Are iTunes-type music download sites shite?

[Pinball]

This guy thinks so. Interesting site about how online stores perpetuate the paradigm supportive of big record companies, thereby fucking the indie labels and artists. He has a point, and also many others - well worth a read.

Personally the DRM aspect of the downloads turns me off them frankly. If the files were usable then maybe I'd reconsider...

What do y'all think?
   
Nice stickers :-)

[NaN]

i recently experimented with using i tunes to buy songs.... only 79p i thought..... and before i knew it "the rat" by the walkmen was chugging it's way down my internet cable.... no long waiting in queues for me i gloated.....

alas.... the sound quality was rubbish.... initially i thought it was just the lo-fi stylings of the walkmen themselves... but no, an additional 192kbs copy off soulseek prooved otherwise....

so in my opinion.... itunes is rubbish.... the sound quality is poor... it's protected so i can't listen to it on my prefered audio player.... and of course only provides for major label artists..... Bleep from Warp Records looks good though.... no DRM or anything... anyone had any joy using this?

[Sulphagne]

Bleep from Warp Records looks good though.... no DRM or anything... anyone had any joy using this?

Total, total bliss. The help/FAQ bit speaks no lies: the mp3 quality is exceptional, and there's nothing even close to DRM on any of it. Browsing is as easy as can be, too, as every track's available in its entirety (the quality of the preview isn't nearly as good as the mp3 itself, of course, but it beats the hell out of RealAudio previews on Amazon) with only the mild irritation of having to click Play again every thirty seconds, so you'll most likely find something to like well before you get bored of clicking around (the Blue Jam music guide is a good place to start).

On a purely technical note, one time my internet connection had a slight hiccup during an album download and my computer was convinced that it'd finished downloading, even though all it ended up with was a half-finished, corrupted zip file. I went back to Bleep after my connection sorted itself out, and the album was still sitting in my account ready to be downloaded. So, essentially, nothing can stop you from getting what you've paid for. I don't know how I ever lived without it, and I've yet to find any evidence that I actually did.

I don't have much to add on the subject of iTunes, though, other than that it comes with the latest Quicktime installation whether you like it or not (being in Australia, I can't even use it), and it promptly goes and assigns all your mp3 and wav files to itself without asking. So I'm already wary.

[Jet Set Willy]

I was unsure about bleep at first but that post there has sold me on the idea!

[Brainwrong]

i recently experimented with using i tunes to buy songs.... only 79p i thought..... and before i knew it "the rat" by the walkmen was chugging it's way down my internet cable.... no long waiting in queues for me i gloated.....

alas.... the sound quality was rubbish.... initially i thought it was just the lo-fi stylings of the walkmen themselves... but no, an additional 192kbs copy off soulseek prooved otherwise....

so in my opinion.... itunes is rubbish.... the sound quality is poor... it's protected so i can't listen to it on my prefered audio player.... and of course only provides for major label artists..... Bleep from Warp Records looks good though.... no DRM or anything... anyone had any joy using this?

Please stop pressing that full stop key - its making your post annoying

[NaN]

i'm sorry. my finger seems glued to the "." key whenever i'm thinking of something intelligent, witty or relevent to say......

........

as you can see i spend most of my life with my head completely blank.... you should try it some time, it's fun

[The Man With Brass Eyes]

what's DRM?

[swinny]

what's DRM?

Digital Rights Managements.

I think, for Audiophiles its unlikely that any of these services are going to really offer a solution - as they don't offer the breadth of artists or auidio quality that many would require, but for most - who play their music through an iPod or through cheap-arse PC speakers, they will sound just fine.

I have bought a few songs of iTunes and cant say I see much wrong with it...for just grabbing quick, relatively cheap, passable quiality versions of songs I dont want to buy CD versions of (which isnt many, only 10 or so songs so far) its great for making up quicky compilations or whatever.

...as for all this "support the artists" rubbish...thats just a load of crap in my opinion...just an easy mask for the kind of people who think free music is a god-given right to hide behind...OK, so current music licensing etc does benefit the labels more and it would have been nice to see Apple really try and shake that up, but anyone who can claim that a system that at least gives SOMETHING to the artist is somehow worse than literally just ripping the labels and artists off is an idiot.

[jutl]

I was unsure about bleep at first but that post there has sold me on the idea!

Yup - Bleep is fucking excellent - particularly now they are doing Ninja Tune too (among others).

[Malachi Constant]

I'm very tempted by Bleep but isn't 99p per track still rather expensive? That means that an album would cost almost as much as buying on CD in the shops would. I've only given the site a cursory glance, so am I missing something?

[jutl]

I'm very tempted by Bleep but isn't 99p per track still rather expensive? That means that an album would cost almost as much as buying on CD in the shops would. I've only given the site a cursory glance, so am I missing something?

Full albums are £6.99

[Malachi Constant]

I'm very tempted by Bleep but isn't 99p per track still rather expensive? That means that an album would cost almost as much as buying on CD in the shops would. I've only given the site a cursory glance, so am I missing something?

Full albums are £6.99

Ah thats much better, cheers! Knew there had to be something like that.

[Lumiere]

Why download in the first place? I never saw the point. I've always bought my CDs in mass sales or from independent retailers - mainly in berwick street. Such classics as Surfer Rosa, Loveless and Led Zeppelin 1 are as little as £3.99

[fanny splendid]

Why bother doing that?

I go into my local bar, listen to the bands playing on the jukebox, then using the power of my memory, I can hum the tune to myself without the need for plastic disks.

iPod? No, use iHead.

[chand]

I'm very tempted by Bleep but isn't 99p per track still rather expensive?

I guess it depends on which tracks you choose.

However, I remember getting an email from Ash telling me I could download the new single for only 99p! And they even provided printed artwork and everything! Which sounded alright til I remembered a couple of years ago I was buying 4-track, 25-minute CD singles for £1.99 with quality b-sides and a lovely case, on a CD which I could play in my discman or through my phat, pleasing hi-fi speakers, and now I'm expected to pay a pound for an mp3 file, which I can either burn to a 50p CD and print off my own artwork by fucking around with my dad's printer, or else listen to through crackly little cocksucker speakers on my PC, providing my PC happens to be on at the time.

A full album for £6.99 sounds quite good, though.

[Lumiere]

A full album for £6.99 sounds quite good, though.

I've never paid more than a tenner for an album. Usually they're in the 3.99-8.99 range.

[AzureSky]

i recently experimented with using i tunes to buy songs.... only 79p i thought..... and before i knew it "the rat" by the walkmen was chugging it's way down my internet cable.... no long waiting in queues for me i gloated.....

alas.... the sound quality was rubbish.... initially i thought it was just the lo-fi stylings of the walkmen themselves... but no, an additional 192kbs copy off soulseek prooved otherwise....

so in my opinion.... itunes is rubbish.... the sound quality is poor... it's protected so i can't listen to it on my prefered audio player.... and of course only provides for major label artists..... Bleep from Warp Records looks good though.... no DRM or anything... anyone had any joy using this?

To unprotect the file goto http://hymn-project.org/

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