Where do you get your music from?

[Erin]

I'm just getting into the world of itunes and ipod. Sure I have a bunch of cd's from the days of my discman but what about new music? How do you collect your new tunes? Buy it off of itunes, get it from peer to peer programs, buy the cds....?

[Unitik908]

at my friendly neighborhood record store...

Chase

[jagur]

Thrift store vinyl baby!

[The Yang]

I usually get mine from my friendly neighboorhood cd store.

[James_Potter]

I, unfortunately, use P2P to get my music.... wish I didn't, it's a bad habit. but I have no money to get it any other way.

[jagur]

Originally posted by James_Potter
I, unfortunately, use P2P to get my music.... wish I didn't, it's a bad habit. but I have no money to get it any other way. get a record player and join the revoloution! Viynl is warm, digital is cold and life-less.

[john_childs]

I rip the music myself from CD. I get to choose the encoding quality and the encoding format. I encode my music as MP3s because MP3 is the most portable and supported format. Everything will play an MP3 and there is no DRM restrictions included.

I don't like the idea of buying a digital music file that is restricted in any way by DRM. That includes iTunes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FairPlay). I also don't want my music in a format that locks me into a specific player.

I want to be able to listen to my music collection in 20 years. I don't want to have to worry that I might need a special operating system to be able to play or worse be no longer supported.

No DRM and no file formats that lock me in.

The music files on P2P are poor quality. The higher quality files that you can find on BitTorrent or the newsgroups can also be of less than stellar quality.

Rip the music yourself from CDs you have or CDs you borrow from friends or CDs you get from the library. You'll get better quality files.

After I rip the music I back up the files to a DVD so I don't loose my music collection if/when my HD eventually crashes. That's one problem with buying digital files. It's easy to loose them all if the HD crashes or the computer is stolen.

[Unitik908]

Originally posted by john_childs
I rip the music myself from CD. I get to choose the encoding quality and the encoding format. I encode my music as MP3s because MP3 is the most portable and supported format. Everything will play an MP3 and there is no DRM restrictions included.

I don't like the idea of buying a digital music file that is restricted in any way by DRM. That includes iTunes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FairPlay). I also don't want my music in a format that locks me into a specific player.

I want to be able to listen to my music collection in 20 years. I don't want to have to worry that I might need a special operating system to be able to play or worse be no longer supported.

No DRM and no file formats that lock me in.

The music files on P2P are poor quality. The higher quality files that you can find on BitTorrent or the newsgroups can also be of less than stellar quality.

Rip the music yourself from CDs you have or CDs you borrow from friends or CDs you get from the library. You'll get better quality files.

After I rip the music I back up the files to a DVD so I don't loose my music collection if/when my HD eventually crashes. That's one problem with buying digital files. It's easy to loose them all if the HD crashes or the computer is stolen.

That is exactly what i do, i have all 43 of my cds on my comp, and can listen to them or put them on my Mp3 player whenever i feel nessescary, plus i like supporting my bands instead of downloading, and i cant download things on my comp.. oh well.... i like my collection

Chase

[munimanpete]

What im waiting for, and what I think would be very cool and a good business to run (increasing demand) - is like a CD store, except instead of going and buying the CD's you just go and pay for a song, or maybe a whole album, plug in your iPOD or whatever MP3 player and download it. I think it would be cool....if they allready have these shops I guess we're not so advanced here in the land of the long white cloud...:D

[Loosemoose]

I use allofmp3 (http://www.allofmp3.com). Its Mp3 file downloads, encoded to your specification on ordering. It costs $0.02 per megabyte downloaded, so (depending on the ordered quality) an album costs around $1.50 - $2, which to me (a uk user) means about 80p-£1.10. Bargain. I download at 256kpbs VBR though, and that boosts the filesize a bit.

Plus they post up some albums (rare/obscure ones) for free. The bitrate is locked (usually 192kbps CBR) but it costs nothing.

And (as far as I'm aware) they won a case against the russian courts recently that proves that the service is legitimate & law abiding.

Loose.

[john_childs]

Originally posted by Loosemoose
And (as far as I'm aware) they won a case against the russian courts recently that proves that the service is legitimate & law abiding.
Legal for Russia. But I don't think the artists in the US, UK, Canada, Europe, everywhere else, get any money. It doesn't seem to be the place to go if you're trying to do the right thing and pay for the music you listen to.

But they do have regular MP3s with no DRM.

[john_childs]

Here's some places to download free legal music

http://www.goingware.com/tips/legal-downloads.html Links to Tens of Thousands of Legal Music Downloads
http://epitonic.com/ Epitonic.com- Hi Quality Free and Legal MP3 Music
http://www.etree.org/ etree.org the leader in lossless digital audio distribution on the internet
http://music.download.com/ Free MP3 music downloads - Download MP3 Music for Free - Download.com Music
http://directory.google.com/Top/Arts/Music/Sound_Files/MP3/Downloads/Indies/ Google Directory - Arts Music Sound Files MP3 Downloads Indies
http://directory.google.com/Top/Arts/Music/Sound_Files/MP3/Downloads/ Google Directory - Arts Music Sound Files MP3 Downloads
http://directory.google.com/Top/Arts/Music/Sound_Files/MP3/ Google Directory - Arts Music Sound Files MP3
http://www.iuma.com/ IUMA- Discover unsigned artists, independent bands, local talent - new free mp3 music files
http://www.machinaesupremacy.com/downloads.htm Machinae Supremacy - MP3 and OGG Downloads
http://www.magnatune.com/ Magnatune- MP3 music and music licensing

[GILD]

Originally posted by jagur
Thrift store vinyl baby! i'm getting quite heavily into 'Thrift Store CDs' at the moment
remember this (http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=31845&highlight=jimi+hendrix)?
Originally posted by jagur
get a record player and join the revoloution! Viynl is warm, digital is cold and life-less. since digital is binary in nature, on or off, u're listening to complete silence half the time
do u want to listen to the 7m20s version of Stairway To Heaven, or to the 3m40s version of Stairway To Heaven ?

jagur, u've started something now
i'm going to have to buy me a turntable...

[leo]

Originally posted by Erin
get it from peer to peer programs
Elitetorrents has been shut down by the FBI yesterday.

[johnfoss]

Originally posted by munimanpete
What im waiting for, and what I think would be very cool and a good business to run (increasing demand) - is like a CD store, except instead of going and buying the CD's you just go and pay for a song, or maybe a whole album, plug in your iPOD or whatever MP3 player and download it. When you learn a little more about business you may figure out why having a physical store makes it very difficult to sell a cheap product, or at least to compete with online prices. Why should I go to your store (especially since I'm in CA), when I could download your products from here? :)

Got to agree with JC and others. If you want to own good, quality music, buying CDs (or old vinyl) is the way to go. The music is uncompressed, and you own your copy outright.

I was very disappointed with the iTunes music store when I started trying to find songs I *didn't* have. They had very little of what I was looking for.

I collected a lot of music from Napster during their heyday. As JC says, the quality is all over the board, but the price is right. :) More recently I have used Limewire to find a few things. But I've also ripped all the CDs we have, and acquired a little piece of hardware for converting all my old cassettes and LPs to digital. All I need to acquire now is time to get that project going. And a decent turntable...

All this music (except the stuff I bought on iTunes) is in MP3 format for maximum compatibility.

6500 songs on my iPod and counting!

[Checkernuts]

My music sources often lead me to getting albums before their general release to the public. I mostly download all of my music it might not be ethically right for paying the artists but I usually pay to go to shows and watch the bands I like perform live some several times a year. I'll also buy tshirts and whatnot at thoes events which from talking to bands is where they make most of their money anyway not through cd sales.

I also find that itunes is dangerous as it is really easy to check out 10 different albums and be like oh I want them before you realize that its $100+ debited from your credit card.

[phlegm]

I usually try to order the music straight from the artist or wherever the artist recommends buying it.

[Fuego]

I get all my CDs, mainly because I like supporting artists and because I like having a hard copy. My music collection is way small though.

[maestro8]

Originally posted by GILD
since digital is binary in nature, on or off, u're listening to complete silence half the time

dude, really, OMFG!!one!1!! save the pseudo-science for your AOL forum postings :)

Originally posted by jagur
Thrift store vinyl baby!

jagur's hit the jackpot... as have I... I was considering buying the Led Zep box set on CD for somewhere around $80 from the town CD-whorehouse... then I walked into the local book / record shop and found every single frickin' album featured in the discography for $3.99 apiece. cha-ching!

beatles anthology? whilst compiling this collection i found a white album complete with 8x10 headshots of each beatle for $6! it just gets better! you'll never find a full-size poster of prince and the purple rain, or david lee roth and bikini chicks in your cd-sleeve. no way!

vinyl rules!

[john_childs]

Originally posted by maestro8
vinyl rules!
I need to play my vinyl albums more often. I should also go buy some of the old classic stuff I want on vinyl just because and just because it's cheap.

[john_childs]

Two places I've found for buying MP3s from independent bands are Audio Lunchbox (http://audiolunchbox.com/) and emusic (http://www.emusic.com/). I haven't tried either of them yet.

CD Baby (http://www.cdbaby.com/) is a neat place for finding CDs from independent artists. I've bought CDs from them.

[GILD]

Originally posted by maestro8
dude, really, OMFG!!one!1!! save the pseudo-science for your AOL forum postings :) pseudo-science?
u flatter me
i was going for 'complete crap'
i'll try again

[Victory]

For some types of music (classical, jazz, techno) I get noname ers off of download.com.

For the other stuff I listen to I get CD's cheap off of ebay...

[mscalisi]

By following one of JC's legal free download links, I discovered iRate (http://irate.sourceforge.net/)

...It downloads free music, which you then rate, and then it downloads more of the stuff you like.

Cool way to discover non-mainstream artists.

[johnfoss]

Originally posted by GILD
since digital is binary in nature, on or off, u're listening to complete silence half the time Without resorting to "OMFG," I'll relate my respect at your acquisition of *digital speakers.* The rest of us are still listing to the old-fashioned analog kind, with magnets and cones, or similar. Not a lot of silence there... :)

[john_childs]

Glimpse (http://www.glimpsetheband.com/music/index) is a neat band if you like rock. They're a Seattle area band and their song 'Nothin' has been getting regular radio play on one of the rock stations in Seattle.

The link above goes to their download page where you can download a couple MP3s. There are 5 MP3s there with complete songs. They desperately need a scroll bar on that page. If you're clever you can figure out how to scroll down to get the two additional MP3s at the bottom of the page. The trick is to select and drag the mouse down the list while holding the mouse button down.

[BoojiBoy]

PureVolume.com (http://www.purevolume.com) is a good mix of unsigned bands and some mainstream acts all available for free streaming and free download. You can check out Pawn Shop Caddies (http://www.purevolume.com/pawnshopcaddies), an old emo/rock band I was in and Skawabunga (http://www.purevolume.com/skawabunga), my ska/punk band where i sing and play guitar. Feel free to download. I know someone has used skawabunga songs in a few of their uni videos before. Awesome.