Noob: Cheapest site to D/L albums?

by vaindioux Nov 4, 2007 4:56AM PST

Hi

I am a noob and would like input on what service to get. I am mostly into Metal, industrial and rock in general and want an unlimited service to download complete albums not single songs. I also like to try new bands a lot.
Files would have to be played on PC,CD-player (.WMV?) and MP3 player.
Where can I get the most bang for my money?

Thanks a lot

Patrick

Discussion is locked

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the most bang for your buck

by ktreb Nov 6, 2007 9:33AM PST

Would probably be subscription services, such as Rhapsody and Napster. You pay monthly and you can download (or stream) as much as you want. Once you stop paying, your music expires and can no longer be played. If you want to put them on an mp3 player, then you need to pay a little more and get the "to go" versions. And then you need to make sure your player works with the service. Unfortunately, you won't be able to burn them to cd unless you actually purchase the tracks (usually starts at .89) or albums, which usually start at $8.99 and sometimes can be had for less. With these subscription services, you don't own the music, you're renting it. DRM (Digital Rights Management) prevents you from buring them to cd. Even if you purchase the tracks, DRM prevents you from unlimited burning. But if you don't have a lot of music, that's probably the way to go if you want to be legal. Good for popular music.

Then there's eMusic and AudioLunchbox, which are also subscription services, but work differently. You pay a monthly fee for a set number of downloads. The songs are in mp3 format and DRM-free, so once downloaded, you own them and can put them on any mp3 player and burn as many times as you want. You'll find a lot of independent artists and labels on these services.

If you're mostly interested in purchased downloads, you might want to go DRM-free if at all possible, either in mp3 format or WMA in order to play in most mp3 players without having to convert. And also so that you can burn as much as you want. I would suggest that you take a look at Amazon.com mp3 downloads. Individual tracks start at .89 and whole albums start at 8.99 or less. Not all of the major labels are on board with this yet, so you may not be able to find anything you want.

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Thanks and 1 more question

by vaindioux Nov 6, 2007 9:54AM PST

Ktreb

I appreciate the long and detailed answer, it is extremely helpful. Can I ask you one more question?
I have been browsing several music blogs for answers and sometimes people mention Russian sites that are very cheap like 15 cents/song or $3/albums (http://www.mp3ninja.com/ or http://www.mp3sugar.com/ for example). Is that legal? I doubt it but I figure I would ask.

Thanks a lot

Patrick

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legality is debatable

by ktreb Nov 7, 2007 12:41PM PST

The Russian websites claim that they are legal because they paid royalties...in Russia. That doesn't really cover the rest of the world. Strictly speaking, since they did pay royalties, they are legal to sell in Russia to consumers with a valid Russian address. In reality, they sell to everyone. A service such as iTunes, doesn't. They have the service in 22 countries, including Canada, UK, and France. Unless I'm mistaken, if you live outside these countries you can't buy from the iTunes store and if you do, you can only buy from your country's store (ie, you're in the US, you can't buy from France iTunes). There are ways around it, I'm sure.

Since they are in Russia, the governments in the United States and other countries can't really touch them. They can only pressure the Russian government to shut them down. However, when one gets shut down (think allofmp3.com) another one takes its place (like the ones you've mentioned).

I don't know where you're located. I don't want to assume that you're in the United States. But if you're in a country whose legal system pursues copyright violators, it wouldn't be a big stretch for them (the RIAA in the United States, for example) to pursue (United States)consumers who buy from Russian websites. It probably won't happen, but never say never. I would imagine they would have to subpeona the credit card companies and/or ISPs.

If you haven't heard of Jammie Thomas and her woes with the RIAA read this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jammie_Thomas

http://www.jammiethomas.org/

I could go on and on and on, but I'm not a lawyer. And I've been accused on these forums of being "high and mighty" or something like that on that on the subject of illegal downloading. And this is getting kind of long. Bottom line is: while I don't think it's legal, it's up to you to decide your tolerance for risk.

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Thanks

by vaindioux Nov 8, 2007 7:22AM PST

Hi

Thanks again for the answers and the links.

Patrick

Noob: Cheapest site to D/L albums?

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