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Buying Music from Other than iTunes? 70

Posted by Cliff from the something-that-just-works dept.
flyingember asks: "I own an iPod and use iTunes music store. It's easy and it works. My mom likes her tiny Philips Rush player, as she prefers small for her devices. Now, she wants more music, and is willing to pay for it. She runs Windows 98SE, because she likes it and work hasn't upgraded to XP, yet. Does this sound like anyone you know? Is there a service that supports Windows98, a ton of players, and has good variety? I'm willing to put up with WMA's, if compatability is there. Napster is 2000/XP only; Musicmatch does not support her player for downloads; Buymusic seems to be the same; and Emusic doesn't have the right music. Is there a legal download service for people that don't have an iPod that just works?"
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Buying Music from Other than iTunes? More

Buying Music from Other than iTunes?

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  • Allofmp3 (Score:5, Informative)

    by p0ppe ( 246551 ) on Friday January 02, 2004 @09:29PM (#7864704) Homepage

    http://www.allofmp3.com/ [allofmp3.com] - Run out of Russia, great service (online encoding for example) and great prices ($0.01/mb) but a question about legality when used from the US.

    They're fully licenced with the local RIAA equivalent, but there doesn't seem to be any info available on American legislation.

    A more in-depth discussion on the site can be found at http://www.museekster.com/allofmp3info.htm [museekster.com]

    • Re:Allofmp3 (Score:2, Interesting)

      by returnoftheyeti ( 678724 )
      Allofmp3 does have its paperwork in order to stay in compliance with Russian laws. The RIAA is completely aware of Allofmp3 but has not been able to take any action so far. We think it is safe to say that Allmp3 is a legal service. If you would like to do a little research yourself. Use the Altavista Toolbar to translate the Russian pages at www.roms.ru Is using Allofmp3 legal? In the User Agreement Allofmp3 states that you may not use the service if it is in conflict with the legislation of your count

      • It's legal. (Score:3, Informative)

        by k98sven ( 324383 )
        Yes you can tell.

        If it's legal for them, it's not illegal for you.

        Copyright law makes the actions of copying and redistributing copyrighted works without authorization illegal.
        NOT the purchase of said copies, no matter what the RIAA/MPAA would like to have you think.

        This doesn't depend on which country you live in, it's how copyright works.

        It's up to them (as the distributors) to have their stuff in order.
        But even if they don't, there is no way you are liable.

        By analogy, if the NY Times were to publis
    • I highly recommend the service the parent posted has presented. I'm using it right now and loving it. It's perfect. Seriously. All my music money is going to Russia if they can provide a good quality service at a good price.

    • Good music companies (Score:3, Informative)

      by Thornae ( 53316 )
      http://www.allofmp3.com/ ... question about legality when used from the US
      What about Australia? Anyone? Oh well, I guess I'll download and see if I get arrested...

      On topic, I can't believe no-one's mentioned Magnatune [magnatune.com] yet, a site I found from a mention right here on /.
      You can download or stream all their artists in low or high quality mp3, then buy the music and download it in a variety of formats [magnatune.com]. And their motto is "We are not evil". What more do you want?
    • http://active.wplus.net/copyright-monitoring/en/p r oblems.html According to this link, Russia has signed the berne and geneva conventions on copyright. This means that they are a 'treaty partner' with almost every other country in the world, such as the USA, the EU member states. As this is the case, and the site *is* registered with the russian copyright agency (they include the message below on their site) All the materials in the MediaServices projects are available for distribution through Internet ac
    • I'll throw in my vote for allofmp3.com as well. The selection is different from iTunes Music Store - they have some things I couldn't find on iTunes, and they lack some things that iTunes does have, so YMMV. But in general the online encoding feature is fabulous, and I love being able to do a low-res preview of an entire song, not just the 30 second iTunes previews. Also the much lower cost makes it sensible to just buy entire albums that I never would have otherwise. This has encouraged me to recent

  • iTunes + Walmart (Score:3, Informative)

    by skinfitz ( 564041 ) on Friday January 02, 2004 @09:37PM (#7864735) Journal
    Firstly iTunes runs on Windows, however it only runs on the non-toy versions. (2k + XP). Yes I know it's designed for an iPod but you can burn to CD then re-rip them to a portable format.

    Secondly Walmart now sell music downloads for 88c [walmart.com]
    • To get digital images from my digital camera to computer that dosn't have usb, but does have a scanner, I could also print them on plain paper from the USB computer and take them over to the scanner computer and scan them in. Now consider I took the pix at low-jpeg mode, and used plain paper to print and the glass on the scanner was very dirty, and then saved them in low quality jpeg - the result is similar to ripping itms tracks.

      Just buy the CD's you want, online if you must, then rip them as you want. I

      • Just buy the CD's you want

        What about buying for teenagers who choose to listen to overplayed radio bands that produce good singles but bad albums, where the bands have not been around long enough to have published a "best of" album? Buying CDs destroys the big advantage of music download stores: $13.99 for two good songs and ten nearly worthless filler is not a good price.

        • I think the "problem" you outline is more of a lack of guidance as to what matters in life. eg rather than bying the teen everything it asks for, make it earn its spending money and the "need" for the radio bands will diminish to their spending power.

          Secondly the tracks you refer to are usually released as CD singles, albeit for more than 88/99 cents.

          In some (most) countries, recording from the radio for personal use is fair use, ie you get an inferior copy (just like yr ITMS single) except the price su

    • I agree with walmart. You use a regular web-browser to buy the music online, so XP or special software aren't needed.

  • This is just stupid (Score:3, Insightful)

    by rudy_wayne ( 414635 ) on Friday January 02, 2004 @09:55PM (#7864820)
    "she wants more music, and is willing to pay for it."

    Then go to the store and buy some CDs. DUH!!!!

    • Rudy, maybe she only wants specific songs, not the whole CD!
    • Then go to the store and buy some CDs. DUH!!!!

      Ya, drive to the store, browse the limited amount of cds, listen to even smaller amount, purchase the whole cd for 1 song you like, then take it home, rip and convert to your mp3 player. Hope you like hip-hop, country or top40.

      No thanks.

      Online is the best way to buy music, and there is even free legal music. The choice and cost wins over brick and mortar stores.

    • i just check cds out of the library. if you have a library system that allows libraries to share resources you can find almost anything you want, and its free. from there you can rip anything you want.

  • Well after reading all the replies so far... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by kommakazi ( 610098 ) on Friday January 02, 2004 @10:05PM (#7864859)
    it seems the answer to the original question "Is there a legal download service for people that don't have an iPod that just works?" is no .
    • Well, that depends on what you mean by "just works." This guy has a pretty strict set of requirements beyond not being for the iPod. Most of the services out there work quite well for quite a lot of people, but when you're looking for a service that supports a discontinued player on a discontinued operating system that gets a little tougher.
    • I'm still trying to parse it.

      Is it:

      Is there a legal download service (for people that don't have an iPod) that just works?

      Or:

      Is there a legal download service for people that don't have (an iPod that just works)?

      Simply, is it the service, or the player, that has to "just work?" Why not both?

      The fact that many of the other players don't "just work" (the second intepretation) in the same sense that an iPod does (insert remarks about AAPL actually grokking the ideas of "design" and "integration")

      • many of the other players don't "just work" (the second intepretation) in the same sense that an iPod does

        I beg to differ. Owning an iPod player comes with a $50 per year maintenance cost of replacing the lithium polymer battery, while the other players take a slight form-factor hit in exchange for the convenience of replacing rechargeable AA-size or AAA-size NiMH cells. In addition, the threat of planned obsolescence should Apple discontinue the iTunes Music Store's compatibility with older iPod hardwa

        • Owning an iPod player comes with a $50 per year maintenance cost of replacing the lithium polymer battery,

          AppleCare for iPod [apple.com] costs $59 for 2 years of coverage, or (rounding up) $30 a year, which covers the battery and just about everything else. Beyond that, Apple will replace the battery for $99, but you can get replacements for $49 elsewhere [ipodbattery.com] (if following self-installation instructions doesn't scare you... and this is Slashdot...) and aside from certain highly-publicized gripers, most folks I'm aware

          • Point taken with respect to batteries. But:

            Forgetting that iPods play MP3's just fine, and always have?

            Which MP3 music store carries singles by bands on major labels that haven't yet released a best-of album? And what if Fraunhofer and RCA step up enforcement of the MP3 patents?

            • Which MP3 music store carries singles by bands on major labels that haven't yet released a best-of album? And what if Fraunhofer and RCA step up enforcement of the MP3 patents?

              What-if this, what-if that. What if the world is smacked by a comet?

              Apple has very little, if any, motivation to break compatibility between the older iPods and the iTunes Music Store. Anything that supports AAC and says iPod on it *should* work just fine, yes? Regardless of how old it is? The only way they can really brea

  • Just buy CD's (Score:1, Flamebait)

    by eak_the_freak ( 689526 )

    Tell your mom to go to amazon -or the like- and order cd's. Then teach her to rip the cd's. You'll always have the original in superior quality, not just crappy mp3, aac, wma or even ogg. You also get a nice case for your cd and arty little booklets. Also consider that most of the music people want is available on low cost compilations.

    Even better, why don't you take your mom shopping in a local record store? Chat to some nice people with real stores instead of staying inside.

    And when you come home wit

    • Buy records? (Score:4, Funny)

      by AtariAmarok ( 451306 ) on Friday January 02, 2004 @10:28PM (#7864972)
      And if you want real luxury, buy your mom a decent record player and listen to the unsurpassed warm analog sound of all those vintage records you can buy second hand at one tenth of the price of a cd .

      "In a Godda SNAP Davida SIZZLE baby POP POP. Don't ya POP SNAP SIZZLE you. In a TSSS CRACK David POP baby SNAP SNAP be POP"

      Warm sound, yeah. Makes you think of bacon on a hot griddle.

      • Maybe you can explain why high-end audio fanatics often prefer records to cd's. Analog recordings are simply more faithful, warmer and brighter than digital ones. A record that is kept in good shape and played on a decent turntable will probably not wear out in the time it takes a cd to completely disintegrate.

        You can prove me wrong if a cd you buy now still plays in 2084. Those 78's from the 20's sure do so now and will probably still play then.

        As for compressed audio files, anyone who has tried to lis

        • the same reason high-end linux fanatics prefer gentoo.

          PS - Most high-end audio fanatics I know prefer SACDs and audio DVDs.

        • I've found that part of the problem is that none of the audio formats (AAC is better in some regards) focus on really good sound, they are all trying to optimize for halfway decent sound at 64 or 128kbps, while that is a noble goal, it would be nice to have a format that focused on getting 99% or 95% of CD sound at 256kbps or 384kbps. That doesn't seem like it should be out of the balpark. Ogg vorbis was particularly bad with sub 50 hz sounds. I'm living with AAC at 256kbps (average it's vbr) that sounds
        • Those 78's sound like shit. My mother has tons of them and two refurbed players. 33's and 45's are a much better comparison. (and they aren't as brittle as the damned 78's)
          • The 78's sound as good as the day they were recorded. It's just that the recording itself (the source) was pretty crappy-sounding back then.

            But at least you get to hear the artist and not some computer-re-tuned voice from someone who sings off-key and has to be fixed digitally, like today...

            Jazz off of old records is sublime stuff, complete with background crowd noises and real history in the making. Today's "light jazz" blows chunks and Kenny G. should be hung in a public location.

            Digital remastering

        • Re:Buy records? (Score:4, Insightful)

          by Babbster ( 107076 ) <aaronbabb&gmail,com> on Friday January 02, 2004 @11:51PM (#7865301) Homepage
          Maybe you can explain why high-end audio fanatics often prefer records to cd's.

          I've found that most high-end audio fanatics enjoy listening to music wherever they want rather than being chained to a turntable and a tube amplifier in order to get that "faithful, warmer and brighter" sound.

          Oh yeah. I've also found that most "fanatics" are insane enough that I don't need to be taking advice from them...the voices in my OWN head are loud enough that I don't need to hear from THEIR imaginary friends.

        • Records require more care to maintain in good condition. If my parents did to their records what I've done to my cds, there's no way they'd be still playable. Also, playing a record involves the needle physically touching the record, which can't be good for longevity. (Yes, if you spend an absurd amount on your record player, you can get a contactless one)

          Anyhow, I'm not a high-end audio fanatic, and I'm not particularly interested in high-end audio anyhow, so I don't care what they think.

          Middle end au

        • Analog recordings are simply more faithful, warmer and brighter than digital ones.

          What can "more faithful" mean other than a reduced noise floor and increased dynamic range, both attributes which CDs preserve better than vinyl over repeated plays? And what are "warm" and "bright" other than terms for the subjective effect of a bass boost and a treble boost?

          anyone who has tried to listen to an mp3 through a decent hi-fi system, soon notices the deficiencies in the lossy encoding process

          Do you mean

          • Don't get me wrong, records do deteriorate, and the sampling rate of CD's is adequate for most high-fidelity reproduction. Sampling rates above 40000 Hz fulfill the Shannon/Nyquist sampling criterion (based on the assumption that human hearing is limited to 20000 Hz sound). However, it is useful to know that ( reference [digitalproducer.com]) :

            since all frequencies interact acoustically and work together to create a waveform, it seems believable and practical that capturing a broader frequency range and a more accurate resoluti

  • "as she prefers small for her devices"

    What does that say about your father?
  • They all work - however you have to be running Win2k or WinXP to run the "Corona" version of the windows media player - which is the only one that supports the latest rights management stuff. you'll have no luck with anything other than .Mp3s or Wmas ripped from a cd on the Win98SE. So you can buy the songs for her on iTunes - burn to CD and re-rip....or just let her buy real cds and rip those. Since she's doing this at work (it sounds) they prolly are in no hurry to update to XP - if they haven't yet.

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