When I bought the first one, I just picked the first bottle on the shelf and it happened to be a winner. Beginner's luck? Okay. Then I remembered about how people were tilting the bottle to see under the cap and finding the winners. I had already opened it and taken a drink, so that wasn't any good. Next time, I figured, next time...

A few days later, before I paid for the second bottle of Pepsi, I took a peek and what do you know! A winner! It was the first one I grabbed, and I was already in line to pay, so I don't really consider that cheating, just a stroke of luck. Of course, upon finishing the drink, which I believe was actually Diet Pepsi (ack!), I made it a point to NOT throw away the bottle with the cap still on it. However, I DID throw it away later on when I was cleaning out the car. And so began the Great Bottle Cap Hunt. We looked high, looked low, 'twas nowhere in sight! Not until Carol looked in the trash and found it, then proceeded to admonish my cheating ways.

The next time, it was a bust. I tried to tilt-and-peek, but the bottle kept fogging up, so I just figured I'd take my chances. After paying for it, I opened it up and got the "SORRY PLAY AGAIN" message. Great. Just my luck...

This last time, while shopping at a local Toys'R'Us, I dipped into the refrigerator near the checkout lanes and saw that almost all of the "specially marked" Pepsi bottles were gone. I immediately recalled something that a co-worker had told me earlier in the week. He told me that if I don't see any iTunes bottles, that means someone's already gone through them and taken the winners. But there were a few bottles with yellow caps in there, so I grabbed one.

Tilt. Peek. Nope. Three lines of text.

I grabbed another.

Tilt. Peek. Yep. Four lines of text. Another winner!

This time I did the full on cheat, putting down one bottle for another because of what I saw. I felt a little shady about it, but somehow I doubt anyone could figure out what I was doing.

Now of course, the first thing that I heard was about how this was a waste of time. How it would be so much easier (and cheaper) to just go to the iTunes Music Store and buy the song in the first place. Ehh, whatever. I like the feeling of winning something, and I'm sure this is what Apple and Pepsi are betting on. Except for the cheating part, that is.

*UPDATE*

Now that the contest is over, I scored a total of four free songs out of seven bottles. What can I say, I don't really like Pepsi...but I did win the last song with a fresh bottle of Mountain Dew Code Red. That just made my day.

And here's what I picked:

Hate It or Love It - The Game (featuring 50 Cent) - No lyrics about bling and pimping and whatnot, but about the ghetto and the everyday struggle. I'm just totally feeling the vibe on this track, tragic and triumphant at the same time. Nice to ride to.

E-Pro - Beck - A reunion with the Dust Brothers produced this fine piece of work. Saw the video on TV and loved it. So simple, so fun. Listen for the Beasties' sample.

(More) Pawns (Than) Dons - LMNO - This is one of those tracks that when I first heard it, it blew me away. Literally. Produced by Oh No, the beat is one to rattle the windows, not to mention the hard-hitting lyrics that take shots at Marky Mark, Vanilla Ice, Beasties and all kind of white folks. From a white dude! Boo-yah!!

And the fourth? Well, I'm still looking...

**UPDATE**

I finally picked my fourth song, and a perfect one it is.

Daughters (Home Demo) - John Mayer - Such a beautiful song, considering my present situation. I personally like the heavier, bluesy feel of the home demo.