Music Downloading......

[ChromeGorilla]

Ok, for those of you who actually pay for the music you download, what is your favorite place to get music and why? Most of the music on old computer was from Kazaa and similar site from a few years back so I'm looking to start a new music library with decent MP3's. Thanks in advance!

(I bought a new puter yesterday and no more surfing bullchit sites anymore. No more porn, free music sites like Kazaa, etc etc. Gonna keep this machine as clean as possible.)

[Fish boy]

Ok, for those of you who actually pay for the music you download, what is your favorite place to get music and why? Most of the music on old computer was from Kazaa and similar site from a few years back so I'm looking to start a new music library with decent MP3's. Thanks in advance!

(I bought a new puter yesterday and no more surfing bullchit sites anymore. No more porn, free music sites like Kazaa, etc etc. Gonna keep this machine as clean as possible.)

Kazaa got me a few years ago, I think it installed Gator- beeeoooch to get rid of. Used Bearshare for the last few years, but less and less music. Sorry, can't help you with the pay stuff;)

[ChromeGorilla]

Damn pirate.... :biggrin:

[Uncle Fester]

Limewire and imesh are what we use. Limewire the most.

[ChromeGorilla]

Damn, not even a nibble on this thread....guess everyone is a pirate..... :yes:

[Donzi Kat]

I vote Limewire downloads come out clean everytime.:yes: :yes:

[McGary911]

Ill take a non-pirating stab at this one:

I have several friends that are pretty content with iTunes. The only drawbacks I see:
You don't download them as mp3s....i believe they come down as mp4s. This could limit the platforms you play them on. No portable mp3 player (unless of course you have an iPod). No burning to disk and playing them in a mp3 compatible mp3 player.

You have to use iTunes to play them. I'm not crazy about iTunes personally. I use it because i have an apple airport so i can stream music wirelessly from my laptop to my stereo. I just dont like the way you have to build playlists with it. It does make a great ripper though. You CAN rip to mp3 format.

Another thing to be aware of, is that most services have contracts with 1 or 2 recording houses, but not all. Because of this, you probably wont be able to get all the music you want from one service. That would bug me.

Good luck.......let us know how it turns out.

McGary911- FAITHFUL LIMEWIRE USER :p:p:p

[Donzi Kat]

I can transfer to cd but have to go through Windows Media Player to do it.:hyper:

[Johntrip]

Originally Napster, then bearshare, and limewire... Now, I borrow someones cds and just burn them.. Its only 1.5 minutes to burn an entire cd and my computer pulls a pic of the cd cover and list each song with all its info... Thats the free (pirate) these days...

[joel3078]

Don't pay for music myself either. However for the legit downloading, Napster is back online for about 99 cents a song and Walmart is about 88 cents a song. I believe Napster also has an all ya can download option for a flat charge per month. Both services work fine supposedly. I use WinMX by the way for trading files. Also works good for downloading/trading movies but that is another story. :eek:

By the way, to keep your new computer "clean" stay off the internet or it will get polluted with crap over time. Your best keep it clean option may be to keep your old computer on the internet, burn files to a cd rom disk and then copy those files to your new computer.

[txtaz]

Just a note...Piracy...Don't do it. It will cost more than your boat and they are looking.

Wes

[Fish boy]

No doubt Wes, but I am a little confused. From what I have read, the people being prosecuted are the those that are sharing the files, not the ones downloading it. I think the reasoning is that the person who has it on their computer is the one who is providing the illegal copy of someone's copywritten material. They know or should know that it is wrong.

Music is provided by artists all the time to radio stations..e.tc who pay a fee for its public distribution. But it is then publically distributed and you can record it (like you record tv) for your own personal use. Additionally, many artists make mp3's available on their fan sites and also to increase exposure. Not generally the big namers, but they are not wholly excluded.

So the downloader is getting something that may or not be protected (probably is), but is less culpable than those who are copying someones copywritten material and providing it for free to anyone who wants it. This Not only violates copyright, but causes a loss in revenue to the artist.

Any thoughts on the differnce between download and upload? Just downloading sort of defeats the purpose of P2P networks if you receive and not give, but it appears that RIAA is only going after the givers... at least for now.

[Patti]

Ok, for those of you who actually pay for the music you download, what is your favorite place to get music and why? Most of the music on old computer was from Kazaa and similar site from a few years back so I'm looking to start a new music library with decent MP3's. Thanks in advance!

(I bought a new puter yesterday and no more surfing bullchit sites anymore. No more porn, free music sites like Kazaa, etc etc. Gonna keep this machine as clean as possible.)

I've used Rhapsody..I like it..I basically just listen though and don't burn anything..it's reasonable..I got tired of using all the P2P services..I noticed that more and more files were distorted once I downloaded them.

I got tired of searching for "good files".

It has tons of albums and it's easy to navigate..has just about every Genre also. :)

[txtaz]

Fish, I understand what you are saying. RIAA has been going after copyright infrignment for at least 20 years that I know of. They came up with codecs that actually would have reduced their distribution by limiting what they could be played on. It is a very ahem group.

As far as who they are going after: My belief is that they are looking at traffic. If you upload or download a few songs, they will look the other way (ie no time to spend on the small fish...sorry no pun intended). If you have an entire library online in P2P and upload and download they will come after you. One thing that P2P programs do is file share a directory in which you download the files to. So those files are automatically shared once you have them. That helps the P2P program to proliferate.

As you said, there are some bands that allow downloads off their sites. That is legal, but generally not the stuff you want. I'm not a lawyer but I think recording off air stuff is legal for your use but not for distribution, in any means. There are not laws for recording an online radio show, yet. When the quality of online shows gets close to CD quality, look for RIAA to make ways to thwart it.

I like the idea of being able to listen to what you think you would like to have and then go and buy it. I also like being able to rip my own CD's of my compilations for the boat. Remember taking the whole cd case? Now I just burn a CD of what I want to hear. The next step will be media less. Imagine downloading what you want to you car or boat player via wireless. Then the cell phone companies get involved and you can call your home computer to get songs as your cruising. OK, I digress.

I don't know what the fines are for steeling song files, but program piracy is a $200,000 fine. That's a pretty big Donzi.

Wes "Just don't steel"
Yup I have a problem with people steeling.

[Formula Jr]

Intellectual property and copyright in the computer age has been problematic from the very beginning. There have always been stories that Billy G's first Basic language program was "based" on the free MIT tiny basic paper tape loader.

And now Star Wars III is already out there on DVD.
I would love to see people respect other people's right to market their properties any way they want. For instance, The Greatful Dead encouraged copying, as that was their busines plan to get people to come to concerts. But if your business plan is to retain and control distibution, then that is a protected right under US law.
Think about what would have happened if we had this technology to copy at will, say back in the 50's. Would there have been a Sun Records, or Apple, or Deca, Virgin?
A new artist can come out now, create an album, and really the only people that are going to buy their stuff are going to instantly make it available for free global distribution.
So our new bands don't come out of this older artistic tradition of struggle, and finding their own style. They are now manufactured as value added attachments to another product, like Limp Biscuit and Sprite Cola.
Some of this is the fault of the recording industry. Last Pop Music CD I bought (Mobies PLAY), cost me $15 bucks!!!!!! It should have been five. So the industry didn't really consider what they were doing to the honest buyer. For awhile on College campuses, the first to be wired up for high speed internet, 33% of their entire bandwidth was being used to download napster style P2P music files. I found that to be deeply disturbing, as these are state funded institutions for the most part. Somehow, this little piece of adult morality, was lost on gen X.
I had my own problems protecting my intellectual property. Its very funny when some one wants to show you this great program they pirated, and hands you a copy, says check this out, and you realize that its your program that you spend three years, in near starvation developing.
I can't complain too much, as I did well. Yet, I know I would have done better if I could have controlled distibution.
I like iTunes new model. Its a buck a song. But we have lost something here. Some albums are complete concepts and the individual songs are part of the fabric of that artist's complete expression. You might not like or understand a song, until much later, after hearing the album over and over again with that song in context and the order it should be. And I see fewer artists writing to this higher form of composition.

[txtaz]

Jr, Well put. I agree with everything you said. Are you a developer? Shoot me an email, I like to know what you do.
As far as Mr gates: Here's and ironic thing.
His first program (company) was DOS which was stolen and then licensed to IBM. He then went back to the rightful owner and bought it from him for next to nothing. The first version of Windows was stolen as well, from Apple. I know I give Apple owners a hard time (eh el fuzzy one?), but at least they (Apple) has integrity.
For some good reading, check out "The Model Railroad Company". It's about the railroad club at MIT. Since there were no computer clubs at the time, all the geeks joined the railroad club.
I agree that some albums are stories. My favorite is Eagles Desperado (The original version). I don't think todays artist do it because they are looking for the bucks from a single hit.
Wes

[John W]

Chrome,
I too used to use kazaa and napster in its day, have not got sued yet!!! However just yeaterday my wife needed a Toby keith song and i found thet you can download them from microsoft. They have a deal going now buy one @.99 and get 5 free. Hope this helps.
JW

[Knot Slow]

Ok, for those of you who actually pay for the music you download, what is your favorite place to get music and why? Most of the music on old computer was from Kazaa and similar site from a few years back so I'm looking to start a new music library with decent MP3's. Thanks in advance!

(I bought a new puter yesterday and no more surfing bullchit sites anymore. No more porn, free music sites like Kazaa, etc etc. Gonna keep this machine as clean as possible.) Check out www.soundclick.com (http://www.soundclick.com) go into blues-blues rock, look for the hep cat boo daddies,that would be me........