Which legal mp3 sites do you use?

[kennz]

Which sites do others use to get legal mp3 etc? Obviously not itunes which in my opinion is extortion. I use soundike very good and inexpensive.
Cheers Ken.

[skruggie]

Amazon's mp3 store is quickly becoming my favorite.

[kornchild2002]

I use the iTunes Store only when they offer content in the iTunes Plus format (I don't like dealing with DRM) or the artist/band releases their content as an iTunes only EP/single. For example, Head (the former guitarist from Korn) released his first single exclusively through iTunes at the beginning of July. So I spent the $0.99 on it even though it was the 128kbps DRM version. I have lately been turning to Amazon's mp3 store though due to the insane amount of Pepsi points that I have. Most of the time, I can get new singles/songs for free using my Pepsi points. I have yet to purchase an mp3 through Amazon's store but I might in the future whenever my stash of points run out.

I just want to clear things up though: Soundike is NOT legal. It is a website in which the admins and servers are located in Russia or some other country whose media laws are loose. They do not pay royalties to the copyright owners (either the artists or the record companies) and they rip people off. Most of the time their music comes from illegal torrent uploads. They then turn around and charge people about $1.40 for an album. That is how some of those albums show up early on websites like that. They are also charging for content that should be free. The latest Nine Inch Nails album, The Slip, can be downloaded for free in lossless formats (or various lossy formats) directly from Trent's website. Soundike is charging people for what should be free. Just remember that any site who charges less than $0.50 for downloads is illegal. There was a similar site called allofmp3 that was eventually shut down by the RIAA, U.S. government, and the Russian government. These types of websites pop up everyday and it is just another way for some pirates to trick people into giving them money.

Be smart, don't give your money to websites like that. It is strange that you consider the iTunes Store to be extortion when in reality Soundike is actually committing that act, the iTunes Store isn't. You should use legal services such as the Amazon mp3 store, eMusic, the iTunes Store, or Napster's new DRM-free store.

[GregMac1213]

Originally Posted by kornchild2002

I use the iTunes Store only when they offer content in the iTunes Plus format (I don't like dealing with DRM) or the artist/band releases their content as an iTunes only EP/single.

Same here. If the album is not available in iTunes Plus, I look for it at (in order) eMusic and Amazon.

[bdb]

I've been using eMusic of and on for years, and have purchased a couple of thousand songs from them. I use the $20/month plans, which works out to about 27¢ a song (it used to be 20¢/song). They don't have the popular music that is played on the radio, but on the other hand my money isn't going to labels that don't sue their customers.

I've purchased several albums from Amazon, too. The quality is excellent (256kbps LAME 3.97 MP3), and the price is usually less than iTunes.

I've purchased a bit from iTunes, only when the other choices are just really bad. There are a few cases where import albums are sold for regular price on iTunes, and its about 1/3 the price of pricey imports. They're usually overpriced, though, in an odd format that isn't ubiquitously supported, and usually DRMed, so I typically don't even bother checking there. Their free songs used to be really good ( and I ended up purchasing albums from those artists several times, though not on iTunes); now their free songs are just vapid radio-sounding rubbish.

[urbanlegend]

i use:
- itunes for itunes plus tracks/albums only
- emusic
- zunior.com

and i'm awaiting amazon mp3's arrival in the great white north.

john

Thanks for the info..It's usually hard for me to find legal mp3 sites. I usually use iTunes just because it's convenient and well-organized and reliable.

-jenna

[kennz]

Yeah i get what you are saying. But itunes here in the uk and europe is a rip off big time! You pay 99c US we pay 79p almost double how can this be right. It comes from the same server from the same artist etc so why do we pay so much more?

Regards Ken.

[RatherPlayHalo]

Amazon: Cheap, painless, and DRM-free. It even adds it to your iTunes Library automatically. The MP3s are also at least 256kbps if you care about thart sort of thing.

Awesome.

[kornchild2002]

Originally Posted by kennz

Yeah i get what you are saying. But itunes here in the uk and europe is a rip off big time! You pay 99c US we pay 79p almost double how can this be right. It comes from the same server from the same artist etc so why do we pay so much more?

Regards Ken.

Then don't use it. However, one should not turn to illegal methods simply because the iTunes Store is high in price. The high price is there though as Apple must pay many fees to distribute media via downloads in the UK. That is also one of the reasons why the Canadian iTunes Store has higher prices.

[Germansuplex]

I buy high-profile albums from artists I like on CD. Old or new albums, it doesn't matter. If I've discovered somethign I want badly, I buy it on CD.

I browse record stores for used CD's. They are cheap and often have rare or out of print CD's for next to nothing.

I use Amazon.

I use eMusic (being able to re-download at any time is nice).

I use iTunes (sometimes I just buy compulsively from the iPhone or on my laptop at work.)

[kennz]

That is saying that here in the UK it costs more to do exactly the same as in the US.
We are ripped off by many in this country but does not make it right. The costs to distribute is the same the world over, internet anyone?
I would use Amazon but it is not available in the UK.
It is no supprise that there is still alot of illegal downloading here because of the practices of the few who offer downloads with an extrotionantly high fee.
A good example 79p per track, average album eleven songs = 8. 69.
I can buy the disc from play or cd wow for 7 pounds , uncompressed music and all the packaging.
I am not advocating illegal! This is just me opening a debate and asking why so much when it costs less for more if you see.
Regards Ken.

[kornchild2002]

Originally Posted by kennz

That is saying that here in the UK it costs more to do exactly the same as in the US.
We are ripped off by many in this country but does not make it right. The costs to distribute is the same the world over, internet anyone?

You are forgetting that different countries have different laws. Online distribution does not mean that costs will be flat worldwide. That is like saying that all cars use unleaded gasoline so that means that gas should have a flat cost worldwide. Music prices are controlled record company agreements which vary from country to country. So go complain to the record companies.

You can also think about it this way: I pay about $5.25 for an iced, venti, quad white chocolate moca at Starbucks here where I live. I can travel 4 hours to a bigger city located north of me in the same state and pay $4.75 for the same thing. Why? Operating costs are more in the city I live in than the city north of me. I imagine it has to do something with the city's population and the amount of business the Starbucks down here gets. Are they ripping me off? Not at all.

So go talk to the record companies if you want cheaper prices. Apple is one online distribution method that is way too controlled by the record companies. That is a problem that Apple acknowledged by becoming one of the first legal online distribution methods back in 2003. They set the standard by which everyone else goes by today with some slight modifications. They are also extremely popular and the record companies like to charge more for using popular services. Apple has fought back against the record companies a couple of times as, in the U.S., they wanted to charge about $2.50 for each popular radio single on an album, $1.50 for other popular songs, $0.99 for the other songs, and not allow users to download entire albums at a discount. In the U.S., Amazon normally charged $0.88 per song but they used Apple's foundation when negotiating with the record companies.

Everything comes down to the record companies and what they want. In all seriousness, if they don't like the way any distribution company is doing business, they can pull their material. I know that you are not advocating illegal distribution methods but using the site in your original post is illegal. To me, that is like saying that "I robbed a bank today and ran out with $50,000. It is great as the U.S. government keeps robbing me so I turned to bank robbing. I am not advocating it though, I just do it." I know that bank robbing is not on the same level as steeling music but still, you get the point.

[Code Monkey]

Originally Posted by kornchild2002

You are forgetting that different countries have different laws.

I believe you forgot that when you called these sites illegal above

Even allofmp3.com, for all the smoke and bluster the politicians made about it, was never found to have broken a single misdemeanor and, though under a different name, the site administrators and owners are doing the exact same thing today... legally. At least as of now, Russia's promises to bring their laws more in line with the E.U. and U.S.A. seem to be political speak with no actual results.

You may not agree with other countries not giving two rat farts about whether an American music label is happy with how "their" music is distributed in other countries, you may not agree that private citisens in countries are able to "import" music from these other countries without risk of penalty, but it's all very legal for the very same reason I quoted from you. I'm not saying it's right, right and wrong have nothing to do with legal and illegal, but panning non-approved online music retailers by essentially making the argument that since they're not following U.S./E.U. laws what they're doing is illegal and then turning around and defending the price fixing and barriers to international music distribution under the guise that we have to live with that because different countries have different laws is one amazing act of hypocrisy.

[kornchild2002]

Originally Posted by Code Monkey

I believe you forgot that when you called these sites illegal above

Even allofmp3.com, for all the smoke and bluster the politicians made about it, was never found to have broken a single misdemeanor and, though under a different name, the site administrators and owners are doing the exact same thing today... legally. At least as of now, Russia's promises to bring their laws more in line with the E.U. and U.S.A. seem to be political speak with no actual results.

That is the thing though. On paper, Russia is working to line itself up more with Europe and the U.S. What Russia practices is another story though but on paper, allofmp3 was illegal and so are all those clones and newer versions. The Russian government won't do anything until the RIAA and U.S. government step in and say something though. It reminds me a lot of underage drinking in Mexico. Mexico's legal drinking age is 18 but they don't really enforce that. On paper they do but their practice is a whole other story. Now, they will enforce that law if someone is being dumb (namely a U.S. tourist) and the Federales will take their money or throw them in jail. So they might enforce the drinking age law here and there but it is mainly just to look good on paper.

Those sites are still illegal whether they are operational or not. They could move their base of operations to a different country with even looser laws but it would still be illegal for a resident of the U.S., Canada, UK, and many other European nations to download from said site. The site would only be legal in their country of operation.