velomoto Posted February 15, 2008 Share Posted February 15, 2008 Are there any legit music sites which provide higher quality MP3 or other format files? Sorry but 128Kbps provided by Apple and the other suppliers leave me wanting better. AllOfMP3.org offers higher quality DRM free music, but I don't see a "safe" way to buy from Russia. Buying CD's and ripping 'em is an option but I want the convenience of being able to download and go. Suggestions? Link to comment
MickFinn Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 Try www.limewire.com. Link to comment
smiller Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 AllofMP3 is safe with respect to credit card purchases, I've never known anyone who has experienced a problem nor can you find any hint of such reports on the Internet. In the UK they're the second biggest online retailer, behind only iTunes. They do not make their money by credit card fraud, and your chances of ever being prosecuted as a result from buying from them are less than nil so I don't know why they would be considered 'unsafe.' They do make their money by violating copyright laws of course, and that's enough for many people to avoid them... I'll leave that call up to the individual. There's also torrent downloads, which are frequently available in lossless formats. Also illegal of course. If you want to stay in the realm of clean and legit the clear choice right now is Amazon.com. Their library includes EMI, Universal, Sony, and Warner (all the major labels) and all tracks are 256kb MP3, DRM-free, and in most cases cheaper than iTunes (which only offers a portion of the EMI library in a DRM-free format.) Amazon is clearly the way to go right now for the mainstream stuff. eMusic.com also offers high-quality DRM-free MP3 (256kb VBR) but their library is limited to mostly independent labels and is kind of limited for anything else. Good for classical though. Link to comment
SageRider Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 www.amazon.com 256kbps DRM free MP3s. Link to comment
flyingreg Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 Not sure what you mean by "legit" but there are definitely options available. First, go to this website HERE and download and install the application to your pc. Next, go to this website HERE and search for whatever you want, audio or video. Lastly, after finding what you want, click the download link and the app program will download to the location you have pre-selected on your pc. That's all there is to it. Link to comment
stubble! Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 www.amazon.com 256kbps DRM free MP3s. +1 I've been satisfied with the quality of Amazon's files. That said, I still tend to buy the CD and rip it to FLAC for the best quality masters. Mediamonkey then makes it easy to generate high quality MP3s at various bitrates to suit portable players. Link to comment
flyingreg Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 Velomoto, I took a look at the AllofMP3 website. Seems to have a very limited selection of artists and albums. I can now understand why you are looking for other sources. Link to comment
smiller Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 I took a look at the AllofMP3 website. Seems to have a very limited selection of artists and albums.Huh..? There is the occasional omission but in general their library is quite extensive. Link to comment
ghaverkamp Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 They do not make their money by credit card fraud, and your chances of ever being prosecuted as a result from buying from them are less than nil so I don't know why they would be considered 'unsafe.' They do make their money by violating copyright laws of course, and that's enough for many people to avoid them... The problem is, when someone in the United States downloads from AllOfMP3, that person is making an illegal copy. The RIAA has focused its energies on file sharers so far, but it wouldn't be too hard for them to subpoena the transmission records of ISPs showing customers downloading from AllOfMP3. Link to comment
smiller Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 The problem is, when someone in the United States downloads from AllOfMP3, that person is making an illegal copy. The RIAA has focused its energies on file sharers so far, but it wouldn't be too hard for them to subpoena the transmission records of ISPs showing customers downloading from AllOfMP3. The RIAA could decide to focus their energies anywhere, as they have amply demonstrated. However given the enormous amount of downloading occurring from AllOfMP3 and the fact that the RIAA's efforts have so far been limited strictly to attempts to force the Russian authorities to halt the operation vs. going after end users would lead one to believe that they detect some weakness in a clear legal case against the latter. Considering the RIAA's track record and the size of the AllofMP3 thorn in their side I find it difficult to believe that they haven't pursued a case against end users simply because they haven't gotten around to it. It would seem that there is clearly a question in their mind as to whether they even can pursue such a case, at least under current law. In any event, until they at least make some noises in that direction the chances of individual users suffering any legal threat seems vanishingly small. Link to comment
ghaverkamp Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 Considering the RIAA's track record and the size of the AllofMP3 thorn in their side I find it difficult to believe that they haven't pursued a case against end users simply because they haven't gotten around to it. It would seem that there is clearly a question in their mind as to whether they even can pursue such a case, at least under current law. I don't imagine there's any legal question, whatsoever. What they need, really, is compliant ISPs. They're slowly getting that. Pro-IP, if passed, would put enforcement in the hands of the government. We know they can watch the transactions. Link to comment
smiller Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 Again, regardless, if the RIAA follows its MO and if they ever decide to try to take such an action the first thing they will do is publicize their intention. I see no reason to even begin to have a concern about a legal threat (the obvious ethical issues notwithstanding for the sake of this discussion) until such time as the RIAA announces that they intend to pursue this avenue, if they ever do. Link to comment
ghaverkamp Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 Again, regardless, if the RIAA follows its MO and if they ever decide to try to take such an action the first thing they will do is publicize their intention. I see no reason to even begin to have a concern about a legal threat (the obvious ethical issues notwithstanding for the sake of this discussion) until such time as the RIAA announces that they intend to pursue this avenue, if they ever do. It's certainly your right to do whatever you choose to do. However, people need to understand that it is illegal, that they're processing payment records for illegal activities, and there will be a trail for some time to come. If people are still happy with that, so be it. Link to comment
Ken H. Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 The problem is, when someone in the United States downloads from AllOfMP3, that person is making an illegal copy. As with Limewire mentioned above, and many of the other similar schemes out there. Link to comment
smiller Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 Just to be clear I'm not trying to defend the ethical issues, just discussing the reality of any real legal risk. If one wants to be concerned about the successful subpoena of credit card records from a Russian clearinghouse or combing through a staggering volume of past ISP records then, yes, so be it, knock yourself out. Personally though I think I'm more concerned about a lightning strike. Link to comment
ghaverkamp Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 As with Limewire mentioned above, and many of the other similar schemes out there. And it's even worse with LimeWire, because now there's precedent out there for one to be held liable both for downloaded music, as well as music that is made available for download by others. Link to comment
Ken H. Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 If one wants to be concerned about the successful subpoena of credit card records from a Russian clearinghouse or combing through a staggering volume of past ISP records then, yes, so be it, knock yourself out. Personally though I think I'm more concerned about a lightening strike. Don't be so sure. I work for an medium size ISP and we get subpoenas for Internet usage and traffic records of specific IP addresses every single week. All of them do. Link to comment
smiller Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 If one wants to be concerned about the successful subpoena of credit card records from a Russian clearinghouse or combing through a staggering volume of past ISP records then, yes, so be it, knock yourself out. Personally though I think I'm more concerned about a lightning strike. Don't be so sure. I work for an medium size ISP and we get subpoenas for Internet usage and traffic records of specific IP addresses every single week. All of them do. Sigh... let me go through this again... if the RIAA decides to go this route they will in all likelihood publicize the hell out of it in order to get maximum effect. If that ever happens you can then decide to be worried, if you wish. But if you think that the RIAA is going to decide to retroactively pursue users of AllofMP3 from prior years then I think you are being paranoid. Link to comment
velomoto Posted February 19, 2008 Author Share Posted February 19, 2008 Thanks for the info and help. I'll check out what Amazon has to offer and look into allofmp3 a bit more. As much as I despise the music industry (long story for another time) I also feel guilty "buying" music from an outfit like allofmp3 which essentially pays no royalties. A funny thing about limewire - a couple of my kid's friends think that by buying the limewire software they actually were buying the music! I wonder how many other teens have this misconception. With the continual decreases in the price of flash and disk drives, lossless music should become popular - but my guess is the music industry is preventing this from becoming a reality (except, of course for the pirated music). Link to comment
velomoto Posted February 19, 2008 Author Share Posted February 19, 2008 Ken, I appreciate your concern. The ease with which companies can store and then sift data REALLY scares me. I've seen companies resurrect email communications which were years old. I feel like I've got many "big brothers"! Link to comment
camille Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 I'll check out what Amazon has to offer I just downloaded some from Amazon: - 320 kbps vs 128kbps - mp3 format rather than m4a - 89 cents vs 99 cents Who needs Apple Itunes store! Oh, BTW, if you haven't changed import settings on Itunes, might want to try this out when importing from CD. Preferences, advanced, importing, import using=MP3 encoder, setting=custom, bit rate=192kbps (probably good enough), use variable bit rate encoding=checked, quality=highest. CD imports sound better with these settings vs default IMHO. Link to comment
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