CRM114

Just read this yesterday:

http://www.boingboing.net/2005/02/14..._to_buy_s.html

Personally, I'd rather go and buy a CD or use the iTMS than deal with some shadowy Russian outfit.

Josh H

Personally I prefer cd's so it's not a worthwhile tradeoff. I don't mind the DRM that much, it's just you can't convert the iTMS songs from AAC to MP3 without getting rid of the DRM first. So I just buy anywhere that sells songs in MP3 format on the rare occasion I don't want to buy the physical cd.

CRM114

I prefer CDs as well but thats not the point of the thread. I've only bought about 5-6 albums online and each time, it was an impulse purchase. I needed it then and there for whatever reason. Apples and oranges.

Josh H

I was just saying that my impulse purchases don't go to iTunes do to the hassle of getting them into mp3 format.

CRM114

Gotcha. But really...depending on how you feel about DRM and fair use, its pretty simple. 30 seconds of work.

Hiro11

allofmp3 is completely illegal, might as well use torrents or p2p if you're thinking of going that way.

Brain Stew

Ditto.

I usually only buy CDs. The only times I've bought off iTMS was for exclusives or when I only like one song off an album. And I personally think, even if you don't remove the DRM, it's not that much of a pain in the ass.

Mr. Salty

That's up for debate. From the link above:

Hiro11

...if you say so. I'll stick with the ol' "if it sounds too good to be true..."

Otto

In order for it to be illegal, you really need to point out which law it's violating. Thus far, nobody has been able to do that with regard to allofmp3.com.

The fact of the matter is that it's only "iffy" at worst, and the only concern I would have would be about giving them my credit card information or anything like that. But they have several payment options that seem reasonably secure, so that's appearantly addressed as well.

I would not have any qualms about purchasing music from them from a legal standpoint.

Otto

Oh, I agree. If you don't have an iPod, then iTunes is really not the best music service for you. Stick to something that sells music in a format that's easy to put on your device.

atlantamoi

I've scoffed at trying out iTunes, the new Napster and the like. My question could be answered with a bit of investigation, but why do that when you guys can come to my rescue? The reason I've scoffed at d'loading from pay sites is because I want CD quality and usually I would want a full CD from the artist. But I bought Tom Tom Club's debut for two songs yesterday and realized that's pretty much the kind of recording that should get me to a pay site to save some bucks.

Do ANY of these sites allow CD quality downloads for burning to disc? Not really wanting to waste dough on 128kbps.

mike1978

No (completely legal) sites allow CD-quality downloads, but EMusic files sound pretty good to my ears. You can sign up for 50 free downloads at http://www.emusic.com . Like you, I find iTunes and others to be unacceptable.

Shay

http://magnatune.com/ is the only site other than the questionable allofmp3 that you can download wav's.

Mr. Salty

iTunes uses the AAC format, not MP3. But to my ears it sounds noticeably better than MP3.

I believe allofMP3 allows you to choose your bitrate.

atlantamoi

Thanks guys. I'll check out those sites.

jpdude

although not the MP3 format, i grab several downloads, WMA format, from Buy.com's digital downloads area, they offer lots of of tuneage with 256k quality encoding, which sounds much better than 128k.

i like iTunes, but dang-it, you have to burn the cd from the iTunes software because of their exclusive format...whereas i can download from Napster, MusicMatch, or other download stores and i'm able to use my Roxio software to burn cd's with.

Easy

What bitrate? I've been looking for a site that does 192 kbps or greater. Absolutely must be MP3 (player compatibility).

mike1978

EMusic files are variable bitrate, or VBR, using LAME with the alt preset standard setting (the average bitrate is right around 192 or higher). I'm very picky about MP3s, and realize that 128 kbps or even 160 kbps does NOT rival CD or vinyl in terms of quality. Sign up for a free trial and see what you think.

jpdude

i was suckered into the eMusic trial....i couldn't find 50 songs worthy of downloading if i tried. Pretty much all they have is OLD junk.....they definitely don't have anything that's close to being popular/mainstream in todays world.

mike1978

Old junk? They add plenty of new and old releases every day - over 400 titles have been added in the last 3 days. If you mean "popular" in the sense of selling millions of copies, then you probably won't find much to like. EMusic offers plenty of GREAT, mediocre, and bad albums from hundreds of independent labels, big and small. I've probably downloaded over 200 albums from the site over the years, many of which blow away anything you'll hear on commercial radio. I encourage you to poke around a little bit - you might find something you like. Sure, there's junk out there, but (like I said earlier) NEW music from a variety of genres and labels is added all the time. Just because it's not a household name for you doesn't mean it's junk - in fact, the opposite is often true. Feel free to go get screwed by the high prices of Buy.com if you're not happy.

jpdude

^mike, i can somewhat agree with you. It's just a matter of what someone likes. All my life, i've primarily listened to Top 40/Popular/Mainstream type of music of most genres i.e. Pop, Rock, County, R&B, Rap, Contemporary Christian, etc.

I have no problem paying .79 to .99 cents to Buy.com, iTunes, etc. for the latest Eminen, Josh Groban, Kenny Chesney, Usher, or Green Day songs.

You do have a valid point though, for anyone that wants to go on a musical treasue hunt of sorts, then they may get their money's worth out of eMusic.com. It just wasn't for me...and for what it's worth, i did look around there quite a bit, i just honestly coulnd't find anyting that even remotely interested me.

mike1978

Fair enough - different strokes for different folks, I suppose. I didn't mean to sound harsh, but the "old junk" comment was bothersome and mostly incorrect.

jpdude

^you're a gentlemen, fair enough indeed, and as the old saying goes...

one man's trash is another man's treasure

how true that is

Easy

Sounds perfect, thanks for the info. They should do themselves a favor and state the bitrate up front.