Want to download music - confused with formats/restrictions

1. If you rip with Windows Media Player, uncheck the Protect Content or it's locked to that machine. This setting is at WMP's TOOLS>OPTIONS>CD AUDIO then disable the 'Protect Content' option.

2. "I could loose the license to the download songs"
Without knowing which service you used I can't comment. With Apple there is no issue since they provide a way to move to other machines.

Bob

IMO - THE IMPORTANT THINGS ABOUT BUYING MUSIC ONLINE IS...

1. file format
2. bit rate
3. DRM protection (Digital Rights Management)


i have used 3 online music stores...

Itunes, Wal-Mart, and REAL


these sites sell their music in the following file formats:

Itunes (Regular) - AAC(.m4p file) 128 Kbps
Itunes (PLUS) - AAC(.m4p file) 256 Kbps

Wal-Mart (WMA) - WMA (.wma file) 128 Kbps
Wal-Mart (MP3) - MP3 (.mp3 file) 256 Kbps

REAL (all) - Real Audio(.rax file) 192 Kbps


iTunes: only some songs are available in PLUS format, most are only REGULAR format.

Wal-Mart: only some songs are available in MP3 format, most are only WMA format.

REAL: ALL of their songs are in "Real Audio" format. you can easily burn the music to CD's using FREE version of REAL Player. but you must use REAL Player premium service ($39 monthly) to be able to convert these Real Audio files to MP3, to allow uploading to most portable players, including iPod.


ALL iTunes and REAL songs are 99 cents
Wal-Mart (WMA) songs are 88 cents
Wal-Mart (MP3) songs are 94 cents

itunes (Regular), Wal-Mart (WMA), and REAL downloads ARE restricted by DRM. thus, you are limited in your use/reproduction of the music.

(each company's DRM rules are different, but similiar.... you can not re-sell music commercially. you can only use the music on a max of like 4-5 different computers. you can sync music to unlimited number of portable devices. you can not transfer music to 3rd party. i don't think "family" is a 3rd party - not sure ??)

iTunes (PLUS), and Wal-Mart (MP3) are NOT restricted by DRM. you have unlimited future use/sharing/reproduction for PERSONAL use. but no commercial re-sell, etc.


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if you only use your digital music library to FILL PORTABLE PLAYERS, then average file quality, and smaller file size is likely desireable.

but if you want to use your digital music library to BURN CD's, then you need better file quality, and thus will have larger file size.


IMO - IF AVAILABLE - the best format to buy online music is AAC.

AAC is less lossy than MP3. and AAC has the same file size as MP3, if both are recorded at same bit rate.

AAC is compatiable with iTunes & iPod, REAL Player, and many portable devices.


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if you only want to BURN CD's, then REAL is a great choice to buy online music, because ALL of their music is AAC, and it ALL is 192 Kbps. and these REAL Audio format files can easily be burned to CD-R, via the FREE version of REAL Player.

but if you want to load music into portable players, REAL is likley not the best choice due to $39 monthly fee for the premium REAL Player service.


IMO - for overall combination use of burning CD's, AND loading to portable players, then the best online music purchase is....

1. the iTunes (PLUS) songs. they have high quality format, and no DRM. but only a few songs are avaiable at iTunes in PLUS format.

2. second best is.... Wal-Mart (MP3) songs. they have good quality format, and no DRM. but again, only a few songs are avaiable at Wal-Mart in MP3 format.

3. third best is.... iTunes (Regular) songs. they have good quality format, but DO have DRM. ADVANTAGE: most ALL songs are avaiable at iTunes in Regular format.

4. last is.... Wal-Mart (WMA) songs. they have good quality format, but DO have DRM. PROBLEM: the WMA files are not compatiable with ITunes or iPod, and many portable devices.

if you only want to BURN CD's, then the Wal-Mart (WMA) files will likely be fine. these Wal-Mart (WMA) format files can easily be burned to CD-R, via the FREE Wal-Mart Music Player.

but if you want to load music into portable players, the Wal-Mart (WMA) files are not an optimum choice.

I WOULD NOT BUY ANY WMA FILES, UNLESS YOU ARE KNOWLEDGEABLE ENOUGH TO MANIPULATE THE FILES TO USE AS NEEDED, TO UPLOAD TO PORTABLE PLAYERS.


PS - i have purchased online music from ALL 3 of these sites discussed above. i have had no problem merging the various files together, into the same digital music library. i just buy any given song, from whichever site has it available, in my preferred format.
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CDs are great if you like the entire cd. For many of my favorite artists, this is the way to go. I usually buy new from Amazon.com or I will buy used from Amazon Marketplace sellers or eBay. I rarely go into the physical stores, at least the big-box ones (Target, WalMart, Best Buy). They don't have what I want. If you're into popular music, then these are the best places. New releases come out every Tuesday and that first week they're out, you'll find these at their cheapest in their first year of release. If you wait a year or so, sometimes less, they do get cheaper.

These days, I rarely buy CDs...maybe just 2-3 per year and only from my very favorite artists. The rest I buy as individual downloads (my store of choice is iTunes, but that is because I mainly use iPods - but that is irrelevant). If you really don't like the entirety of most cds, I think this is the way to go. That way, you only buy the songs that you want. As for CDs vs whole album downloads, I could go either way. CDs provide a full-quality backup (if you take care of them) just in case your computer goes kaput, although you have to spend the time re-ripping (you should back up your ripped/downloaded music anyway). Downloads provide immediate gratification and often are cheaper.

If I wasn't using iTunes, I would prefer to buy downloads in mp3 format. That way, you don't have to do any further conversion to put on players that don't support wma (like your wife's iPod). And they're automatically DRM free. So you can put on as many computers and players as you want, as well as burn unlimited audio cds. Both WalMart and Amazon offer this and most of their mp3 downloads are in 256 kbps. Depending on what bitrate you're currently using for your cd ripping, the mp3 downloads will be bigger.

As far as wma restricted downloads, usually you're restricted in the number of computers and players that you can have the music on. Also you're restricted in how many times you can burn them to audio cds, but that restriction is usually the same playlist - change the playlist slightly and you should be able to burn more copies. You didn't mention which service you use. Depending on the service, it can be upto 5 computers and 3-5 players. You'll need to check what your service restrictions are. If you're totally getting rid of a computer, then you need to deauthorize it, which you should be able to do with the software/service you're using. If you're getting an additional computer, just download the software for the service, sign into your account and authorize it. As you change/upgrade players, you need to deauthorize the old ones and authorize the new ones.
As far as putting music on an external, it probably won't be considered a transfer as you would need a computer in order to play them.

I really like subscription services. I subscribe to Rhapsody to go and use it on one of my non-iPod players. I have access to millions of songs- there's something for everyone in my family - from Sinatra to Snoop Dog. I don't even have to download the songs to my computer. I can stream them, accessing from up to 3 computers and putting them on up to 3 players. It does take longer to load the players since I don't have the songs on the computer, but I'd rather keep the space free. I know once I stop paying, I lose access...but that doesn't worry me. Many of the modern songs I'm listening to currently I won't be listening to next year let alone 5 years from now. For the songs/albums I really think I'll be listening to for some time to come, I'll buy the track from iTunes or the entire physical cd.