What's new

legal MP3 download impressions (1 Viewer)

dan fritzen

Second Unit
Joined
Mar 19, 2001
Messages
304
Anyone use itunes or realrhapsody?

I want to download mp3's leagally but want something that I can burn to CD, I don't think iTunes will do that, and it better than 128 bitrate.

Any one have a recommendation or are these online services too new yet.
 

SethH

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2003
Messages
2,867
Go for iTunes. You can burn CD's and though the bitrate is 128 it is AAC instead of MP3, so it is supposedly a little bit better quality.
 

Brian E

Screenwriter
Joined
Aug 12, 2000
Messages
1,636
What I want is full quality files, then I'll pay for downloads. :emoji_thumbsup:


From what I've found talking to folks iTunes is probably the best of what's out there right now. iTunes, Rhapsody & Napster all use formats other than MP3.
 

Scott L

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 29, 2000
Messages
4,457
Musicmatch's download service has the best quality with 160kbps WMA's but the selection isn't there. I do iTunes when I don't want to buy the whole CD. On the plus side 128kbps AAC sounds noticably better than MP3 at the same bitrate, but if you use decent sound equipment you'll be craving for the CD after a while.
 

ThomasC

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2001
Messages
6,526
Real Name
Thomas
I just downloaded a song from iTunes thanks to the Pepsi promotion and the sound quality wasn't bad at all.
 

Erik.Ha

Supporting Actor
Joined
Dec 24, 2003
Messages
697
Ive downloaded from Napster and whatever Yahoos service is... Quality sounds fine, no problem burning to CDs and Im not at all technically inclined...
 

MikewL

Grip
Joined
Jul 14, 2003
Messages
23
I've downloaded close to 100 songs from iTunes, and have yet to come across a sound quality issue. I'm sure if I sat in my home theatre and just listened with no other distractions I could hear problems, but that's when you buy the CD.

As for using the files, easy to burn to CD.
 

Kraig Lang

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
May 28, 2000
Messages
199
If you're going to burn them to CD, how do you handle tagging when you rip them back to another format? I have a Zen Xtra and have yet to find a service that is particularly friendly to that unit.
 

Rob Gardiner

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 15, 2002
Messages
2,950

Kraig,

This is not recommended when using lossy formats. Re-ripping and transcoding into another format will eat into the sound quality.


Itunes seems like a huge rip-off anyway. At $1 per song, a 16 song album costs as much as a new CD (or twice as much as a used one), has lower quality than the CD, no artwork, etc. It's also a rip-off for the artist (who get a dime per song) and for Apple (who loses money on the site, which they make up with their grossly overpriced Ipods!). The record companies must be laughing on their way to the bank.
 

Patrick_S

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2000
Messages
3,313
Isn't there a price break when you purchase an entire album? I thought I noticed that entire albums generally went for $9.99.

Besides the main marketing point behind these sites is the fact that the consumer has the freedom to purchase only the songs they want off of an album. Thus given the consumer the ability to skip the unwanted tracks and saving money in the long run.
 

Jon.M

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Feb 13, 2004
Messages
60
Those poor artists. They might have to lay off a butler or two. I'll try not to lose any sleep over it. :rolleyes
 

Rob Gardiner

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 15, 2002
Messages
2,950
Patrick,

You are, of course, correct on both points. It still doesn't appeal to me, based on the other disadvantages. I don't consider a compressed download to be a suitable substitute for a factory pressed CD.

Jon,

Why the sarcasm? The traditional recording industry is corrupt because the bulk of the $$$ goes to the record company rather than the artist. The artist provides the talent and the creativity and the music itself. The record company provides packaging and distribution. Who do you think deserves a larger portion of the pie?

Now, with Itunes, the record companies no longer provide packaging (there is none) or distribution (handled by Apple) yet they still take the lion's share of the cash! How is this, in any way, fair?

Besides, I can assure you, the VAST overwhelming majority of recording artists do not live a lavish lifestyle with multiple butlers.
 

Kraig Lang

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
May 28, 2000
Messages
199
Thanks Rob, I figured there would be quality problems. I've pretty much given up on on-line MP3 purchasing. Like I said before, none of them are really user friendly or work well with the Zen.

What I've pretty much started doing was buying used CDs. At 8 to 10 bucks a pop it's much better.
 

Rob Gardiner

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 15, 2002
Messages
2,950
Kraig,

You're in a good spot for it too. I remember lots of good CD shops in Beaverton as well as Portland.
 

StevenFC

Second Unit
Joined
Aug 23, 2003
Messages
481
The very first song I bought off of Itunes had one of those typical mp3 glitches in it. And the general sound quality was not too impressive. I won't be buying anymore until they produce glitch-free files with better sound quality.
 

Sathyan

Second Unit
Joined
Jun 17, 2002
Messages
298


If this were actually true, why would the artists continue to sign such contracts?

The primary thing the label provide is *capital*. If they could "artists", would just go public to raise capital - but they can't. Unknown artists are a bad investment.
Since the labels invest, they deserve to receive a return.
Once they have a hit record, maybe artist can just list themselves.

And of course there is a long list of people who need to be compensated:
songwriters/arranger
recording engineers
mixers
mastering engineers
studio musicians
producers



To the main question:
Itunes

pros:
buy only the tracks you want
instant gratification

cons:
sound quality is much inferior
no cover art
 

Shawn C

Screenwriter
Joined
May 15, 2001
Messages
1,429
I like iTunes for listening to songs on my PC and in the car. I don't buy too many full albums. I just pick and choose the songs I like and the will burn a CD to take into the car or something.

I hate how iTunes assumes that everyone owns an iPod and how it starts up the ipodservice.exe service application in the background. It's not a big deai to disable it, but there should be an option in the iTunes setup that will disable it.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Forum statistics

Threads
356,810
Messages
5,123,599
Members
144,184
Latest member
H-508
Recent bookmarks
1
Top