document.getElementById vs jQuery

document.getElementById('contents'); //returns a HTML DOM Object

var contents = $('#contents'); //returns a jQuery Object

var contents = $('#contents')[0]; //returns a HTML DOM Object

To get the text out of it, for example on a label control in asp.net , you would do:

$("#ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_Album1_Label1")[0].innerText

You could set an alert to see if it in fact returns something -

alert($("#ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_Album1_Label1")[0].innerText);