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General discussion

How do you acquire most of your MP3s?

Aug 15, 2005 9:47AM PDT

How do you acquire most of your MP3s?

From an online subscription service (which one?)
From a pay-per-download service (which one?)
From a P2P client (is it legal?)
I rip them from CDs that I own (tell us more)
Other (tell us more)
I don't have MP3s (why not?)

Discussion is locked

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SOULSEEK!
Aug 16, 2005 8:45AM PDT

although I should probably change my answer for the poll as i pay 5 dollars a month for priority downloading.

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soulseek
Aug 19, 2005 1:10PM PDT

right on!
i use winmix now

soulseek has a lot of indie stuff and movies, but it downloads too slow, and the number of users is smaller than winmix.

winmix is much faster but sometimes you can't find music

either one is not the greatest, but i'd rather download free than pay for it

kazaa is great but unless you want to get sued, don't use it!

morpheus is just plain awful

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MP3s
Aug 16, 2005 9:00AM PDT

I use Musicmatch, or I burn from my cds I own. I used to use Kazaa, but I kind of got scared about all of the lawsuit stuff, so I purchase them now. Sometimes I will purchase 1 song I like, then turn around and buy the cd.

Dee-

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How do you acquire most of your MP3s?
Aug 16, 2005 9:05AM PDT

The first thing I do when I buy a CD is rip it and put the original away. I have a lot of money invested in CD's and if something happens to the copy, I can make another one. I also make my own "favorites" CD's to listen to while driving back and forth to work.

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MP3's
Aug 16, 2005 9:08AM PDT

I was using a p2p site til recent supreme court decision scared me off (afraid the ascap police are gonna knock on my door)
I now stick to pay per song site (iTunes) - my cd's are already ripped.

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I rip them from CDs that I own and some times I use a p2p
Aug 16, 2005 9:12AM PDT

well if we talk about money and music I have one example:

I remember, when Rammstein came to Mexico City, they had an radio interview, in it one question was:

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Okay for them...
Oct 15, 2008 2:03PM PDT

That's okay for them to say that. They established themselves and made their money back in the days when P2P wasn't such a big thing so it's not going to hurt them now if people download and copy their music without paying.

But what about the smaller artists just starting out? They don't "have so much money" and therefore can't afford to allow this to happen to their music.

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rip from my cds
Aug 16, 2005 9:13AM PDT

I like a lot of my cds, but only one or two songs from each one and now I am able to have all the music that I like in one spot.

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Binary newsgroups
Aug 16, 2005 9:16AM PDT

The only way to download...It is safe, reliable and no worries about the powers that be tracking you. I am a leech and I love it!

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alt.binaries.mp3
Aug 17, 2005 12:11AM PDT

I can't understand why anyone in their right mind would actually PAY to download music, books, videos, etc. when the NEWSGROUPS are brimming with the stuff.

I guess since it takes a bit of know-how and some really inexpensive (or free) software, it's just too much for those who have more money than either brains, skill or time.

I could go on and explain the whole thing but I think I'll just leave it at that. Those who want to throw their money away... well, will just keep on doing it.

Those who are a tad smarter will visit the alt.binaries groups in their usergroups, search for MP3, or MPEG, and suddenly have available MORE MUSIC, AUDIOBOOKS and VIDEOS, FREE of ads, viruses and any charges, than they could ever possibly download and burn.

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Newsgroups Downloading - Another Major Benefit...
Aug 23, 2005 5:40AM PDT

What I see as the biggest benefit to NG posting is the ability to d/l & review (and burn, if desired) a number of bands that you would never have listened to if you had to pay for them.

Screw the RIAA and radio stations. They are still controlling what people hear on the airwaves (and thus, willing to pay for in the music stores). If it wasn't for NG's, I wouldn't know of some of my favorite bands now.

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Rip and download
Aug 16, 2005 9:20AM PDT

I have a large follection of CD's and have ripped only an eighth of them so far. Some of it is full cd but some is also selected songs. I also take big advantage of the free downloads that iTunes, Walmart.com, AllOfMP3.com, and eMusic offer from time to time. That is probably where the bulk of the music that i listen to comes from is from promotions. However I do pay for downloads from allofmp3.com. For $0.002 per megabyte, why not.

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I acquire my MP3's extracting from my CD's...
Aug 16, 2005 9:26AM PDT

Since stealing anything is not my habit, I usually extrack my MP3's from my original CD's ( which are over a 1000 nowadays ). The main reason is to listen to them anytime that I want, using my MP3 player which holds a lot ( 40Gb = 8000 songs average ). If you extract the MP3's with the highest quality possible, it is easy to carry all your collection to anywhere you like. I use the registered CD to MP3 software version 3.01. I also advise all an iRiver for MP3 player which is more user friendly than iPod and perhaps with a better sound quality. Also I advise JBL On Stage for mini speakers which are almost as good as any music system to listen to your MP3's on stage...

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Fully Customized
Aug 16, 2005 9:27AM PDT

Before an MP3 is added to my player, I run a series of procedures first. They are:
1-Rip the song as a Wav file from a store bought CD (Max quality to start with).
2-Trim the "empty" space at the beginning & end of the recording (Less waiting time from track to track).
3-Maximize volume level with the "Full Dynamic Range" setting (To pack everything into the file before converting)
4-Maximize individual channels if needed (To make sure the audio is balanced on left & right).
5-Convert the song to MP3 at the 320 kbps bit rate (To maintain quality)
6-Run the song through a track analysis & set it's volume output to a pre specified level (To match the volume level of the other MP3's).
When 1-6 is complete, I then load the MP3's to my player. Before I start playing them I use one more program to boost the volume of all songs uniformly on the player.
I realize it's a lot of work but once it's done I burn a backup of the entire collection to save myself time in the future. To me it's worth it too.

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Itunes
Aug 16, 2005 9:41AM PDT

Itunes I think is the best way to get Music you don't own... i havn't bought a CD for over a year! I download it from itunes!

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subscription services
Aug 16, 2005 9:56AM PDT

only work with winxp. i use win9+ on the desktop and don't plan on using winxp ever. so i get them from my albums/cd's and friends albums/cd's and p2p networks and bit torrent jobs. sony sound forge w/mp3 plugin works great for album extraction.

my burning question is, why does itunes, and napster support only one o/s?

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How Mp3's have changed my life
Aug 16, 2005 10:12AM PDT

First let me tell you I have been collecting music for over 40 years. in 1976 i had a house fire and lost close to 5000 lp records, not to mention cartons of cassettes, about 150 reel to reel tapes, 45's and the old 78's. since that time i have replenished my collection. Now' I spend about 2 months ripping and cleaning and album,this consists of about 25% of my mp3 collection, I also rip from cd's, about 65%. as to downloading, I have a list of about 500 albums that I havn't been able to find, when Napster first emerged I discovered music I'd been searching for for over 20 years. thank you P2P sharing. At present I have about 8500 mp3's and I burn mp3's to cd's, about 18-20 hours in mp3pro format and use a portable mp3 cd player and a JVC mp3 player in my jeep, Kudos to JVC, 2 years ago I took one of my mp3pro disks with 275 songs on it and tryed every deck I could find, JVC had the only deck that would read and play the whole disk. With MusicMatch I've been able to order and catalogue my collection with ease, before the fire I had 2 filing cabinets cataloging and cross referencing my record collection. Mp3s have made collecting much easier and more fun for this ol'audiophile

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MP3
Aug 16, 2005 10:35AM PDT

I have went along with the majority and utilize Itunes with my Ipod 6 Gb and 1 Gb shuffle. The support is awesome and almost all tunes are available. Itunes really needs to beef up their classics to include Ac/Dc , Led Zeppelin, Beatles, and Jethro Tull to name but a few. Otherwise the support and service are top-notch.

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Outlook Express
Aug 16, 2005 10:46AM PDT

Alt.binaries.sounds......

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mp3's
Aug 16, 2005 10:51AM PDT

personally I simply don't have a clue how to use those things!!

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acquire MP3s?
Aug 16, 2005 10:53AM PDT

i try to get my CDs from the libary, rip 'em to OGG and return the CD....if i cant do that, i download the MP3 from wherever i can get it, then convert it to OGG.
MP3=Sad
OGG=:-D

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MP3's
Aug 16, 2005 10:59AM PDT

I rip tracks from CD's for my own use in a MP3 player. Some CD's I get from my local library and the rest are ones I already own. I also record a particular radio program that is not otherwise available and at a time I have other things I must do, I guess it is a "RIVO." I don't worry about losing my files since they are all on at least two hard drives.

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What's RIVO ?
Feb 23, 2006 4:00AM PST

Your methods are about the same as mine ... What's RIVO ?

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Seen the new limewire warning?
Aug 16, 2005 11:00AM PDT

Limewire knows that most of its users download MP3s illigally. They have now put this note on their website:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y88/bballerdean/limewirewarning.jpg

Also, the latest version of Limewire warns you before every download. Luckily, this message can be turned off... because it even warns you for most LEGAL downloads.

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Music Theft
Aug 16, 2005 7:19PM PDT

I download music off p2p networks if I really care enough to hear the song a lot. Why don't I pay for it? Long answer short "I pay for my education".

Don't like the reason then pay more taxes to fund public universities and I'll have more money for frivilous things like music.

As for calling it theft PLEASE! It isn't like I sell the stuff nor do I ever intend on actually sharing what I have via p2p networks!

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Copy MP3 from CD's
Aug 16, 2005 11:02AM PDT

I already own several hundred CD's I only rip certain ones I like to listen to when I'm out walking (for exercise). I will probabaly continue to purchase some CD's, but I now have sattalite radio and that seems to have some plus side to it.

MP3 players because of their small size are great for use when walking/exercising.

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I burn MP3's from my own CD's
Aug 16, 2005 11:06AM PDT

It's convenient and you get more music if you want to burn a disk. Does the music industry thinks it's illegal if you already own the CD?

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From an online subscription service (which one?)
Aug 16, 2005 11:48AM PDT

iTunes: came with my G5; 1-3 FREE downloads every Tuesday

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mp3
Aug 16, 2005 11:51AM PDT

what's an mp3 ??

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I have friends
Aug 16, 2005 11:55AM PDT

One of my friends is the most well-connected announcer for the UK's radio. Others are songwriters and radio people from across the US. I take my laptop with the latest copy of CDex and collect "broadcast quality" music from their vast collections of promotional and demo recordings. It's given me the chance to have everything from Atom Heart Mother and Brian Eno to Kenny and Kid's 4am Salute to Waylon.
The same laptop gets programmed with 140 songs that segue themselves and are played with dual compression and digital speakers as I drive from coast to coast. 140 songs can get you from KC to Phoenix and sound like a radio station that only plays what you want to hear. The only innovation I'm waiting for is WinAmp, with all its plug-ins, in a portable or in-dash unit.
By the way, broadcast quality is 256 kbps (16-bit 44,100). But often, I will settle for anything above 160.