Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
twmac

I want to start paying for music

Recommended Posts

I've been using Last.fm for a bit now (yes I am behind as I am sure people are using other, better sites) and it has started making me want to pay for these artists that have provided me with entertainment for free.

The thing is, I don't want proprietary formats and I don't want DRM stuff (the ability to transfer the music to any device I wish to). Which is the best site to go with so that I can start giving people my money?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Nice, last fm links to them directly and I already have an account.

Does this mean I can download it from anywhere once the purchase has been linked to my account?

I tend to have things like getting my laptop destroyed/stolen on a fairly regular basis (1-2 years)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I am addicted to crate-digging and have a closet bursting with used CDs. None of that money goes to the artists, but who cares?

I recently bought a single on Bandcamp, and that was a decent buying experience. They let you choose lossless formats like FLAC and ALAC.

However, it wasn't a decent browsing experience. It's hard to look through the music they offer without being linked directly from the artist's page. But I did see some Minecraft music, so that's something.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Amazon doesn't have DRM for music.

Yeah, Amazon MP3 is pretty good. It has a little downloader thing which is really fast. And it's fairly cheap.

I honestly don't buy music from a lot of big name bands, or if i'm low on funds that month, but I do buy things from independent artists or smaller bands I like.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

If there's something specific you're looking for and it's not from a big name artist, their publisher might have a store. For instance, I've bought a ton of Autechre from Bleep (https://bleep.com/), who offer both mp3 and wav.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I mostly use Spotify nowadays, but when I do buy albums, I usually look at the artist's store page first. For example, The Null Corporation has been really nice with its digital offerings.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

A qualified word of warning about Amazon: as far as I can tell, in some territories your ability to re-download your purchase depends on your keeping around the original .amz file. It seems like a weird requirement, but when I looked into it I found several people apparently confirming it.

EDIT: It turns out the downloads expire, so there's no point in hanging on to the .amz files. Since there's no DRM, you can back your music up, but it's a bit of a pain to have to consider that. It's nicer not to have to blow a load of backup space on media that exists elsewhere (i.e. online).

Aforementioned qualification: I don't think this applies in the US, as all music purchases are automatically added to your Cloud Drive account. That sounds like a perfect solution; it's a shame it's not available here.

I split most of my digital music purchasing between Amazon and Bandcamp. Amazon has most things and is my default online shop, but Bandcamp is preferable, in that it offers FLAC, and the artist probably ends up with more of the money. Both are DRM-free.

I also use Spotify, but probably not very cost-effectively. I have the expensive account because I only use it on my phone, but really I've just been listening to the same few albums over and over. I need some prompting as to other things to investigate. Perhaps I should look back through the music thread.

Edited by James

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

iTunes is also totally DRM free, and it seems to let you redownload stuff.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Both iTunes and Amazon let you redownload, and also offer some sort of streaming/persistent support through their individual Cloud Solutions.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hmm, well I am in England so that backup thing is a bit of a nuisance. Like I said, I am prone to destroying/losing the laptop I am using on an irregular basis so I should probably look into a portable solution.

The reason I like Last Fm so much is that it doesn't allow me to play it safe and I am forever listening to artists I have never heard of. After years of listening to the same 200-300 cds and rarely buying anything new (the last album I bought was Mouthful of Diamonds by Phantagram and before that Machinehead's Unto the Locust) it is pretty liberating.

Good tip on going to the artist's website, Last Fm usually provides a link so I will go there before resorting to Amazon.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I want to start paying for music too but living in a small island country with a population of 350.000, pretty much everything is "Not available in your region". Can anybody explain to me again why, in the year 2012, in the age of communications, people won't take my money?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hmm, well I am in England so that backup thing is a bit of a nuisance. Like I said, I am prone to destroying/losing the laptop I am using on an irregular basis so I should probably look into a portable solution.

Amazon has the cloud and you can choose to store your musics there, I believe. And it provides a handy player for you to listen to what you have in the cloud.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Maybe just back up your laptop regularly so you're not always having to worry about retrieving your content? :)

I use Backblaze, and it's both comically cheap and effective.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

As someone who doesn't care much for owning music, I'm pretty happy with Rdio. That being said, Rdio isn't available in England so I guess I'd suggest Spotify as it's essentially equivalent.

Then again, it seems like you want to own music. I guess I'm not very useful in this particular topic.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

This is all massively helpful, especially in considering my options.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Both iTunes and Amazon let you redownload, and also offer some sort of streaming/persistent support through their individual Cloud Solutions.

Amazon has the cloud and you can choose to store your musics there, I believe. And it provides a handy player for you to listen to what you have in the cloud.

As I already said, whilst it would be an excellent solution, Amazon Cloud Drive is not yet available in most territories outside the US.

I want to start paying for music too but living in a small island country with a population of 350.000, pretty much everything is "Not available in your region". Can anybody explain to me again why, in the year 2012, in the age of communications, people won't take my money?

I believe it's mainly tedious legal wranglings that perpetuate all that regional bullshit. Intellectual property law and differing licence holders and all that.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Depends on what kind of music you like, really. If you're into the more electronic side of things I heartily recommend http://boomkat.com (I've bought tons off them.) You can buy as mp3 (320kbps) or lossless FLAC.

There's also junodownload and bleep.com (owned by Warp)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I normally just stream off spotify but when I do buy stuff it's usually off band camp, or directly off the artist if I can.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

×