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[wombat]

So since youall helped me find new music to listen to, I decided I should buy an MP3 player like all the cool kids have.

I am having a good time copying my CDs to it.  I am having not such a good time finding a place to buy music downloads online.  Everything seems to be a subscription service. 

What I want is just to be able to buy an album when I want an album.  A subscription model does not make sense.  Music is not like milk and eggs.  I don't need the same amount of it each month.

Probably for most things I will just keep buying CDs and copying them.  I get a nice booklet and pictures and stuff and can listen to it on more devices.   But there are a few things where I have the original on vinyl and have copied it onto a CD.  I don't want to copy it yet again to the player because the quality is not that good, but I don't really feel like I need a copy of the physical CD.   But I can't find any place that will just let me buy those few albums and then leave me alone.  Am I missing something?

Note, it is too late to tell me to buy an IPod, so don't make me cry.

[side_show]

Yay!  Wombat is more technically capable than I am!  You go girl!  (that's right, it's an Oprah-ism!)

I have yet to buy an MP3 Player as I am afraid I won't know what to do with it other than wearing it on the bus to look like I'm cool.  I will listen to your feedback for Wombat and decide if I should buy my own MP3 player.  I should probably buy a new PC first though, as my system is about 7 or 8 years old now.

[Drygioni]

''Music is not like milk and eggs.  I don't need the same amount of it each month.''

That sentence is quite fantastic.

As for your downloading predicament, try this:
1. Download iTunes! It is free and easy, no worries. www.itunes.com
2. While in the iTunes program, click the Music Store button on the left.
3. Find album you want, click buy. Foolproof.
4. Set up an account, which should not be too hard.
5. Then you can buy stuff!

This has worked for me, if it does not work for you feel free to take my one, precious can.

But:

But she doesn't have an iPod so the only way she could use songs from iTunes would be to burn them to a CD, then rip them back to regular mp3's which seems like too much work.

Using iTunes, you can convert songs into MP3 using the basic software, though I'm not certain whether iTunes let you do that with songs you have bought from the store. Say if you need to know how, it's fairly straightforward once you know where everything is.

[CortJstr]

But she doesn't have an iPod so the only way she could use songs from iTunes would be to burn them to a CD, then rip them back to regular mp3's which seems like too much work.

[wombat]

Yeah, I considered the iTunes burnt to a CD option.  You could say that on the bright side, then I'd have a CD.  But I wouldn't have the nice booklet and pictures.  Also another thing is that I wouldn't have it in a nice box with the title of the album on the side.  Which I find to be a major handicap in actually locating what CDs I have.
 
And the thing is that it didn't seem that the price was much different.  For a couple dollars extra I can have the real CD with all those advantages.

Maybe the answer is that buying music online really is only for people who go through music like they go through milk and eggs.  Not for people who could spend two years listening to nothing but Bruce Springsteen, whose theme song is the New Pornographers one about 'listening too long to one song.'

[wombat]

Oh and Smells, this is taking no technological savvy at all.  I admit that the Technical Staff had already jumped in and installed the software while my back was turned, but he says it did it by itself. There is nothing to it.

But, is it really necessary?  I would say not. You need a computer much more badly, for sure.  Really I only got the thing because the Technical Staff had money burning a hole in his pocket.  I would not have spent my own hard earned dollars on it when there are so many slightly more complicated but less expensive ways to address my entertainment needs.

Oh and:  It's so obvious that boys invented this technology.  Who else would have thought that these activities were 'ripping' and 'burning'?

[misterqueue]

Oh and:  It's so obvious that boys invented this technology.  Who else would have thought that these activities were 'ripping' and 'burning'?

What would you call it?  Extracting and Crocheting? EWW COOTIES!

[pmcd9]

I had the most amazing dream last night, almost certainly fueled by my imminent departure from home.  First a little background: Where I live, it's the house that my Dad grew up in.  It was bought by my Grandfather 73 years ago and my family is the only family that has ever owned it.  I intend to carry this on into the future.  Currently the house is owned by my Father and my Aunt, who inheritetd it from my Grandmother.  There is an (verbal) agreement that I will have first right to purchase the house, and basically they are just waiting for me to pony up the money.  I could go to the bank and get a loan today and I would certainly be approved, but I would rather wait until I have more money up front.  Since I am basically living here for free (I gotta cover the taxes and the insurance $400 a month) it's like a dream come true for me.  The only drawback is that the house is very run down.  It's got awesome potential, but I ain't gonna spend any money on it until it's actually mine.  So currently it's kind of a grody cave.  Last night I dreamt that the house had been completely remodeled to my specifications and it looked exactly how I've been imagining it in my mind.  Complete with the music listening room and all of my records on display and a record player.  I was playing records and sitting in a comfortable chair kicking back.  There was a girl there, someone I knew a long time ago.  My Mother was there also.  We were just chillin' listening to music.  We were drinking iced tea.   It was one of those dreams where you wake up feeling like a million dollars.  We were listening to Joe Walsh.

~Paul

 

[acoxcae]

Wombat, I believe I've found the solution - the awesome and dubious legality of Russian MP3 services!

I use www.musicmp3.ru and www.allofmp3.com - they charge based on how much you download, and prices make it something like $.60 per entire album on musicmp3.ru and $1.20 per whole album on allofmp3.  You can download individual tracks too, for a few cents per, depending on their length.

Both services give you un-copy-protected MP3s which you can do whatever you want with
(and allofmp3 even gives you a shitload of other options that you won't need).  The only downfall is selection, as particularly musicmp3.ru doesn't have things that I want sometimes.  Allofmp3 usually does, though, despite being a little bit more expensive - of course, usually the $.60 difference doesn't bother me.

I think Jough uses allofmp3 too, I'm sure he'd testify to its wonderfulness.

Good luck!

[wombat]

Ooo, that's kind of scary, but I'll take a look.

[jough]

I can really vouch for www.allofmp3.com

They're awesome.  Don't fear that they're russian.  They have stuff in English.  They're really cheap.

But just three days ago the RIAA started trying to go after them through petitioning to change Russian copyright law to make downloads more expensive.  FUCK THE RIAA!

So get what you want while the getting's good.  I'd recommend 192kbps constant bit rate (CBR).  For just about anything it sounds great, and since it's only 2 cents per megabyte most albums end up costing between one and two dollars.

Huzzah!

Also, while iTunes is damned inconvenient for those who don't have iPods, the quality pretty much sucks for EVERYBODY.  Converting to CD then back to mp3 again just makes it all that much worse.  Do you like the sound of bad AM radio?  Then iTunes would probably be good enough for you.

Otherwise there aren't too many (legal) options.  If you like indie stuff there's eMusic.com, but they have mostly arcane and alternative bands (although a lot of good jazz too).

[wombat]

The Technical Staff thinks that the Russians are going to steal my credit card and deposit hella viruses on my computer.  He is intimidating me with his Masters Degree from MIT, top secret security clearance, and threats to withhold sexual favors if he has to clean evil things off my computer again.  You haven't had any problems with them?

[side_show]

Wait you're bangin' a Techie?

[jough]

Most Russian sites that is true of, as they tend to be run by the Russian Maffia, but this one is clean.  Or at least, if they're run by the Russian maffia, they haven't robbed me or stolen my identity in the past two years I've been using them.

Good service, good selection, good prices, and no identity theft or additional charges over many hundreds of dollars spent there.

[wombat]

Wait you're bangin' a Techie?

Well us geeks have to stick together, right?