Afterward I copied the file to a playlist labeled “late-night discoveries.” I left a small donation to a music preservation charity and hunted for a legal reissue to buy; sometimes the search itself leads to better versions: a remastered track, a live take, or a liner-note essay that adds context. The mp3 is both a finished object and a waypoint: you can listen, but it can also lead you to further listening, to credits and interviews, to the broader life and catalogue of an artist.