Buying downloadable music online WTF?
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Ok, I thought I would take a look at my options for buying single songs online and downloading them. I discover the market is complete chaos to the point where my searches primarily brought up guides for sale on where to get and download music. This is ridiculously confusing. I looked at ITunes but I have to install their software apparently which I'm not down with. I want MP3's that I can download and play in WMP and burn to CD's to listen in my car. And I want big variety because I'm looking for some pretty obscure stuff. Given that, what would you recommend?
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Ok, I thought I would take a look at my options for buying single songs online and downloading them. I discover the market is complete chaos to the point where my searches primarily brought up guides for sale on where to get and download music. This is ridiculously confusing. I looked at ITunes but I have to install their software apparently which I'm not down with. I want MP3's that I can download and play in WMP and burn to CD's to listen in my car. And I want big variety because I'm looking for some pretty obscure stuff. Given that, what would you recommend?
John Cardinal wrote:
Given that, what would you recommend?
Well, there's this Russian site that has an easy, fast web interface, doesn't require any extra software, and gives you files that you can play anywhere... :rolleyes: Personally, i buy CDs, rip 'em, and do what i want with the files. It's the only thing i've tried that hasn't ended up just causing a big hassle.
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Ok, I thought I would take a look at my options for buying single songs online and downloading them. I discover the market is complete chaos to the point where my searches primarily brought up guides for sale on where to get and download music. This is ridiculously confusing. I looked at ITunes but I have to install their software apparently which I'm not down with. I want MP3's that I can download and play in WMP and burn to CD's to listen in my car. And I want big variety because I'm looking for some pretty obscure stuff. Given that, what would you recommend?
John Cardinal wrote:
I want MP3's
John Cardinal wrote:
And I want big variety because I'm looking for some pretty obscure stuff.
Assuming you want legal, good luck with that ;P [otherwise, thepiratebay.org, allofmp3, etc come to mind]
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Ok, I thought I would take a look at my options for buying single songs online and downloading them. I discover the market is complete chaos to the point where my searches primarily brought up guides for sale on where to get and download music. This is ridiculously confusing. I looked at ITunes but I have to install their software apparently which I'm not down with. I want MP3's that I can download and play in WMP and burn to CD's to listen in my car. And I want big variety because I'm looking for some pretty obscure stuff. Given that, what would you recommend?
Get whatever music service you want. Rhapsody, Napster, iTunes whatever. Then google a product called Tunebite. From what I understand Tunebite is perfectly legal. I've heard the quality off tunebite and couldn't tell the difference between it and a CD. I think it's the most direct and simplest solution. A friend of mine (a Rhapsody subscriber) hates the hassles of all the protected formats. He totally respects the license of the artist though. So he is an active subscriber to Rhapsody unlimited. Records the songs to MP3 and puts them on his MP3 player. I don't have to do this because my MP3 player is supported by Rhapsody so for me it's cake. Just copy the song across. I currently have about 20+ gigs on my MP3 player and it's all legal thanks to Rhapsody to go.
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John Cardinal wrote:
Given that, what would you recommend?
Well, there's this Russian site that has an easy, fast web interface, doesn't require any extra software, and gives you files that you can play anywhere... :rolleyes: Personally, i buy CDs, rip 'em, and do what i want with the files. It's the only thing i've tried that hasn't ended up just causing a big hassle.
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Shog9 wrote:
Personally, i buy CDs, rip 'em, and do what i want with the files.
I'm not spending for a full cd to get the one song I want. This is what prompted me to consider downloading now. For example I want the song "Both Sides Now" by Dengue Fever which was recorded only on one album ever and that's the soundtrack for the movie "City of ghosts" which I definitely don't want to buy as I only want that one song and I don't like the rest (I've previewed them on amazon). It's 16.98 new on amazon, I could potentially download the one song I want for a buck somewhere. If I wanted a whole album then I'd buy it and rip it as I usually do but there are so many old, rare or obscure songs that just don't fit well with buying an album. Actually, I just wish Dengue Fever themselves had a site where they sold their music directly, I'd pay a couple of bucks if I knew it was going directly to the band. The whole system needs a big time revamp.
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Get whatever music service you want. Rhapsody, Napster, iTunes whatever. Then google a product called Tunebite. From what I understand Tunebite is perfectly legal. I've heard the quality off tunebite and couldn't tell the difference between it and a CD. I think it's the most direct and simplest solution. A friend of mine (a Rhapsody subscriber) hates the hassles of all the protected formats. He totally respects the license of the artist though. So he is an active subscriber to Rhapsody unlimited. Records the songs to MP3 and puts them on his MP3 player. I don't have to do this because my MP3 player is supported by Rhapsody so for me it's cake. Just copy the song across. I currently have about 20+ gigs on my MP3 player and it's all legal thanks to Rhapsody to go.
I don't have an mp3 player and don't want one, I just play them on my pc or burn to cd to play in my car. That's the real problem I guess. I don't want a new cell phone or digital camera or gps or mp3 player etc until they all come in one single slick and easy to use device. Which is what we should have by now, not all this junk cluttering up our lives. I'll check out tunebite thanks
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Ok, I thought I would take a look at my options for buying single songs online and downloading them. I discover the market is complete chaos to the point where my searches primarily brought up guides for sale on where to get and download music. This is ridiculously confusing. I looked at ITunes but I have to install their software apparently which I'm not down with. I want MP3's that I can download and play in WMP and burn to CD's to listen in my car. And I want big variety because I'm looking for some pretty obscure stuff. Given that, what would you recommend?
i use real's rhapsody to find songs. (It's a mondo clunky app that i keep on the family pc - not MY pc) if the song comes on a good cd and is available at my local "Silver Platters" store, i buy it and rip it and pop the CD in the car. (The pc copy is for playin at home and is backed up) if not, or if the song only comes on a cd with CRAPPY FILLER songs, i record a string of rhapsody songs to a .WAV file via my sound card. Then ship it through a "silence splitter" app i wrote. Then name the sep .WAV files nicely (artist_year_album_trackNo_songtitle_rhap.WAV) Then burn those onto a CD for the car. Media is a pain. But that's life :) ...Steve
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Shog9 wrote:
Personally, i buy CDs, rip 'em, and do what i want with the files.
I'm not spending for a full cd to get the one song I want. This is what prompted me to consider downloading now. For example I want the song "Both Sides Now" by Dengue Fever which was recorded only on one album ever and that's the soundtrack for the movie "City of ghosts" which I definitely don't want to buy as I only want that one song and I don't like the rest (I've previewed them on amazon). It's 16.98 new on amazon, I could potentially download the one song I want for a buck somewhere. If I wanted a whole album then I'd buy it and rip it as I usually do but there are so many old, rare or obscure songs that just don't fit well with buying an album. Actually, I just wish Dengue Fever themselves had a site where they sold their music directly, I'd pay a couple of bucks if I knew it was going directly to the band. The whole system needs a big time revamp.
John Cardinal wrote:
The whole system needs a big time revamp.
Yeah, no argument there. :sigh: Anyway, i'm out of legal suggestions that don't involve scouring pawn shops... so, good luck with whatever you find.
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Ok, I thought I would take a look at my options for buying single songs online and downloading them. I discover the market is complete chaos to the point where my searches primarily brought up guides for sale on where to get and download music. This is ridiculously confusing. I looked at ITunes but I have to install their software apparently which I'm not down with. I want MP3's that I can download and play in WMP and burn to CD's to listen in my car. And I want big variety because I'm looking for some pretty obscure stuff. Given that, what would you recommend?
You can buy individual tracks from digstation[^].
Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
Think inside the box! ProActive Secure Systems
I'm on-line therefore I am. JimmyRopes -
Ok, I thought I would take a look at my options for buying single songs online and downloading them. I discover the market is complete chaos to the point where my searches primarily brought up guides for sale on where to get and download music. This is ridiculously confusing. I looked at ITunes but I have to install their software apparently which I'm not down with. I want MP3's that I can download and play in WMP and burn to CD's to listen in my car. And I want big variety because I'm looking for some pretty obscure stuff. Given that, what would you recommend?
Walmart and Bestbuy have decent online music stores - you can download mp3s (including individual tracks as opposed to full albums).
Regards, Nish
Nish’s thoughts on MFC, C++/CLI and .NET (my blog)
Currently working on C++/CLI in Action for Manning Publications. (*Sample chapter available online*) -
I don't have an mp3 player and don't want one, I just play them on my pc or burn to cd to play in my car. That's the real problem I guess. I don't want a new cell phone or digital camera or gps or mp3 player etc until they all come in one single slick and easy to use device. Which is what we should have by now, not all this junk cluttering up our lives. I'll check out tunebite thanks
Honestly, if all you're looking for is a way to play on PC or burn to CD, iTunes does that without hassle. Play the DRM file in iTunes for the computer, burn to CD for the car. Don't want DRM? Rip the CD back to mp3, aac, wav, etc. with either iTunes, or whatever program you want. :) Flynn
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You can buy individual tracks from digstation[^].
Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
Think inside the box! ProActive Secure Systems
I'm on-line therefore I am. JimmyRopes -
Shog9 wrote:
Personally, i buy CDs, rip 'em, and do what i want with the files.
I'm not spending for a full cd to get the one song I want. This is what prompted me to consider downloading now. For example I want the song "Both Sides Now" by Dengue Fever which was recorded only on one album ever and that's the soundtrack for the movie "City of ghosts" which I definitely don't want to buy as I only want that one song and I don't like the rest (I've previewed them on amazon). It's 16.98 new on amazon, I could potentially download the one song I want for a buck somewhere. If I wanted a whole album then I'd buy it and rip it as I usually do but there are so many old, rare or obscure songs that just don't fit well with buying an album. Actually, I just wish Dengue Fever themselves had a site where they sold their music directly, I'd pay a couple of bucks if I knew it was going directly to the band. The whole system needs a big time revamp.
John Cardinal wrote:
For example I want the song "Both Sides Now" by Dengue Fever
I was going to direct you to www.singingfish.com[^], which is a site I've used for nearly a year, but that somehow has been "changed" to video.aol.com[^].
"Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed" - 2 Timothy 2:15
"Judge not by the eye but by the heart." - Native American Proverb
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Honestly, if all you're looking for is a way to play on PC or burn to CD, iTunes does that without hassle. Play the DRM file in iTunes for the computer, burn to CD for the car. Don't want DRM? Rip the CD back to mp3, aac, wav, etc. with either iTunes, or whatever program you want. :) Flynn
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Cool, there's a *lot* of indie music there. Too bad they don't have a radio station type thing to just listen to it and discover new stuff I like.
What kinda of indie music do ya listen to?
_____________________________________________________________________ Our developers never release code. Rather, it tends to escape, pillaging the countryside all around. The Enlightenment Project (paraphrased comment) Visit Me at GISDevCafe
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Cool, there's a *lot* of indie music there. Too bad they don't have a radio station type thing to just listen to it and discover new stuff I like.
John Cardinal wrote:
Too bad they don't have a radio station type thing to just listen to it and discover new stuff I like.
That would be a nice feature. :doh:
Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
Think inside the box! ProActive Secure Systems
I'm on-line therefore I am. JimmyRopes -
Ok, I thought I would take a look at my options for buying single songs online and downloading them. I discover the market is complete chaos to the point where my searches primarily brought up guides for sale on where to get and download music. This is ridiculously confusing. I looked at ITunes but I have to install their software apparently which I'm not down with. I want MP3's that I can download and play in WMP and burn to CD's to listen in my car. And I want big variety because I'm looking for some pretty obscure stuff. Given that, what would you recommend?
I personally like Napster. You can buy singles (burn, play on WMP), they have 'radio stations' and also give me recommendations based on other choices, although some of the recommendations are odd. I downloaded one spanish song and I keep getting latin artists as recommendations. Same thing with country--downloaded a couple Johnny Cash songs. You do have to download their software and you can have it on three computers. So whether I download songs at home, it updates at my work computer.
_________________________________________________________________ Hey! I don't parallel park big brown Econoline vans on the left side of the road!
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But I have thousands of songs I've ripped from my cd collection that I play in wmp, unless ITunes will play them as well?
What format is it in? Usually .wma files will get automatically converted to either mp3 or aac, depending on the converter you have set up (default is 128 kbps AAC -- there are a few different bit-rates for both MP3 and AAC). If the songs are already in MP3 format, they will import straight in. It will (obviously) refuse to convert anything with DRM. Try it out on a small selection of your library (couple hundred songs maybe). Then see if you like the program. One thing we've found is the Visualizer looks pretty cool on a 32" LCD... :-D Flynn
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Ok, I thought I would take a look at my options for buying single songs online and downloading them. I discover the market is complete chaos to the point where my searches primarily brought up guides for sale on where to get and download music. This is ridiculously confusing. I looked at ITunes but I have to install their software apparently which I'm not down with. I want MP3's that I can download and play in WMP and burn to CD's to listen in my car. And I want big variety because I'm looking for some pretty obscure stuff. Given that, what would you recommend?
You primary sources of music (and also everything else downloadable) should be Usenet (a.k.a. newsgroups) and IRC. While you can try and use your ISP's Usenet server (almost every ISP offers newsgroups), I would highly recommend going with a premium Usenet provider, like Easynews, Supernews, etc. Easynews, in my opinion, is the best. They have huge retention times (> 30 days for binaries), no download speed limit, full searchable index, PAR viewer, ZIP queues and more. Their search page is here: http://members.easynews.com/global4 iTunes? Napster? Bittorrent? Forget all that crap. Regards, -cpu SELECT * FROM Users WHERE Clue IS NOT NULL 0 row(s) returned.
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Ok, I thought I would take a look at my options for buying single songs online and downloading them. I discover the market is complete chaos to the point where my searches primarily brought up guides for sale on where to get and download music. This is ridiculously confusing. I looked at ITunes but I have to install their software apparently which I'm not down with. I want MP3's that I can download and play in WMP and burn to CD's to listen in my car. And I want big variety because I'm looking for some pretty obscure stuff. Given that, what would you recommend?
I have always been quite happy with iTunes. My one complaint is that if you buy a single song on an album and then later decide to buy the entire album you will still get charged $9.99.