Buying songs off the net

i still pirate but itunes i hear is very good.

 

I use Ares to DL songs. I have friends who buy from itunes. I don't know if they have any restrictions like you found with musicmatch.

 

could you not, i really hate people that STEAL music off the internet,despite what you and your friends may think it is stealing and it doesnt come out of the pocket of people who can afford it .when people say **** like "who cares (insert artist, ceo, etc) are multi-millionairs they wont even notice it, plus it doesnt cost them anything" a. it does cost b. why shouldnt they get what is theirs. But most importantly its up and coming artists and the mixer, receptionist etc etc who are going to have to deal with it, losing jobs and opportunities so that the compainies books dont look like ****. There are ppl on here who work in the industry and could tell you just how much money it costs to make a run of cds all the way from conception to your local music shop, as well as just how many actually make noticible money.

im sorry but this really pisses me off, if you can afford to download it you can afford to buy it (and if you dont want the entire album BUY it off the internet, just as this topic was about originaly)

 

I'm sorry but this really pisses me off,
I bought the same music on records, then tape, and then CD's
I paid to move my collection (of the same songs) three times, each time the industry format changed.

I say F*ck the music industry they owe me $60.00 for the 4 times I had to buy the same Pink Floyd- "Dark Side of the Moon" to keep up with changing technology.

Now with mp3 I finally got one upgrade of the exact same music for free.

How many times should I pay for the same song?

 

I'm with Mark. The salesmanship they've done on this is brilliant as well. Now, instead of paying $12-$15 for a CD with 12-20 songs, you can purchase individual songs for the low low price of $1 each! Hmmmm????? With what they're saving on manufacturing costs, songs should download for a nickel.

 

mp3's are quite a downgrade in regards to quality and depth. It is just a compressed file, with even more samples of the samples you hear in CD's.

On buying vs. not buying, it depends. I just bought two cd's last night, but they are both gifts to others. Music sampling/pirating whatever you want to call it has actually pushed the music industry in a different way, and they still don't get it, nor do they quite get the idea of delivering a better package to the end consumer. But the statistics will always play a different game with record sales, and they'll claim that they lost money, even in the most profitable years. There are all too many factors there. They could just be outsourcing the crap music that is on the radio these days from Bangalore and claiming that as profit.

I only say, try it before you buy it. mp3's are neat, I listen to a lot of them, but they still sound like crap compared to a real cd.

 

Honestly, the only songs i download are like 80s power ballads and a few songs that i like, i still buy cds and i still burn cds as long as im not downloading whole cds for free i really dont see the problem, and i agree most mp3s dont sound half as good as the real cd, and plus most cds now come with a free dvd or something. If you look at my winamp it is the most random assortment of music ever. i dont download one musician, like right now some quotes of Happy Gilmorea are playing, next is Nirvana Sliver which is really hard to find on a cd b/c its an older song, next is John Fogerty Put me in coach, and one more The Chemical Brothers VW Jetta song. You see i really am not as bad as other people i know. I download for fun songs that i can use when i have a dance party in my pants and songs that are impossible to find on a cd

 

No sympathy AT ALL for the music industry. They made their bed and they are having to lie in it. Many industries change over the years. The music industry doesn't want to change - they want to use the law to stop change, but all they do is anger people and put themselves out of business. No sympathy for them at ALL.

The thing that gets me (as noted in a previous post) is how they now want to charge $2-3 per song. That's great - so a whole CD of songs is now $30-50 instead of $17? How did the price go UP? "You can only buy the songs you want" you say - great - so why did they always charge me for a FULL CD worth before? How many singles did they put out? Hardly any. They put out full CD's with 2 good songs and charge $17-$20 for it. The cost of pressing a CD is infinitesimal in the big picture. It's all about extracting the most money from the buyer as possible. I download tons of music that I don't pay for. 95% of it is stuff that I own the CD to but can't find, or its at home and I want it at work, etc, etc. Most of the rest is old stuff - like classical music, etc. The very few new songs I download I generally listen to a few times and that's that. Anything I really like I'll go out and buy the CD to support the band - although I should just buy the song(s) I like instead.

The problem is the music industry it entirely setup around a distribution method that is quickly disappearing. They won't get with the new distribution methods at a fair price, so they end up with dwindling sales. Good for them - no pity.

 

Listen to the radio. It works for me. Never bought a CD/tape in my life. Never really listen to music, unless in the car. So never spent a dime with the music industry.

I can hear the same songs on radio that peopel pay for, so I don't see why I should spend the money.

 

thats the spirit.

 

it costs more to buy single songs because they have to cover the cost of the entire cd, if they only made singles all music would be pop crap with a shelf life of a week max. I agree they have let themselves down and failed to embrace "modern ways" but that doesnt entitle somebody to steal their stuff, They also have every right to sell their product for what every price they want if you can afford a ferrari you are not giving your services or products to others (employer/customers) for a "fair" price you are instead charging what the market will bare (which is more than fair). If i dont think an employee is worth what they are being paid am i allowed to turn around and just pay them what i think is fair ? I dont think the new ford gt is worth anywhere near its asking price, am i therfor entitled to go into a dealership just grab the keys and drive out? In regards to songs you already own that is a totally different thing, i myself have done this, we are talking about songs that you have never paid for and a freely availible (which is different to an out of date song you have searched everywhere to find)

dont get me wrong i am far from the most moral person but if you are going to STEAL songs at least admit that that is what you are doing, dont make excuses or try to justify it. And dont complain when somebody else steals your products or rips you off etc. It is the hypocracy of pirated songs that is my main sticking point, the same point of view that its all right to steal from a big company or a rich person but a small business or middle class/ old person etc is horrible and the theif deserves life in jail.

 

A woman I know works for Sony and her response is always that people don't realize how much money it costs the music companies to bring talent to market. They spend $$$ on discovering, signing, developing and promoting these bands, especially in the early rounds of touring where they barely operate at a profit, if at all. My response to that is generally the same: Tough S**t. It's a chicken-egg scenario. Are they charging so much for CDs because the cost of development is so high? Or are they spending so much on undiscovered bands because of all the money they have from over-priced CD sales? In my opinion, most of the best talent out there exists at the club level anyway. Beyond that, most of the popular bands are merely a bunch of "Johnny Bravo"s who fit a certain marketability mold that our drive-thru culture just can't seem to get enough of.

 

I think that this provides a healthy and worthwhile debate, don't you? Seems like iTunes is your best bet.

OK, back to highjacking your thread........I don't bother downloading free stuff because I don't like all the spyware when you do. Plus, I wouldn't want to risk a law suit.(allbeit pretty slim chance) So I buy a very limited amount of CD's, mainly because I think it's a waste of money, listen to the the radio, or music from satellite TV. What about Walmart online music purchase? It's less than a $1($.88??). Anyone tried that? I think that's what I'd use without knowing much about it.

 

Here's the Walmart link. Looks like they may offer what you are looking for. Any one currently using this?

http://musicdownloads.walmart.com/catalog/servlet/MainServlet

 

If anyone wants it, I have one free song for Apple's Itunes. PM me for the code.

 

If you want to use an Ipod then use Itunes they are both apple i'm sure they will work with one another.

 

The only mp3 player i have used is the small creative unit. you plug it into you USB and drag your mp3 files into it and thats it. I DL my music from Ares and winmx.