Music download pay-sites: recommendations / news / discussion [PART 1]
 

I just saw a tv commercial for Buymusic.com.

And I'm about to download Sultans of Swing from them for $.79 They only had one of the songs out of the three that I searched for.

The site has 300,000 songs available which actually sounds a little low to me.

And they make a big deal of something called SDMI - i guess my cd player has to to be SDMI compatible or something?

So are there better sites for legal downloads? Has this question been asked before?

Oh, yes, when is Indiana Jones coming out on dvd?

nov 11

buymusic.com is a horrible piece of trash. worse than pressplay and the other "rent as you go" music services (although, buymusic.com is really "rent as you go" from a different angle). wait for itunes for windows. right now i use emusic and allofmp3.com for my digital music.

more idiot people singing horribly to white backgrounds. Who comes up with this stuff!!! :down:

yours was the one response i understood :)

so far i downloaded my song. And i had to download the latest version of Windows media explorer but that WME file was corrupt so i have to re-download the windows media update when i get home.

So, i still have one more hoop to jump through and then maybe i can hear my song ;)

i'll check out itunes when that comes out. Is it normal for these sites to encrypt their songs? The songs don't seem to be normal .wav files. What a goofy industry.

ah, you're an indy fan.

MP3'S Question
 

I was wondering is there a web site were I can pay for MP3's that I download. I know this sounds like a strange request. I thouth at one time there was a place where you paid a set amount then you could download unlimited songs.

Any help would be great.

rmoore

EMUSIC.COM

3 months @ $15/month, or 12 months @ $10/month. They have nothing but full albums, and unlimited downloads. They don't have any albums under *the* big major labels, but they still have butt-loads of albums, and now and then they'll have something popular you'll want. I found it better for discovering new artists that I otherwise would probably have never heard of. It's a great site. It's all MP3s, and most of them are VBR (variable bit rate, averaging around ~200kb/sec), so you can burn them as regular music CDs easily. I signed up a week ago and already have 50 new CDs. :)

If you're unsure about it, you can browse their entire collection without signing up, and you get a free 14-day/50-MP3s trial when you sign up.

Is there anywhere else. That place looked ok but I want to be able to download certain songs not just a whole CD>

What do you mean 'certain songs'? You can download as many albums or as few individual songs as you want. If you're looking for specific songs for download, depending on what label they're under, chances are you will not find MP3s of them legally.

If you have a mac, you can use itunes. I do not think they have an unlimited subscription plan.

pay for mp3 site recommendations
 

Well, I guess it may be time to look into a pay for mp3 site, anyone have suggestions on a good, legal site?

BTW I have no interest in debating the legalities of p2p files

Emusic.com. $10 a month for a year, or $15 a month for three months. They advertise "unlimited" downloads, although they'll send you an automated pissy email threatening to cancel your account if you consistently download around 2000 or more mp3s a month.

They don't have any artists under *the* major lables, but they have TONS of great stuff. A really great site to explore new music. I've downloaded about 150 albums within the past month and a half.

The site has a great layout, and you can view their entire collection before you sign up. You get a 50 MP3s free trial subscription when you sign up.

Oh, and there's nothing weird about the mp3 files either, like limits on how many computers you can use them on or whatever. Just regular mp3 files that you can burn to CD-Rs.

For Macs -- Itunes store
For PCs--check out buy.com for most of the artists on the major label. Close to Itunes on cost and rate structure. Most tracks range from 99 cents to $1 and change or you can download the album at a discount.

I haven't tried either but buy.com looks worth checking out.

So some tracks cost 99.75 cents?

rotfl

Yeah and you better give me my change. ;)

By the way, it's at buymusic

Isn't that the site where you have to play the tracks on WMP9 and there is a limited # of burns and DLs on them. If it is, those people have seriously pissed off the slashdot community (of course what non Linux group hasn't), but from what I've read about that site, it's not worth the trouble.

I don't know about slashdot but everything else seems correct.

I use emusic, and i think it is great. doesnt have most of the major labels, but there is still some great music on there. its awesome to find new bands that you have never heard before.

i was looking at some of the other sites, like buymusic. but i cant justify paying $1/song that you can only burn up to 4 or 5 times and you HAVE to play it on WMP9. other thing is if you want to buy the whole album, you are only saving 3 or 4 bucks from a regular cd. you can probably get it cheaper buying used.

if you are looking for major labels and music that is on the radio, the only other thing i can think of is rhapsody. It is $10/month and you can download or stream songs from the website. The songs you download will "expire" when you stop paying for service, so you can only listen to the songs you download as long as you keep paying for it. Only other thing I can think about is that you cant burn them to cds for free (you have to pay a service charge.... ~.99 cents). But for the price, I think it is one of the better deals if you are looking for mainstream music. I dont use this service, but I do think it is one of the better ones out there.

About the limited burn thing... what happens if you burn the file to a CD-ROM right away? Does it retain the 'expiration' data? And furthermore, what's stopping someone from burning the file to an audio CD, then ripping the track back off the CD as an MP3?

good question

How is emusic's Variable Bit rate? It says it is comporable to 192, but I have reservations. eMusic sounds like the best deal out there if you can find bands you are interested in, which I did. Too bad the only Pixies CD I do not own is the only one missing from their site.