Do you use a Music Download service?

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Exactly what it says ;)

I'm preparing an article on Music Download services, and would love to hear people's experience!

I've personally used Napster + Napster to Go, allofmp3 and i'm now using Virgin Digital...

Does anyone else use such services?

P

[Guest mike-oh]

I currently use mp3search.ru but only until my first lot of credit runs out then i'll probably be trying allofmp3.

Experiences? hmmmm mp3search often has problems with letting you download tracks you just paid for and displays a server error. A few times i've had to wait a little while (~30mins) until the error cleared and let me download my tracks. There's no options i've seen for choosing format or bit rate. Also quite often the id3 tags are incorrect or incomplete. Hence this being the last time i'll be using it.

I take it that it goes without saying that anything with the word torrent in is forbidden ;)

Edited May 16, 2006 by mike-oh

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

I currently use mp3search.ru but only until my first lot of credit runs out then i'll probably be trying allofmp3.

Experiences? hmmmm mp3search often has problems with letting you download tracks you just paid for and displays a server error. A few times i've had to wait a little while (~30mins) until the error cleared and let me download my tracks. There's no options i've seen for choosing format or bit rate. Also quite often the id3 tags are incorrect or incomplete. Hence this being the last time i'll be using it.

I take it that it goes without saying that anything with the word torrent in is forbidden ;)

Correct :-)

allofmp3 is excellent if legally questionable, i'm personally a fan of flat rate subscription services atm...

P

[Guest Madeye]

I used mp3search.ru until my $20 ran out, I found it was ok apart from the odd song not having the correct IDv3 tags... the price was especially good! Whole albums for 99c, amazing.

The worst, absolute worst thing about it tho was when I bought a few albums at once (for example the Michael Jackson greatest hits 4 CD collection), I had to download every song individually! By that I mean it was showing around 80 songs (or whatever) in my purchased page and I'd have to right click and save as on each one seperately! Which doesn't sound like too much hassle until I realised that my firefox would only download 8 things at a time, couple that with the fact that the songs would only download at around 3kbps! 3! my connection can download in excess of 300kbps! grrrr.

Eeeee, I feel better now! Thanks.

Torrents naughty, bad torrents! (I love 'em!)

Although my hard drive doesn't like them too much. I'm on 35 gig downloaded between may 1st and now! I'll never reach my 90 gig/month limit tho. My Western Digital Raptor arrives tomorrow! Things like that excite me! ;)

EDIT: I just thought I'd add this link: http://www.digg.com/search?search=allofmp3&submit=Submit

Some of you may not know of allofmp3, I thought u may lke to check out what they've been up to recently!

Edited May 16, 2006 by Madeye

[Guest Disco Stu]

I'm still wedded to the concept of whole albums with tracks in the quantity and order the artist intended so I still prefer CDs. Having just filled a reasonably-sized garden shed with my collection while my flat is being decorated, I'm thinking that I need to re-investigate the diownload services.

About a year ago I took a look at the main sites and wasn't all that impressed. The sign-up process was a pain, the range of music on offer didn't really cover my tastes and the download process needed some work. DRM / file-compatibility is a well-known problem, as are the quality issues. Boomkat's site, Royal Mail and dbPowerAmp /WinAmp is a system that works particularly well for me.

Am I right in thinking that the 99c bargains are for albums that would also be in the HMV sale for a similar price and that new releases are no cheaper than their physical equivalents ?

[Guest bluesxman]

I'm using eMusic. It works on a subscription basis, but unlike Napster (at least last time I looked) the tracks you download are yours to keep if your subscription lapses.

It's primarily independent labels/non-mainstream stuff, so no Britney, but there's stacks of good stuff on there. All thankfully free of DRM!!

[Guest Madeye]

Hey Disco Stu,

Check out these links:

MP3search.ru for new snow patrol album : http://www.mp3search.ru/album.html?id=39030

HMV for new snow patrol album :

http://www.hmv.co.uk/hmvweb/displayProduct...1;-1&sku=456372

I don't know what you listen to so I just picked a new album at random (I've never even heard of Snow Patrol! ).

For those that don't want to click the links they show that the album is

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Virgin Digital, signed up to US version, $7.99 per month, unlimited downloads + sync to device, just downloaded new Snow Patrol album.

P

[Guest Disco Stu]

I've not liked Snow Patrol for at least 6 years and would be interested to hear if any of the sites are listing the new albums by (say) Monolake or Daedelus.

Sorry to be a snob but I don't listen to much that gets on CD:UK ;)

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Polygon Cities / Of Snowdonia are newest on Virgin Digital USA currently, UK might have newer if they're out here (but is more expensive)...

P

[Guest Madeye]

No Daedelus on mp3search.ru

They had 2 albums for Monolake:

Piercing Music : $1.04 (1 long song??)

Cinemascope : $0.81

They're adding new artists / alnums every day and I think I even saw a request page somewhere on there once.

[Guest bluesxman]

I've not liked Snow Patrol for at least 6 years and would be interested to hear if any of the sites are listing the new albums by (say) Monolake or Daedelus.

Sorry to be a snob but I don't listen to much that gets on CD:UK ;)

And in the emusic corner, we have "Polygon Cities" as the latest by Monolake and "Daedelus Denies the Day's Demise" is the latest by Daedelus.

What's CD:UK?? :P

[Guest Disco Stu]

Well that told me ;)

As soon as I get home internet access back I shall get on the case.

I don't want to hog the discussion but would be interested to hear comments on whether I can transfer the files to my Smartphone and/or burn my own compilations onto CD, probably using iTunes or similar.

[Guest bluesxman]

I've just signed up with Wippit now,

[Guest Chiz]

Virgin Digital, signed up to US version, $7.99 per month, unlimited downloads + sync to device, just downloaded new Snow Patrol album.

P

Paul

Do you know if you can download from Virgin to an iPod? I can't see that it says you can.

Can you see what tracks/albums are available before you pay for the service?

I would like to know if Hot Chip, DFA, Racentours are available.

Cheers

Chiz

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Not sure about iPod, PlaysForSure compatability only i'd imagine.

You can sign up and not pay anything, and see what is available...

P

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

There's a free trial too i think?

P

[Guest Chiz]

There's a free trial too i think?

P

Thanks Paul

Never heard of PlayForSure but now I know.

Edited May 20, 2006 by Chiz

[Guest Tech]

yeh i mean we sometimes use hmv digital

or audiojelly.com or beatport.com ;)

i usually obtain mine freely legally with the stuff I would like as they are sent to me as promotions and such :P

[Guest Chiz]

See the link about whether allofmp3.com is legal?

Edited June 7, 2006 by Chiz

[Guest chetzy]

Warning over 'illegal' MP3 site

Allofmp3.com sells tracks for as little as about 4p each

Britons using bargain music download website allofmp3.com have been warned that they are breaking the law.

Record industry trade association the BPI said consumers were breaking UK copyright law because allofmp3.com was not licensed to sell recordings.

The Russia-based site, which offers albums to download for as little as

[Guest fraser]

Apparently allmp3 is fully legal. It's covered under Russian law and they do pay royalites. I believe the royalities are a percentage and the music industry is in the huff because they charge so little. Those following the fight between Apple and the music industry over iTunes pricing will know it's a touchy subject.

Technically they might not be allowed by the copyright holder to distribute in other places, however courts have ruled in the past that this limiting this itself is illegal in many other situations. For example, it is not allowed for the content producer to limit sales to a geographic region, and that is why you can buy region one DVDs in the US and have them sent to you. Region encoding exists as a limitation because there are no legal limitations that are enforcable; thats why they spend money and time encrypting disks so that they will not play on unmodded players. You can even order films that are not available for distribution in the UK without problems, and they certainally aren't "licensed for sale in the UK" which is essentially the point being made in the BBC article. This comes up in DVDs often, for example Buena Vista may have the rights to distrubute in the UK while Sony does the same movie in the US. Each will have their own advertising budgets, so you can understand the hastle this sort of thing causes the industry.

Yet you can still legally buy them online and have them shipped to you. Allofmp3 is no different really. Many industries have tried to stop this reselling (so they can continue with Rip-off Britain) but they've been unable (so far). Hell, these guys have even tried to ban the sale of second hand goods several times!

Allofmp3 is not a pirate site. The owners aren't hiding, they are business men, they have premises, they pay taxes etc. The industry say the recordings aren't licensed which is a lie. The Russians have a royalty system in place for this sort of thing.

If it was illegal it would have been shut down long ago, but instead they have been around for six years. Interestingly, music industry lobbiests have managed to bribe our governments into using the potential closure of the site as an entry requirement for Russia to enter the WTO!!! It's obscene that the media industry has this much clout; rationally they shouldn't as they actually a very small industry relatively speaking.

I suppose you could get hastle for not paying VAT on your purchases! Better stick to that red channel just in casel!

The BBC article is basically a PR piece produced by the music industry to disuade people from using it. As I said, if it was illegal it would not have been round for six years. However, Russian copyright law has some changes coming into effect later this year that might effectively close them. But they are not illegal and it really angers me to see this article. Wanting something to be illegal so you can make more money doesn't make it so! :)

[Guest mike-oh]

Interestingly enough i read in one of those articles that traffic to allofmp3 had increased 6 fold since this all this media attention! :)