Who here has paid for an mp3?

This I buy.

mostly like jaymc, just random songs i want to hear, and it's like jeez 99 cents is so much easier.

i bought a matador summer sampler comp for 4.99 cuz it had two songs of the new mission of burma record early...also bought that snapshot live burma EP which was itunes exclusive.

i bought wuthering height by kate bush even though i have the album on vinyl cuz i was trying to explain to a dude at work what "unicorn rock" was and it was just easier to play him some.

and yes, ethics is the key. if i like something, why the fuck shouldn't i pay for it; keep the artist going? hellfire, i copied the jesu EP from my mate but bought it too, simply because i thought it was so wonderful that i had a DUTY to buy it.

otherwise, what future is there? that people produce music for nothing? that musicians have to get some crappy day-job because we can't be arsed to cough up? fuck that.

the internet is in danger of breeding a generation of arseholes.

Used vinyl is generally cheaper than Itunes, it sounds better, and you actually get to *own* an object.

I had an ipod for a couple months and I hated it. I sold it and bought a second SL1200mk5 for a couple bills more. Best music decision I have in a long time.

that tells you a lot about the party, of course. and no, i don't mean it was full of pioneering artists breaking boundaries. it was merely kinda fucking bleak.

xpost Low audio quality AND DRM hassles to boot.

Decent VBR, no DRM, free redownload if necessary. Less than 25 cent per track.

The only time I use slsk is if the mp3s or CDs are not available for sale at all, or if I've not heard an artist at all and want to know if it's something I'll even like I'll download one or two tracks.

I've never really imagined a middle ground

There are some things I want to be able to hear once in a while, but don't feel the need to own a physical copy of. Those are the mp3s I buy.

Failing that, I then go to other mp3 download stores, dependent on music genre (like the gauntlet of electronic mp3 sites for tracks there.)

Failing THAT, unless I can NOT find a cheap used copy of the CD containing the song somewhere, I do resort to slsk.

I respect the decisions of certain bands to not put any tracks online. However, I only go for slsk or similar in such cases if -- had it been 10 years ago for instance -- I would have flat out given up anyway -- meaning, not bothered seeking out or buying the band's product.

So, yeah, it is an ethics issue for me as well.

For the record, slsk seems to me to be as good as it ever was and I rarely have trouble finding what I am looking for these days.

You scummy man.

$1 per song is a fucking ripoff.

$3.00.

For the record, the Brightblack MP3s I downloadorized from ewe's nette a month or so ago didn't come with way hep prizmatic goggles.

That plus the Arthur Russell exclusive are the only files I have ever bought online. Hopefully iTunes won't have too many more of those because their bitrates (and DRM tactics) are inexcusable.

Since that has run out, I think only I've given the .99 for one mp3.

I've considered renewing my emusic subscription because it exposed me to many great artists, but I'm hesistant because besides being a broke as all hell student, I've had many experiences with technology dying on me (computers, ipod) and having 80 and 40 gigs wiped out before, I'd rather not pay for something that is mostly intangible and could easily disappear on me.
(mm, well, that's my rationale at this hour. can't right now say how much of a bunk argument that really is seeing as just because I think its tedious to burn them to cds as backup--because I won't use them otherwise--is still an option. but a reallly tedious one. plus, the time & money I spend on that i could spend working (okay, obv doesn't take too long to burn cds, but my technology is slow & sketchy & I hate dealing with it), thus the pocket money to get the hardcopy or go to the show.)

now if only you could somehow register cds to make them accessible after you lose them.

I bought 'Maneater' via iTunes recently just cos I thought it would be nice if it WAS #1 in the charts. already had a DRM-free mp3 version. dumb logic but whatever. if itunes did DRM-free 256kbs+ files i'd be all over it, if only for older stuff.

The 'low audio quality' aspect is largely irrelevant as high-quality mp3s will sound as good as a CD on a computer-based sound system, conventional home stereo, portable players etc.

The main thing is I don't want to own music in the form of a physical object, now that we don't have to.

'cept the strange thing is, certain records come and go. Right now, most of the GSL catalog has dissapeared, and so has by ability to re-download tracks I bought from them.

Back to prison! We can nip this recidivism in the bud!

out of interest: why not? i mean, i've just shelled out on a (cheapish) backup HD to keep a second copy of all the digital music i've got across two computers; above and beyond that, i do like the security of knowing i've got a CD or vinyl record somewhere just in case EVERYTHING goes tits up. (although i assume that if my house burns down i'm substantially more buggered. ah well. maybe i should keep the external HD in a deposit box somewhere.)

put it this way: if i really like a particular track/album, i like to own it as a tangible "object" too. am i living in the past?

eMusic sounds very interesting. is it really worth it, then, people?

I also promised myself that I'd be a world famous pop star one day. I tend to err on the side of optimism.

obv. i still keep a lot of CDs and records tho i've sold a chunk of my collection over the last few years. this is just about wanting to own less stuff generally esp. audio and visual media, for reasons practical (but would still keep multiple back-ups of stuff) and maybe even environmental. i'll still buy the odd CD or DVD now and then tho, and obv. the majority of downloaded stuff ends up stored on multiple HDs and/or burned discs.

I've been slowly ripping all my CDs into iTunes. I just don't want the physical discs anymore.

128kbps is terrible, it's incredibly flat. Listen to the same track at 192kbps or higher, the difference is immediately discernable.

If it hadn't been posted on ten million blogs I would've paid 99 cents for the Scissor Sisters single today, but oh well.

128k just plain hurts me. awful flanging, etc.

i simply don't hear artifacts in 192k compression. this is through pro-studio-grade power amps and reference monitors. is there something wrong with my ears?

Also, have you had your hearing checked Dan?
No offense, by my hearing IS bad and i can hear the artifacts in 192 and ABOVE.
Dynamic range compression, high end attenuation, high end innacuracy in general...
However, for the price, Emusic is worth it for the faster transfer time VS eMule.

(Also, it should be noted that iTunes offers songs as 128 kbps AAC files, which are roughly the same as 192 kbps MP3 files).

Also, yes, though I download tons of shit on S0uLSE3q - the rare, the out of print, the live, the thing-I'm-curious-about, the totally random "this looks weird" item - I still buy lots of iTunes stuff as well (though never a full album - the better question might be "who here has paid for a full album on mp3?")

Here's something I wrote a few months ago for another list, mostly filled with DJs who have strong feelings about such things, regarding DJing with MP3s...

just wanted to weigh in on recent (and ongoing) mp3 dj
discussions. When these came back up over the last few
weeks I read with quite a bit of interest as I was
about DJ a wedding for a friend using nothing but
CD-Rs I burned of material that was probably 90%
limewire/soulseek of varying degrees of quality,
including many 128 files, and 10% ripped from my own
CDs as iTunes AAC/mp4 files.

I had my thoughts that it'd go ok but was scared it'd
sound terrible, but figured I'd wait to see how bad or
well the wedding went before I entered the debate.

First of all, we all know how shitty those things can
sound going over a good system. I'm not making that
argument. I only want to make the following points in
contrast to the general blackcrack attitude (which I
general share).

1) FIrst of all, how often do you even play on a
decent sound system? Some people argue the merits of
this format or that...then go to some bar where
they're plugged into the stereo or some totally busted
system.

2) As much as our fellow DJs care, as much as the
general audience may even care, in most of these
nightclub situations, the people just don't care, they
don't notice. I mean, I'm of the attitude that things
like good quality sound, good mixing etc really help
enhance of course, but really, people don't care.
DJing to a crowd of hi-fi snobs and enthusiasts is one
thing...drunk hipsters, wedding goers etc, is a whole
other ball of wax.

3) Nobody mentions the skills of the DJ regarding the
quality of the MP3s. A lot of the sins of djing with
varying degrees of quality I think can be made up for
by smart DJing. Does this shitty mp3 have no low end?
Is it too quiet? Fix it in the mix! Of course that
sounds like crap and is no substitute to lossless
files, CDs or vinyl, but it goes a LONG way. We've all
thrown on that CD and had to put the trim and all 3
channels of the EQ at 10 just to match the volume of
the prior song. And you know what? Most of the time,
nobody notices.

anyway, just adding a bit of nuance to the situation,
as it ain't all black and white. As a life-long only
DJ w/ vinyl type, having dj'd this wedding using
nothing but burned CDr-s of songs I downloaded from
Limewire to a decent sized crowd, I definately don't
feel like I ruined their experiance!

I've been thinking about offering music for sale in higher quality. Right now we're on iTunes, emusic and napster and all of that, but for one project, would like to set something up through the website, like a shopping cart system to allow downloads of highest quality mp3s or whatever. We just don't have the programming back-end of something like Bleep. Would this be hard to set up? How do those sites work, they offer downloads, or give you a password to download or something? I'd worry about someone coming to my site, emailing credit card info or paypal, begin downloading then have a power outage or something.

as for the thread question, i just this week purchased something of itunes for the first time: tetuzi akiyama's "pre-existence", which i've had a helluva time finding on CD, plus john fahey's "dry bones in the valley," which i've wanted to hear since the beautiful gastr del sol cover. was quite surprised to find the akiyama on there, but apparently itunes has more variety than i thought. and the sound quality on both sounds perfectly reasonable on my semi-nice monitors (rokit rp-5s). for what that's worth.

Or just sign on with Beatport or Juno where you set your own options for downloads. Beatport offers .wav and 320K mp3 downloads while Juno offers either 192K or 320K MP3 in addition to .wav.

went live this week.