Where do you do it? I used to have Kazaa, but that went out so I need a new way to...yes I know illegally get my music. Anyone else do it, I know I'm not the only one who rips off 50 cent and the rest of 'em. Peace WILDBALLER
soulseek is the best I have found. You can get just about anything you would want to look for. http://www.slsknet.org/
Jeff, it is this mentality that just kills me. How many songs are on a typical cd? 10-15? So at a dollar a song, you end up paying full price. And what's worse is that you foot the cost of the materials, you don't get the packaging, and theoretically you lose sound quality. If they would reduce the price to .50cents a song I would be all in. Hell, they could even charge a premium for the singles off the albums since that is what they are trying to salvage anyway. Just don't try to trick me into paying full price by incrementalizing it.
and at best buy you can usually find the cd you want for the same price. Plus you get the leaflet, a jewell case and pretty paint on the cd.
I completly agree having the CD itself is much better at the same price. And most importantly, to me at least, you get much better audio quality.
I wouldn't say the CD is "much better quality," but definitely "incrementally better." IMHO, the more important reason to buy the actual disc is the lack of "Digital Rights Management." However, that is not the issue. For the folks who like downloading, is it worth $1 per song, $10 per album to be able to be guaranteed the music you want (if it is available) in a reasonable amount of time from a reliable source, or do you prefer the vagaries of p2p?
Your right "incrementally better" is more accurate way to describe the quality difference. Im kind of an audio snob (as my friends tend to call me) so i tend to make a big deal about the quality of downloaded mp3's. It just seems to me that it is better to buy the cd and rip it to mp3's to play on a portable player and mix CD's for the car. However this doesnt solve the issue of only wanting a select few tracks from a cd rather than purchasing the entire thing.
Since I'm a musician and have friends who are other musicians and songwriters making less than most of us who post on this BBS, my "mentality" is that I don't feel like seeing them lose money simply for my convenience.
I would download music if it was cheaper... I don't have the $1/song. Not about to do the illegal thing, so I'm stuck buying CDs. I would like to have a good place to hear music/albums before I decide whether to buy the CDs, though. I've thought about some of the (legal) download services that have a monthly subscription fee. I hear, for most of these, you can't remove your songs from the computer, so I'd have to buy the music anyway if I really liked it. Has anyone tried any of these services?
then as a musician you should know that startup artists make little to no money off of album sales because the production companies recoup the profits. The money the artists make is typically driven from shows and touring. This also isn't about convenience. I myself play guitar, and while I won't fancy myself a "musician", many of my friends are. This is about principle and major labels ripping consumers off. Most aspiring musicians just want their music heard. It is a form of promotion. And while I am not in favor of taking money away from them by piracy, I am also not in favor of wasting my "hard earned money" on something that isn't equitable for all parties involved.
I downloaded the newest Real Player yesterday, and they have a Music Store button on it where you can buy music for .99 a song. Well, before you buy you can listen to about 30secs of ANY song you want. It is pretty neat, the songs are also in GREAT quality. There are also many sites, that let you listen to songs on albums. (normally the musician's website)