Spiderbite

I am old school and am just getting around to starting to download a few tunes here and there. Some of my friends use itunes which seems a little pricey and wal-mart carries mainly edited tracks. I saw a special on msn's website where you get 5 songs for 1.

Any other specials or good prices like that? Do certain services suck and/or are hard to use? Any I should stay away from completely?

So...help a downloading newbie out...who do you like to use and why?

Elldubtoo

I suggest you to go to your nearest used cd store instead of legally downloading music. More fun and less expensive.

I use iTunes Music store only for exclusive stuff, though.

Mr. Salty

More fun, yes, but the selection can be hit-or-miss. And it isn't cheaper than downloading from the site I've been using, www.allofmp3.com , where downloads are $5 per 250MB, and you get the format and bit rate of your choice.

Giantrobo

I'm one of the last people on Earth who owns a computer, but has yet to download and burn songs.

Elldubtoo

Allofmp3.com is in the gray area in terms of legality.

Michael Corvin

not when modern bands only produce 1-2 good songs out of a 14 track cd.

iTunes for me.

Amel

I've always found dl'ing a pain in the ass. Too many problems. The only songs I have dl'ed are unreleased tracks or bonus tracks from singles released on the other side of the world. Other than that I go the used cd route for music that I'm not into enough to buy originally. Much easier, less time, and not as expensive.

benedict

Me too. See also:

• Music download pay-sites: recommendations / news / discussion [PART 1]
• Music download pay-sites: recommendations / news / discussion [PART 2]
  
• Official (Legal) Releases Available for Download

Elldubtoo

If they can only produce 1-2 good songs out of 14 tracks, why even bother listening to them?

I'm an album listener so 1-2 bad songs on an album is A-Ok with me if the overall album is great.

mike1978

I have over 800 CDs covering the last several decades of music. All of the full-length albums I own have at least 10 good songs. What genre do you listen to where only 1-2 of the songs are good? It sounds lousy, whatever it is.

Ayre

My first album was Beach Boys - All summer long. Over 35 years ago.

1 to 2 is about average with me as well. Although, All Summer Long is an exception ;-P

1 or 2 good songs isn't just a modern phenomena.

Sure there are great albums, but they are the exception rather than the rule.

You may ask why this bothers me.

For those 35 years the record companies have ripped me off of thousands of dollars. I was paying for creative investments into songs I was not allowed to hear ahead of time. I was gambling with every purchase I made based upon 1 or 2 singles that the publisher allowed me to hear.

I still buy the CD's, but am thankful that now we get to hear them ahead of time.

But the online companies have to catch up. I do not want to install custom applications, I only want the music. I will never use ITunes.

Buy.com has been making a lot of progress on their download section, including 256kbs dowloads.

jetflair

I tried to use allofmp3.com but their software gave me problems and their tech support was horrible and slow. No go for me.

Mr. Salty

You don't need to use their software at all. Just download your tracks from the My Downloads section of your account. Right click, save target as. In fact, I found it was faster than AllofMP3 Explorer, because I could have 10 songs dowloading at the same time at maximum speed.

mike1978

Wow, I honestly feel sorry for you. Even the "bad" albums that make it into my collection these days have at least 8 or 9 solid tunes.

Ayre

It could just be our definitions of good that differ.

My "ok" rating might be the same as your "good" rating. My good might be your great.

The Bus

Another vote for All Of MP3. Their site might be in a gray area, but until someone legally comments otherwise, I don't see it being different than buying something in Russia.

Artman

Been using allofmp3 and MP3search for awhile now - no problems with payments/downloads. The explorer program for allofmp3 works great for me, I just load it up w/ downloads in the morning and let her go. MP3search usually has newer stuff first, so i've been frequenting it more often lately.

Mr. Cinema

Anyone use MSN or Yahoo to download songs? I downloaded 2 hip-hop songs from MSN that was supposed to be the explicit version, but they turned out to be edited. Anyone else run into this problem?

Also, anyone have some new rock song recommendations?

On my list to download is "Hypnotize" from S.O.A.D., Institute (Gavin Rossdale's new band) "Bullet Proof Skin", Socialburn "Touch the Sky" and a couple of others. Just got Korn "Twisted Transistor", Shinedown "Save Me", and Hinder "Get Stoned". I'm open to more suggestions.