Where do you get your music?

[toddlans]

Where do you get your music whether it be legal, illegal, telekinetic....where does your music come from? I'm more concerned with the legal downloading services, but I'm curious where everyone gets their music. Do you download or do you listen to streaming sites? How many people still buy a lot of CDs as opposed to downloading?

 

I'm also interested in hearing your opinions and personal experiences with any of the online services. Specifically, does anybody know anything about Allofmp3.com? It does not seem very legit but it is cheap and I've seen things there I don't always see on other services. Actually, I've yet to find a service that has a complete selection, it seems like I'll always have to use several.

 

As for my experiences, I've had the best luck with Emusic and iTunes as far as finding everything, but I really don't like Itunes. I don't like anything about iTunes except that it will sometimes have something I can't find elsewhere. I also use Limewire and a Bittorrent client at times, but I prefer the reliability of a commercial service. I buy quite a bit of vinyl but i don't buy as many CD's anymore. It's nice to have the sleeve/liners etc but, I don't have a good local CD shop so downloading is more convenient and cheaper.

 

So what does everybody else use?

[MikeRivers]

I have a CD or two, most of which have been given to me by the artist. And I occasionally see live shows locally.

 

I don't really consider that I 'own' music, I borrow it. Mostly, I listen to the radio, either the real over-the-air radio or out-of-range radio stations that stream their programming on the Internet.

[zenchin]

Rhaspody and Napster. Both have most everything I ever need, but I check both as there's sometimes a difference. Best $9.95 per month I've ever spent.

[blue2blue]

Most of my listening is done from my monthly stream subscription -- or my own mp3 collection, most of it acquired during my subscription under Emusic's old all (almost all but let's not quibble) you can DL for $15 a month plan. I DL'd an ENORMOUS amount of material from them before they switched to a MUCH less economical (for the consumer) business model.

 

 

 

The stream service I use is MusicMatch On Demand and it's mostly pretty cool (and pretty cheap at $6 or $7/mo) but it requires the MusicMatch Jukebox, which in recent versions has become increasingly bloated and buggy (things REALLY started going downhill when Yahoo bought them to plunder the technology for their own, supposedly inferior but more expensive Yahoo Music Unlimited service [which DOES allow "portability" onto "Plays for Sure" certified players but also requires the Yahoo Music Engine player which is apparently even BUGGIER than MM JukeBox!.]

 

(And LET ME TELL YOU, "Plays for Sure" is more tradename than reality!!! I've bought ONE DL album and only about half the songs from it continued playing after the first 4 or 5 months. Happily, the album popped up in the stream-library not long after but, really, that DRM stuff sucks. It just SUCKS.)

 

 

 

MM On Demand has a pretty good selection but there are some definite holes. While it's got a lot of major releases by most major artists -- there are glaring holes: Beatles, Led Zep, Radiohead, Interpol ( )... One that really ticks me off is the relative dearth of Nat Cole/Nat Cole Trio... they have maybe 40 tracks which is nothing, considering. I mean, they have well over a thousand Sinatra tracks (lots of dupes and alternate versions, mind you) but 40-odd Nat Cole tracks?!? Where's the blinkin' justice?

 

Anyhow, another good thing is that the fi is middlin' hi... 160 kbps WMAs as opposed to 128 kbps WMAs and AACs from many other vendors. (Emusic still cranks out high-VBR unprotected MP3s for sale on their quite-odd monthly "subscription DL plan," though, and I guess EMI and some others will be joining, although at a higher price tier but certainly more flexible options.)

 

Now... I've sometimes wondered if ALL the MM On Demand content is 160 kbps -- every once in a while you hear something really crappy sounding -- but in those cases, if you look, you typically see it's been "remastered" -- so the problem is with the ME/bozo, not the format. (Latest pissoff example, my personal fave Rory Gallagher... after FINALLY getting more than his live album up -- but only a greatest hits collection from a couple years ago -- it turns out that most of the tracks have been remastered by a REAL BOZO... they sound like hell... most of my RG is on vinyl but I was able to compare a couple tracks from an older CD I have with the "same" tracks on the remastered GHit album ... OHMYGAWSH what a flippin' travesty!

 

Anyhow... where was I?

 

Oh yeah, pluses and minuses of MMOD... another minus is a pretty messed up search engine.

 

With something around a million tracks up (most of it Frank Sinatra, seems like, sometimes ), a good search engine is -- make that would be -- a heavensent.

 

The first few times I went looking for Linda Ronstadt (sp?) I didn't find anything... then one day I noticed her name in the "Similar artists" list (just 'cause they're listed doesn't mean they're on the service, though, but usually they are) and clicked and whaddya know -- I just managed to misspell her name enough that the search engine couldn't find it.

 

Other times the search engine failed to find a band that's listed under "The So-and-So's" instead of "So-and-So's" (I think they fixed that mostly, but geez!) You get the idea. If you don't find someone the first time, try a variation...

[Frantag]

Rhapsody mostly. MySpace and Soundclick. I don't use Allofmp3.com because I have heard they are not legit. They charge for downloads but don't pay any artists or companies for their content.

[HCarlH]

If Best Buy or Barnes & Noble doesn't have it, then Amazon.com.

 

I refuse to submit to those damn MP3s.

 

Where's my vinyl.....?

[Wide]

I buy CDs from CDUniverse, Amazon.com, and Best Buy. Never downloaded anything, don't own an Ipod. I do all my listening on a 2-channel stereo.

[deanmass]

Generally, I buy CD's and rip them. I buy some stuff on iTunes, but, I pretty much buy off the rack, unless it is something special that I strike out on locally ( The Frames?)..

[UstadKhanAli]

Aquarius Records, who have an online store and are one of the greatest music stores of all time.

 

Amoeba Records

 

Dustygroove.com

 

Caiman.com

 

Amazon.com

 

Buying directly from the artists at shows or from their web sites or their MySpace sites.

 

I'm a voracious, adventurous music fan who cannot hear enough fantastic music. There's so much amazing music out there, I wish I had more time to listen to it all and seek it out.

[Anderton]

1. The Grammy Awards Guide, from which I order CDs.

2. XM radio.

3. The occasional local CD store.

[nat whilk II]

A great used CD store in town - tons of stuff always coming in. Must be all the people dumping their CD collections and going all-internet. Fine with me - I much prefer the permanency and reliability and sound quality over so much of the internet stuff. And the album art and liner notes too. I buy probably a couple of CDs a week on average. At around $6 a pop, I spend less on CDs than most people spend on Starbucks. And I don't do Starbucks. I think I'm coming out ahead...

 

I'm sure when I croak I'll be one of the old guys with zillion CDs that my kids will inherit and not know what to do with.

 

Still, I subscribe to Live365 'cause I can get a lot of good ambient stuff, good glitch, good just about anything, really. The stations have pretty narrow vibes, so I can get a big dose of whatever I'm in the mood for. I get more new names and bands off Live365 than any other source.

 

We have Launchcast with our Yahoo/ATT broadband setup and I listen to it sometimes. But their policy of constantly feeding you what they think are tunes from "similar artists" to your own chosen favorites is pretty brain-dead. If I like Robert Rich then they'll cross-match me with Yanni. If I like Solomon Burke they'll cross-match me with Mariah Carey. That gets pretty irritating after a while - I'm hitting the "skip" button and the "never play again" button all the time. By the way, "never play again" doesn't mean Launchcast won't play it again, either.

 

Sometimes I just stream some free stuff like SomaFM or one of the PBS stations.

 

It's ridiculous how much music is available for so little $$. The little town I grew up in had, what - 4 radio stations maybe?: easy listening, gospel, country, and Top40. That was about it until FM woke up and we could just barely get Pacifica. Ummagumma on the overnight show - those were the days.....

 

nat whilk ii

[Spin Cycle]

Recommendations from friends and www.pandora.com. There are no CD stores in my town, save Walmart, so I usually download the album and go to the shows when they're in-state so I feel like I'm supporting the artists.

[Rabid]

I canceled my XM and Rhapsody subscriptions. In years past a lot of my music came from Columbia House. Now most of it comes from Amazon.com.

[bbach]

I rolled over to the mp3 format for convenience. Mostly I find what I want on iTunes. I buy all my music. I never burn off anyone elses. Just a personal thing. The cd's in my car are all mixes with only a couple exceptions. I rarely buy a pre-recorded cd. Usually, I only like a couple songs per cd. I've used other download services such as Napster, allofmp3.com, buymusic.com. I prefer a pay per song over a subscription.

I can't remember the last time I turned on the radio in my car.

[UstadKhanAli]

I have what most people would say is a diverse and odd taste in music, so most of the time for me, I can't find anything on iTunes or Rhapsody that interests me.

[Alan Roberts]

http://www.buymusichere.net/stores/easystreet/

[Gus Lozada]

... in the local CD store... everywhere I visit

[russrags]

 

... in the local CD store... everywhere I visit

 

 

I do too. Yea I download on a per song basis, for a number of reasons at the time, but if you Hold a CD in your hand, then go download your favorite song off that CD, then compair the two .. I don't see why anyone would want to download.

 

Russ

Nashville

[Ernest Buckley]

If I want the album I buy a CD.

If I want a song, I buy from iTunes.

[thinkingthought]

Mostly from Limewire, and if there is a really rare track I can't find, I get someone to download it off of iTunes for me. If we can't find it in those places, I check the persons Myspace and capture the audio and turn it into an mp3.

[UstadKhanAli]

If it's a rare track, it's certainly not going to be on iTunes!!!

[G-bus v2.0]

Soulseek.

 

CD stores.

[MahaAtTheVishnu]

Oink

IRC rooms

and occasionally, public torrents.

[Lee Knight]

Lou's Records in Encinitas, CA. I live 1 block from old Lou. His store is like a smaller version of Ameoba in SF. Lou had everything. Lou's staff knows everything. Walk across the parking lot to Lou's used section first 'cause you just might save a few clams. Lou has regular performances by the likes of Jacl Johnson, G Love, AFI, even me?!?!??