legal music downloads

superscaper

madlyn wrote:

so ollyshaw, if i use itunes to download and then burn to cd, the quality isnt that good?

If you're comparing to a store bought cd then that can be a max of 1411 kbps whereas itunes I think is typically 192 kbps, I guess you could argue whether the extra bitrate is noticeable but on paper digital downloads are pretty much at best "near CD quality" but not actually cd quality.

madlyn

thanks superscaper. but i'm female with blonde hair. could you give me a simple answer please.

SMC_2

MSN music is quite good. You can then use Media Player to copy onto CD.

wolfman

As SS mentioned a CD is 1411Kbps, where as an online track is typically 192Kbps. This is basically the amount of data per second on the track. Obviously the more data, the more detail you'll be able to hear.

Online tracks use very efficient compression techniques though, so despite the online track containing around 7x less data, it actually doesn't sound very different.

toasterman

Just to add my worth on mp3 download sites.
If you want one track here, one track there, Woolworths at 59p has to be worth a look.
Sadly, there is this weird preparation thing that happens after buying your music BUT before you can download it. Sometimes this takes 30 seconds, but I have had times where I've waited over a day for it and it still isn't ready.
Generally, its a couple of minutes - but irritating waiting for it.

Tescodownloads at 79p offers quite a good selection, and you can preview most music before you download it. It also sometimes comes with basic artwork.

iTunes is by far the easiest - 79p a track, big selection, instant preview, easy to burn back to cd or copy to ipod.
*BUT*
I do have issues with it.
Music listed on iTunes isn't necessarily available to buy. I've tried unsuccessfully to buy several bits of audio before, only to find out that they're US-only. They're there when you search - but log into your UK account, and they disappear from their music store. I have then had to resort to illegal downloads as nobody seemed willing to sell me the music.

Also, music seems to have to be burnt using the iTunes software. For some reason - music burnt in this way won't play properly in my car. Other cds burnt from my computer have no such problem.

Also - (I recently spoke to someone about this) if you store music on an ipod, then your computer dies, how do you get the music off the ipod back onto a computer?
Websites advise against browsing the drive as it can become corrupted easily, and Apple seem to take the view that if you're trying to copy music from an ipod back to a pc - you are stealing music from a friend - not simply trying to recover your own music.
This is a problem I didn't get solved for that person - there is software available that recovers the music, and software available that recovers the pictures (it was a photo ipod) but neither are free.


Depending on how techy you are - what I tend to do if I have the time, is buy from a non-iTunes site and download as .wma.
Then I burn the music, but instead of burning to a cd, burn to an image file on my hard drive.
Then I use Nero Imagedrive to open this file, and use Windows Media Player to rip the music back to standard mp3.
It is a pain, but by doing this I don't have the copyright issues, I've still paid for the music, and I can play it on any computer or any mp3 player, at MY choice. Perfect.
Plus I can back it up anywhere without upsetting anything that says I can only copy it to one computer or whatever.

Long story short, with albums for £5 on sites like Play.com and cdwow.com - it sometimes is easier to buy the disc and rip it yourself. But if you only want one track from an album (because the artist in question only has one good one), the above is the torment I put myself through.

woo

toasterman wrote:

Music listed on iTunes isn't necessarily available to buy. I've tried unsuccessfully to buy several bits of audio before, only to find out that they're US-only. They're there when you search - but log into your UK account, and they disappear from their music store. I have then had to resort to illegal downloads as nobody seemed willing to sell me the music.

Your default store can't be set to UK then - easily changeable.

toasterman wrote:

Also, music seems to have to be burnt using the iTunes software. For some reason - music burnt in this way won't play properly in my car. Other cds burnt from my computer have no such problem.

I don't have that problem in either car, don't think you can blame iTunes for that!

toasterman

woo wrote:

Your default store can't be set to UK then - easily changeable.

It is, and has been changed now - but why can't I purchase the US stuff? It was fairly obscure music I can't find for sale anywhere but iTunes.
It'll be more of a copyright problem than anything to do with iTunes most likely, but annoying nonetheless.

woo wrote:

I don't have that problem in either car, don't think you can blame iTunes for that!

Well its only cds burnt with iTunes that have the problem. I'm not saying it isn't my car cd player being picky - as my sister has had issues with copied discs randomly refusing to play in car cd players.

Ones burnt with Nero have no such issue for me.
I have tried lowering the speed down as far as 4x within iTunes but it doesn't make any difference.

They actually do play in the car, but between tracks it sits and seeks, and seeks, and seeks.. sometimes giving up and saying "disc error" and sometimes eventually after about 30 seconds - playing the next track.
Like I say - only iTunes, and only in my car.
And the car plays cds I burnt 5 years ago on the cheapest media available at the time - with no problem at all - as well as the branded TDK and Datawrite I use now.

If I could just persuade iTunes to burn an image file, I'd buy everything from there, but I'm having to waste a cd every time (or use cdrw) to get it both on my pc with copy-protection removed, and to play in my car.

woo

It is more to do with the contracts that record companies have with apple and the catalogues available in the territory you are in.

'Tis a bummer as there is loads that i want you can't buy over here.

Nickygoat

Sorry for going off topic slightly.

toasterman wrote:

Music listed on iTunes isn't necessarily available to buy. I've tried unsuccessfully to buy several bits of audio before, only to find out that they're US-only. They're there when you search - but log into your UK account, and they disappear from their music store. I have then had to resort to illegal downloads as nobody seemed willing to sell me the music.

You can get a US account. You just need to use a US address (1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?).
You can buy US iTunes giftcards over the net, or get a friend to get you a handful if they visit the States.

toasterman wrote:

Also, music seems to have to be burnt using the iTunes software. For some reason - music burnt in this way won't play properly in my car. Other cds burnt from my computer have no such problem.

How bizarre. Are you burning them as audio discs or mp3? iTunes won't let you burn an MP3 disc with stuff bought from ITMS as MP3. Nor will it let you burn AAC (either Protected or not) onto a playable CD -it will only let you burn them as Data CDs/DVDs.
Have you changed the default encoding on iTunes from AAC to MP3?

toasterman wrote:

Also - (I recently spoke to someone about this) if you store music on an ipod, then your computer dies, how do you get the music off the ipod back onto a computer?
Websites advise against browsing the drive as it can become corrupted easily, and Apple seem to take the view that if you're trying to copy music from an ipod back to a pc - you are stealing music from a friend - not simply trying to recover your own music.
This is a problem I didn't get solved for that person - there is software available that recovers the music, and software available that recovers the pictures (it was a photo ipod) but neither are free.

There are a number of programs that will do that - not all of them are Shareware:
iPod Agent is probably the best if you're using a PC (note that this is the older, free version).
Or try iPod->Folder.

toasterman

Nickygoat wrote:

Sorry for going off topic slightly.

You can get a US account. You just need to use a US address (1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?).
You can buy US iTunes giftcards over the net, or get a friend to get you a handful if they visit the States.

You need a US credit card to purchase the music though. As my credit card is UK-registered, I can't use it to buy US tracks.
I believe this was covered in an episode of The Gadget Show where the guy on there tried to save money by using a French address to save money because of the cost of music in France, and conversion rate.
iTunes giftcards I'm not sure about, but I thought I'd heard Apple had stopped these loopholes by requiring users to sign in to download their music, and to have a credit card registered with iTunes too.

Nickygoat wrote:

How bizarre. Are you burning them as audio discs or mp3? iTunes won't let you burn an MP3 disc with stuff bought from ITMS as MP3. Nor will it let you burn AAC (either Protected or not) onto a playable CD -it will only let you burn them as Data CDs/DVDs.
Have you changed the default encoding on iTunes from AAC to MP3?

I'm burning as just normal audio tracks. Plays in other normal cd players.
Even if I import an mp3 (no copy protection) into iTunes and use iTunes to burn it back to a cd - doesn't play properly in my car without lots of seeking.
I don't understand it at all.

Nickygoat wrote:

There are a number of programs that will do that - not all of them are Shareware:
iPod Agent is probably the best if you're using a PC (note that this is the older, free version).
Or try iPod->Folder.

Ah ha - nice one. I shall pass it on to the person who was asking me.
Can you vouch for either that it won't corrupt the data on the ipod? I don't see why it would if you just browsed it as an additional drive, but then I don't know enough about the ipod file system to comment.