere near as cliché or cloying.

(Addendum: Apparently "Un cri dans l'ébène" is a collection of traditional music from the French region of Bretagne, princiapally that played at the Fest Noz. Remarkable how similar it is to traditional Scottish music.)