Music Downloads

I want to download music, buy only the songs I want instead of complete albums. I have gone out and looked at various programs, Napster, Itunes and others and I now somewhat confused. Some of these programs only let you take them to your MP3 player, some will only let you burn the song once maybe twice and some will let you transfer to one other computer. What is the best one out there that will let me download the song to my computer and then I can do what I want with the song.

murph

If I understand it correctly, Napster only lets you rent the songs for as long as you continue to pay the montly fee. I know that iTunes sells you the song and you own limited rights to it. Both let you download individual songs. iTunes lets you copy the song within a play list that contains a group of songs. There is a limit, it used to be 10 copies, it might still be 10. But, if you alter the play list, you can then copy it 10 more times. Alter the play list again and you get 10 more copies. The concept is to give you flexibility to put your music onto a CD, MP3 player, etc but to make it difficult to make mass copies and sell them. I rarely download music, when I do I use iTunes.

I cannot put songs I bought from Itunes on my MP3 player! When I contacted Itunes via email (only way you can get them), they tell me that I can only play the tunes on my computer. And then only after I establish a password for the song. It is a royal PIA and I'll never buy songs from them again! With Napster you basically pay for being able to play songs they have on your computer during your subscription time. Since I do not desire to play the tunes while at my computer, Napster is worthless to me.

My daughter told me she uses Itunes. She told me she has never done anything with them except for play on her computer. She emailed me a couple and I can play them on my computer. But I sure don't want to pay a buck for a song that I can't move onto an MP3 player. And the help section of any of them pretty much suck.

murph

iTunes will allow uploads to some brand & some models of MP3 players and I've heard of glitches with some of those. iTunes has something like 70% of the legal music download market, most of those songs are sold to people who play music on an iPod, but other MP3 players work too. You'd want to make sure yours works wtih iTunes.

I'd like to find a good download service where when you buy it and download it you can do as you please with it. Just like when you buy a CD. I really thought the music companies would make a fortune selling songs and not having to produce and distribute CD's or LP's etc. Even at .99 cents each you still would end up paying the same price as if you paid 14.99 for a 15 song CD.
I hope in the near future we can download a mp3, play it on any mp3 player, convert it to a regular audio file type and record it on a CD to play in any CD player. We know the technology is there, why are these companies being so hard to get along with? ...or I have not found the right download service.

Doc said:

I'd like to find a good download service where when you buy it and download it you can do as you please with it. Just like when you buy a CD.

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Well we have some serious copyright issues to deal with. According to the law, you cannot legally copy a CD and distribute the song for any reason other than personal use. The same is true for digital downloads. The problem is that while most of us don't re-sell music, don't give it way, or don't share it, many others do and that is eating away millions of $ of income from the record companies. Plain and simple, it is theft to download music and share/distribute it freely. People can argue that companies make too much money, that musicians make too much money, but really they are just rationalizing the fact that they are stealing.

Apple's iTunes, like it or not, has one of the best systems in that they sell you the music and provide you a license to use the song within reason. You can burn it to CDs, upload it various pocket players, copy it to hard drives and you have 10 copies you can make without having to rearrange your playlist. I think that is pretty reasonable.

I use Limewire. You can download all the songs you want and as many times as you want. It is a file share service which could be a problem for some people. When ever i am done downloading i run my antivirus and spyware and have not had any problems yet. There is a one time fee ($20-$30) i think, its been a while, and you can download all you want forever. I download to the computor and then make my own mixes on CD's. Which you can play in the house, car, or wherever. So far so good. I have around 200-300 songs so far.

Daydreamer,

I went and downloaded Limewire. You can take the basic or the Pro. My problem is the fee from what I see is for a faster program. The actual downloading may or may not be legal? Is this right? I guess I would rather pay then to be illegal.

murph

I have the Pro, It does download a little faster. Befor i got high speed (cable) it would take 20-25 min. befor pro maybe 15-20 min. after pro. With the cable modem in as little as 20 seconds to 1 min. I would say if you have high speed already why pay for Pro. I would not think it would make much of a differance. As far as being leagle ??????????????????????????????? I have heard they are going to try to stop these file share sites but they have not yet. Good luck

Daydreamer said:

I have heard they are going to try to stop these file share sites but they have not yet.

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From a strictly legal basis file sharing of copywrited material is completely illegal. As for stopping the sties, the music industry is going after them one by one. "Napster" used to be an illegal site, they were sued, they lost, you now have to pay. Several other sites have suffered the same fate. The music industry has also sued individual users. There was a highly public case about 2 years ago where they sued a 12 (?) year old kid who's parents did not know was involved in illegal file sharing, the music industry won. But the reality is these are very rare cases where individuals are sued.

Now from a strictly personal basis, I downloaded Limewire, Gnutella & Napster years ago, before it was common knowledge that the practice of file sharing is illegal. I'm not sure which sure which songs I downloaded via which service but I made up exactly 1 CD of music by doing this in my life. I found several of the songs to be of lower quality as if damaged by file compression? Some were fine. One was cut off before the end. This was at least a year or more before iTunes opened up that I did this. I never did it again simply because I was not impressed. When I found out it was illegal, I deleted the file sharing programs. That is just my personal choice. It is hard to argue that it is not stealing.

Bob,

I did download Limewire. And it looks to me like it is illegal. I also deleted it. I just wished I could find out if Itunes will work with players other than the IPod. IPod is ok but awful expensive for what you get.

murph

iTunes does work with SOME other brands, but you'll have to dig around the Apple site to figure out which onese those are. And I have seen complaints from some folks who have 'supported devices' and can't get their songs to load. So I suppose it is sketchy.

Napster, if you don't mind the monthy fee, might be an option for you.

thcri said:

Bob,

I did download Limewire. And it looks to me like it is illegal. I also deleted it. I just wished I could find out if Itunes will work with players other than the IPod. IPod is ok but awful expensive for what you get.

murph

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All I know is that I have a couple of Creative Labs MP3 players (a 40gb and 60gb Zen player) and, several Rio MP3 players that use SD or CF memory. I really like my Rio players. I have either a 1 gb SD card or a 2 gb SD card in them and they will not skip, hold 300 to 500 songs, and last over 15 hours on 1 "AAA" battery. I do know that iTunes songs I bought will not play on these machines. At least I cannot get them to play on them. I personally don't really care for the iPod players and think they are way over priced when compared to the competition. You can get more for your money even when going with off brands like, say, "Sony" for your player. Since iTunes is developed from the same company that brings you the iPod, I'm fairly certain that the compatibility issue is by no mistake.

So, for me, I won't buy iTunes songs anymore, and I'm not going to shell out the cash for an iPod just so I can spend money with them on iTunes. The .99c per song on iTunes is no real bargain anyway. Just do a search on Google for "buy songs" and, you'll find plenty of places where you can buy songs for a buck each that will play on any player. I guess "i"Stuff has chapped my ass in that they seem to want to force me to buy all their stuff to be able to use any of their stuff. If that's what you already have, great. However, you shouldn't ever consider buying a different brand player. Your collection of songs may be useless to you then. So, even then, you are stuck.

Oh yes, I went and checked out LimeWire. Holy crap man! I guess I thought that most all of the illegal stuff was gone. That program looks like a lure to get you into big trouble. I searched for exactly 10 songs (which I actually already own). LimeWire found dozens of copies of each but, each version had the little window pop up saying that the license for that song could not be verified blah, blah, blah. In other words, it looked like for each song I found, LimeWire listed their disclosure that it was illegal. Okay, it's off my machine now.

BTW the Rio players you love so well are gone. Rio stopped production a month or two ago.

B_Skurka said:

BTW the Rio players you love so well are gone. Rio stopped production a month or two ago.

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Damn! That blows! They were the Kioti (best bang for your buck, highest quality, least expensive) of the MP3 player market. I guess iTunes or iPod likely had something to do with that. They blew the iPods away in head to head comparisons and were much less expensive.

Don't want to open up an old thread but today I was told Boze has a nice docking station for the MP3 Players. Yes it is nice but you have to use an Ipod with it. Which upsets me. Does anyone else out there have a docking station as this whole set up even makes my wife thinking an MP3 player would be nice.

murph

I'm glad you did revisit this thread Murph. I'm also MP3 shopping for Christmas gifts. IPod is out, I just want a regular MP3 player, but I'll need three of them. I had not considered a docking station, but I know a docking station sure makes it easier to download my photos. With MP3 players I was guessing you would get a cord to plug in directly to a USB port. I'll be interested to hear how others handle loading and unloading their MP3 players.

this docking station has speakers in it so you can jus sit your mp3 player in it and you play right to your speakers.

murph

Dargo said:

Damn! That blows! They were the Kioti (best bang for your buck, highest quality, least expensive) of the MP3 player market. I guess iTunes or iPod likely had something to do with that. They blew the iPods away in head to head comparisons and were much less expensive.

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I have a buslink 512 now and it works great. Use in for running every day. Run over 40 miles per week and works great!

Plus the 1-year warranty is the best any MP3 has!

thcri said:

Bob,

I did download Limewire. And it looks to me like it is illegal. I also deleted it. I just wished I could find out if Itunes will work with players other than the IPod. IPod is ok but awful expensive for what you get.

murph

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It is legal but most times there are clowns on there that install virus's in there mp3.

PSP is legal but the users are making it illegal.

The IPOD is out, why? btw, they plays AAC3 (apple's format with Digital Rights Management) and normal MP3 files.

Something you might want to consider if you are you buying these players as gifts for someone who is a young person.... might want to ask them what they think about the iPod.

If you ask my teenage daughter what is going on in school with digital music players, she will tell you that iPod is hot and everyone wants one. (The Nike and Levis of this generation).. and everyone who has something else is embarrassed to be seen with them (The Pony and Wranglers) Sad but true. Remember, how life was very clicky back when we were kids? Nothing has changed. Back when I owned the original iPod and before they were hot, she thought it was lame. Several years later when all the kids have one, she desperately wants one. Gotta have it dad! Geez, how funny. I am not saying that is it right or wrong, just another perspective if you are considering giving a player as gift to a young person. As far as pricewise.. I dunno. They are RELATIVELY expensive, but so are Nike and Levis. Maybe part of the mystique for kids desires? Careful, These desires later transform themselves into more expensive status symbols like BMWs and Gucci.

btw, iPOD shuffles start at $99 and rumor has it they produce better sound quality then the higher end models like the iPod Mini or Nano.

Doc said:

I'm glad you did revisit this thread Murph. I'm also MP3 shopping for Christmas gifts. IPod is out, I just want a regular MP3 player, but I'll need three of them. I had not considered a docking station, but I know a docking station sure makes it easier to download my photos. With MP3 players I was guessing you would get a cord to plug in directly to a USB port. I'll be interested to hear how others handle loading and unloading their MP3 players.

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I've installed iTunes on my PC lap top and used it for a couple of years as my portable music player with plug-in (portable) speakers. I've never bought an on-line recording. I've just ripped (copied) my CD library onto the PC. My CD collection now rarely gets played separately. I now shop for CDs just to record to the computer. Only now I just record the songs I like. How many times have you listened to an album or CD and said; "I never liked that song when it was new and I still don't like it?" Well, now I only have the good bits on my computer. It has me offered some shopping challenges though as I try to duplicate the 45s from my juke box on the computer and vice versa. I know the real answer is another computer hooked up to the Stereo in the shop, but I ain't there yet. I've cut a few CD collections to play in the car and truck but not many.

After several years of just the computer playing the music, I recently bought an iPod. Of course it works with the stuff on the computer flawlessly. I got it to have something to be able to listen (finally!) on air plane trips. It holds my entire recording library. I can't possibly listen to the whole collection on even several coast-to-coast trips. But then, I just listen to the favorites anyway. It's interesting to look at the tabulation of the most listened to songs. I'm now looking at the car hook up (through the FM radio) to be able to play the iPod in the rental cars while on trips too.

v8dave said:

I've never bought an on-line recording. I've just ripped (copied) my CD library onto the PC.

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Dave,

I also do exactly what you do. I have never bought an on-line recording nor do I waste my time downloading music from P2P networks. All my money still goes into CDs, and as soon as I buy them I rip them to 320kb MP3 and put them onto my fileserver. When disk space get cheaper, I am sure I will go throw again and rerip them to a lossless compression format once there is a clear leading lossless format. After I rip the brand new CD, Then I immediately, go take the CD and put it into safe storage with the rest of my hundreds of CDs. So I guess the CD is only ever going to be read once or twice in its lifetime. Once the music is on my file server the rest of my family is able to play the music from any computer in my house or from the Tivos. If we wish to listen to the musc on the road, it is a click away from burning a CD or downloading into a portable iPod type device (which I don't own anymore).

With on-line music purchasing... I can see the huge, potential and convience of not having to wait to get a physical CD. However, until they figure out a way of doing this without a restrictive a Digitial Rights Managment system and a lower quality music file then what is provided on the CD; I am opting out. I would rather shop amazon or buy.com and wait a few days for the CD. As hard as it is, I have learned to wait because the on-line music offering has too many disadvantages for me with little in return. I think some othesr are in the same boat on this one. Other's dont seem to care that they are buying music with limited sound quality and a restrictive use policy.

OregonAlex said:

The IPOD is out, why? btw, they plays AAC3 (apple's format with Digital Rights Management) and normal MP3 files.

Something you might want to consider if you are you buying these players as gifts for someone who is a young person.... might want to ask them what they think about the iPod.

If you ask my teenage daughter what is going on in school with digital music players, she will tell you that iPod is hot and everyone wants one.

Click to expand...

Here is just one more reason to consider an iPod. OK well actually now 16 more reasons to consider one. Other than the obvious fact that most people actually would prefer an iPod over every other brand of music player.

B_Skurka said:

Other than the obvious fact that most people actually would prefer an iPod over every other brand of music player.

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I would say that statement is probably accurate. I remember when the iPod came out about 3-4 years ago and all the critics were saying that it was definately nice but way too expensive compared to competition and wouldn't be all that successful in the market. They were very wrong. Then after Apple's success, I remember Dell saying, 2 years ago, that they were not worried about Apple success in the market because the market cap is limited. Just last week I see Dell eating their words and is now thinking about getting into the market but acknowledges that they are WAY behind as they ignored the market for so long. How entertaining.

Although, I think the iPod are cool, after using one for a while, many years ago, I found that I did not use it ACTIVELY as much as I thought I would and sold it. Its was kind of like the PDA. It was a neat toy but I really didn't find myself using it all that much on a sustained basis. There are lots of things like that in the gadget market out there like Camera Cell phones. Cool but not all that much used after the facination wears off.

Who here actually actively uses the Camera in their cell phones who has owned their phone for more then 3 months?? show of hands? Just curious.

The other day my nephew told me that he thinks the cell phone will hurt the wrist watch market as he never wears a wristwatch anymore because he always uses the clock on his cell phone. I had to laugh. Doubt it.

OregonAlex said:

Who actually actively uses the Camera in their cell phones who has owned their phone for more then 3 months?? show of hands?

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Well I live by my PDA/Cellphone/Camera!!! I've been using a PDA for 5+ years. 3+ years ago I got a PDA/Cellphone from Samsung, in fact I was one of the very first to get it after it became available because I got it before it hit the stores. 2 years ago I switched to a PDA/Cellphone/Camera and would not give it up. The camera is lousy, but it is great in a pinch.

I think the point is that SOME folks use music players every day, some use them until the novelty wears off. The long term regular users who are most happy (based on not just market share, but on surveys) are iPod users.

Me, when it comes to music use, I am the guy who uses it until the novelty wears off. But if an iPod had a camera/pda/cellphone built in . . .

B_Skurka said:

Me, when it comes to music use, I am the guy who uses it until the novelty wears off. But if an iPod had a camera/pda/cellphone built in . . .

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I think that would be the point of the new Motorola cell phone.. rumor has it Apple is also working on a cell phone after seeing the relative decent success of the Moto phone.

So Bob.. you seem to be a guy who is willing to pay a bit more for superior products. VWs, Volvos, iPods,etc. yet you use a PC instead of a Mac? strange.... or perhaps this is just a necessity of using your computer for business purposes.

Actually I use a 12" PowerBookG4 as my daily computer. I run it into my network via an Apple Airport Extreme wireless base station. We have several Dell and IBM wireless laptops that use the same Airport base station.

The majority of my employees use Windows based PCs here at work. Some are using Apple systems.

As for the iPod cell phone from Motorola, it is called the Rockr. It does not have a PDA built in and a PDA/cellphone for me is mandatory. I couldn't live without the email/address/calendar functions. Contrary to popular belief, I do not sit at my desk all day and play on the internet. I am in and out all day and it just looks like I play on the internet all the time.

B_Skurka said:

Actually I use a 12" PowerBookG4 as my daily computer.

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ok... I take back what I said. You have impressed me again.