One of the nicest things about payday is that after the bills are paid, there is a little extra cash left over for a long-awaited, ecstatic shopping spree. It’s time to cut loose and go a little crazy. It’s time to do some music shopping.

But after waiting in line at the bank, the next stop is not necessarily the local music store. Instead, it may be a trip straight home to the computer to log on the Internet and browse through the various on-line music retailers.

Here, a music enthusiast can check out advertisements for new stuff, read a few artist biographies and maybe even download a few tracks to listen to before deciding what to buy.

Then, when the decision is made, all it takes is a click on the "buy me" icon, and within days the selection will arrive on the doorstep to be listened to and cherished.

This may sound like a futuristic ad for a telephone company, but it may also be the new age of rock 'n' roll retail. An age when one can read magazines, get concert tickets and see street maps to concert venues -- all through a computer.

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Several companies, such as Geffen Records, CDNow! and SonicNet, have already invested in this vision of the future, making parts of it a reality right now.

Roy Hamm, one of the directors of Geffen's online projects, said the effects of on-line retail are currently minimal, but the concept has high potential.

"The success of it will depend on the success of on-line services," Hamm said. "Right now, on-line stuff is slow. Many people don't have the patience for it. If it speeds up, it could go anywhere."

But Hamm said it will not alter the function of music stores.

"To us, it's just another retailer. We look forward to working with all retailers. It's kind of fun to go out to a record store to browse and stuff. I think that will always be around," Hamm said.

Jason Olim founder and owner of CDNow!, an online music superstore, does not agree. Describing what CDNow! provides as "almost uncopyable technology," he says that interest is shifting away from retail stores.

"Let people experience this and they are going to become shoppers; they are going to become loyal," he said.

The changes Olim forsees, however, are not as revolutionary or all-encompassing as one might think.

"There are a lot of people out there looking for a revolution, but I don't see it happening yet," he said. Olim said the record label will not disappear, as many people may expect, because the label is still a band's chief source of profit.

"It is possibly tough times for distributors, but labels are possibly strengthening," Olim said, explaining that labels will not be as dependant on distributors as they once were.

Record companies are also having an easier time discovering new bands to sign on their labels because they do not have to work as hard, Olim said, mentioning IUMA, a company in Indiana that brings material from unsigned bands on-line and connects them with record labels.

Another anticipated revolution Olim mentioned, but said will probably not be seen in the near future, is that of "digital discs." This concept entails the use of "blank" CDs and CD-ROM equipment.

A CD-ROM is like a CD player in that it reads digital information off a disc, but it is hooked up to a computer. The CD-ROM allows the computer to use a CD like it would a computer disc, but the CD has a much vaster storage space and can hold anything from sound and text to moving images.

Through the Internet, a user can download an entire album directly from the record companies onto a blank CD. Essentially, downloading means a customer can copy a song off an on-line service onto their computers through the modem, a phone line connected to the computer.

Although this type of technology will not be available for years, Olim named Digital Cable Radio as another kind that is an immediate threat to all corners of the music industry. It is a radio service that "essentially allows one to have their own personal radio station," he said.

Despite the many new developments, Olim does not expect the change to music distribution through the Internet to be dramatic, but rather a gradual shift to the new outlets.

"I can't see that far into the future, but for the next five years all you're going to see is some interesting evolution," Olim said.

As far as the local community is concerned, area music stores are intrepid about the present and upcoming changes to the music industry.

"It takes all the fun out of it," said Ken Kubala, manager of City Lights Records, 316 E. College Ave. "The downloading (of digital discs) would seem like a threat, but shopping is fun. There's no impulse buying when you can't hold the thing in your hand. I don't really fear it."

Jay Williams, assistant manager at Blue Train Compact Discs, 418 E. College Ave, said he does not think consumers are ready for the technology yet because they do not have the equpment or the knowledge.

"This is a nation that can't even program their VCRs properly," he said. "I can't envision that it could be as far-reaching as everybody suggests . . . if one percent of the music market was made up of downloading, I'd be really surprised."

Local music consumers have mixed feelings, especially regarding the convenience of learning to use the systems.

"I'm not very computer literate, but I guess I would (use such purchasing technology), if it was not too complicated, but I think people like the atmosphere of the stores," said Angela Warner (sophomore-human development and family studies).

Mark Dubrovnick, of Emmitsburg, Md., does not agree.

"I wouldn't use it. I really am not up on technology, and could not see myself getting into it. It's just more fun to buy records," he said.

Regarding the on-line services being used on a widespread level, he added, "I think it's a long way coming. When I was in fifth grade, people were saying we'd be riding in space shuttles, and we're not doing it, so I'm not sure if this technology is really going to change things."

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"We have everyone's complete catalogues," Olim said, boasting CDNow!'s large stock.

The system also provides the All Music Guide, "the world's largest database of music, with essays on jazz, bebop, the banjo, you name it," Olim said.

There are discussion groups, in which people confer about musical topics on-line in real time, just like a telephone conversation via the computer. There are also artist's pages, which provide graphics, bios, discographies and sound samples, Olim said. The feedback option takes consumer's opinions and remarks and sends them back to the AU Music Guide, he said.

"We're trying to create an environment on-line that's going to be fun and exciting," Olim said.

CDNow! is also connected directly with Internet sites of major record labels, including Geffen's World Wide Web, Warner Bros., Jazz-On-Line, Bellfast and the soon-to-be-added MCA Records, Olim said.

Internet users can transfer directly from these sites to CDNow! if they find a title in the inventory of the record company which they wish to purchase, he said. CDNow! claims to provide all available music to or from anywhere in the world, Olim said.

"Everything is discounted, and we deliver really fast," Olim said. "I can't compete at a penny-for-penny basis, but we come pretty close."

Merchandise is purchased with credit cards and delivered within two to three days, he said.

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In contrast to CDNow!, SonicNet is a much smaller, more specialized, on-line music service. It has a program called Action Ready Singles, said Judith Keenan, director of marketing and promotion. This a service allows signed and unsigned bands to put up any number of songs to be downloaded.

The bands set a fee of one to three dollars that the listener has to pay to hear the song, but SonicNet receives no profit from this fee, Keenan said. All proceeds are returned to the artist who posted the song.

"We feel very strongly that any artist who puts a creative work product on-line should be fully recompensed," Keenan said.

Aerosmith, through a Geffen project, made material available on-line in this manner, with a download time that was 60 to 90 minutes -- a duration allowing for high-quality CD sound.

But it was costly for people to remain on-line so long because the modem sends and receives information by telephone lines, so the user pays for the time as if it were a phone call, Keenan said. For example, this means that a 60 minute downloading of a song from a California-based music service would cost the same as a 60 minute phone call to the same area.

SonicNet shortened the downloading time to about twice the length of the song, but this produces sound only as good as FM radio.

"Nobody has the kind of equipment (hooked up to their computer) that you could hear the difference," she said.

For a $10 monthly fee, SonicNet provides a number of services in addition to Action Ready Singles. "Demo Universe" is a service in which Alternative Press reviewer Jim Santo lists and profiles his favorite demos.

SonicNet also runs a couple of New York clubs as venues for shows booked and produced by SonicNet, she said.

One of the largest-scale tours SonicNet has handled was a God Street Wine tour that SonicNet provided ticket sales for on a nationwide level.

Keenan said the idea has been successful because people can get tickets well before a show.

However, as for as large-scale arena tours go, Keenan said online services in general have not reached the point that they can be an alternative to Ticketmaster's alleged monopoly.

"I don't think the (on-line music) industry is quite ready to handle the capacity."'