Music downloads`

[Gary W]

Where is the best place to download music? Best as in legal, won't plant a trojan horse on my computer, won't sell my credit card number, etc.

I'm not even close to tech savvy, so keep that in mind.

Thanks.

[iacas]

  Gary W said:

Where is the best place to download music? Best as in legal, won't plant a trojan horse on my computer, won't sell my credit card number, etc.

Very easy to answer this one:

http://apple.com/itunes/ . Download the free player, burn CDs, rip your existing CDs, subscribes to podcasts (like ours!), etc. Oh, and $0.99 for music you own, with a few million tracks available for purchase. So, unless you're into REALLY indy type music... iTunes Music Store (iTMS) is the place.

[muskegman]

I'd second the iTunes vote. I've purchased quite a few single songs as its so easy to grab a song for a buck and off you go.

[jeffgladchun]

And I'll third the iTunes vote. I'm a big advocate of the application and the music store. I have 461 Legally downloaded tracks. Plus, it doesn't get any simpler than iTunes.

[huphtur]

If you don't care about audio quality (128kbps AAC MP4) and only use an iPod and iTunes, use the iTunes store.

If you want to listen to your music on different mp3 players and/or computers and care about audio quality, buy 192kbps VBR MP3 from Bleep (they even offer FLAC's!). However Bleep stuff is very limited and might not be your favorite music style (mostly electronic). So yur better off buying the original CD and ripping your own MP3's (just dont use iTunes for that)

Oh, and supposedly eMusic sells high quality MP3's as well.

[iacas]

  huphtur said:

If you don't care about audio quality (128kbps AAC MP4) and only use an iPod and iTunes, use the iTunes store.

Just about nobody can tell the difference between CD quality audio and 128 kbps AAC files. As in 1% of people in the world, and even that's when they have a clean listening environment and are paying full attention to the music, not doing something like working out, typing on the forum, etc.

  huphtur said:

... However Bleep stuff is very limited...

Exactly.

  huphtur said:

So yur better off buying the original CD and ripping your own MP3's (just dont use iTunes for that)

Uh, why not? That doesn't make any sense. You can use iTunes to rip into a variety of formats (MP3, AAC, full quality AIFF/WAV, etc.) at whatever quality you want, from 16 or 32kpbs (fine for speaking) to 256 to 320 kbps.

You're always better "buying a CD"... if you want to pay $15 and only care about one or two tracks or you're a super-snob about the quality. I buy CDs when I like the majority of the songs, rip to pretty high quality AAC files (192 VBR), and buy the rest of the stuff I want - singles, etc. - from iTunes. I'm all for disagreeing, but don't just throw stuff out there without some facts. "just dont use iTunes for that" is such.

[golfin' girl]

Not only is iTunes the best download source but it also integrates seamlessly into an iPod.

[huphtur]

  iacas said:

Just about nobody can tell the difference between CD quality audio and 128 kbps AAC files. As in 1% of people in the world, and even that's when they have a clean listening environment and are paying full attention to the music, not doing something like working out, typing on the forum, etc.

The difference between CD and 128 is definitely noticable. But you're right, not a lot of people care or can notice this. Specially when they use devices such a iPod's.

If you're gonna use iTunes, make sure to use the LAME codec with --alt-preset standard. Please note that I was mearly offering Garry W some alternatives. However, one can not argue about how easy it is to purchase songs thru iTunes. Apple has created the best user experience.

[iacas]

  huphtur said:

The difference between CD and 128 is definitely noticable. But you're right, not a lot of people care or can notice this. Specially when they use devices such a iPod's.

OK. I agree here as well: if you're looking for great audio quality, go elsewhere. But I feel that for the majority of people, iTunes songs meet the "good enough" requirement by a large margin.

  huphtur said:

Please note that I was mearly offering Garry W some alternatives. However, one can not argue about how easy it is to purchase songs thru iTunes. Apple has created the best user experience.

BTW, I apologize if I came on a bit strong. I'm a geek. Golf and software (and hardware) are things about which I can get a little too passionate sometimes.