Legal music downloads

In iTunes, under Preferences>Advanced>importing, there is a setting to change the main encoder from AAC to MP3. This means you can select the AAC files in itunes, right click and select "Convert to MP3". I don't know if it is possible with downloaded songs from iStore, can someone try it?
If it works, then the MP3 file should be in your iTunes ready to be copied.

I have used Limewire for years, and it is spyware free. It is the files that you download which can be very suspect. There are some unscrupulous virus-makers out there who listen for your searches, and their computers repackage a virus for you.

There have been 2 stories about this very issue in the Herald yesterday:

www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10474655

and today:

www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10474732

Both of which make interesting reading. There are a wide range of views out there, but I thought the most interesting comments related to how little musicians get paid under the existing arrangements with record companies. About 7% according to one poster and I've heard about NZ$1 from the typical $30 price of a newly-released CD. Often, the record companies advance an agreed amount to the artist, but they receive no further payment until a HUGE quantity of CDs have been sold which covers all the production costs, marketing costs and a fat profit for the record company. Only at that point will the artist start receiving a royalty on further CD sales, and of course, many of them never do because the CD doesn't make enough sales.

When you see those sorts of puny amounts, it's no wonder that various artists are now moving to bypass the record companies completely and publish their own music on-line for somewhere around US$5 per album.

As one artist put it: Most people are willing to pay a similar price for an album to what they would pay for a good cup of coffee. An interesting benchmark

Well.. with iTunes I think there may be a couple of options.. if you buy a CD and load the songs into iTunes in MP3 format, they will not have the protection settings enabled (and they will be in mp3 format obviously!) I think then you can copy these to another player (by using the music files on the computer, not directly through iTunes). The other option if you're not dealing with a huge number of tracks is to buy them (download them) via Apple's store, burn them to CD in mp3 format, then re-import them in mp3 format as above.

There are also utilities (Freeware) that will capture audio as it plays... basically recording it in the process.

What you have to remember is that a large part of the reason iTunes is able to offer such a huge catalog of music is that that have made it legal to safely download music (with a compltely clear conscience), and they have gotten buy in from the industry because they have been able to make it difficult to spread a single piece of music to the ends of the earth (ie: stopped endless copying and illegal distribution).

If that's seen as obstruction by some then so be it.. if Microsoft had gotten there first with the same restriction to some proprietary player (like they haven't exploited their position before??) then would people be as upset?

iTunes Software is FREE!!! When's the last time you got something free from MicroSoft?

ok i've registered for legal sounds and paid my money and picked my songs etc but everytime i go to burn them to a cd it packs a sad! says that there's no cd in the drive. I'm using fulifilm CD-R blanks discs, this is driving me nuts! are there any computer people out there that can help pleeeeeeeease[V]

Hmmm, it sounds like there is a problem with your CD drive Devan, or with the software you are using to burn the tracks onto CD.

How are you doing that: Using Windows Media Player?
Or something else?

Any chance you lot can speak English or should those techno-illiterates like me just stay dumb? What are you talking about?

I went to a funeral with my 90+ Mum (who was a Opera singer in her day) the other weekend and we discussed the fact that the service was ruined by the number of non- practising Catholics (including me) who had no idea what the songs were let alone the ability to sing them. So, I said... at your funeral, I am going to find the music you want (we have discussed this) and have it played in the background and invite people to sing along. Obviously these are random songs from individual artists. You have to understand I have a unigue relationship with my Mum and such a conversation is "normal". So, as a IT technological cretin, I would love to understand, in plain English, what you are talking about and whether I too can search (how?) for the music she wants and "burn" it for a funeral program which I am sure the artists would not be fazed about as it would be a tribute to their music, not a rip for money thing. Hopefully.

God willing... this is not urgent but I just feel so ignorant. Do you have to be in the IT industry to get this? How do you learn about it? What you all say is like pigeon English to me.

quote:Originally posted by DiDi

Any chance you lot can speak English or should those techno-illiterates like me just stay dumb? What are you talking about?
...So, as a IT technological cretin, I would love to understand, in plain English, what you are talking about and whether I too can search (how?) for the music she wants and "burn" it for a funeral program which I am sure the artists would not be fazed about as it would be a tribute to their music, not a rip for money thing. Hopefully.

OK, I'll try to best to keep it simple DiDi

I suggest you start here at Digirama:

www.digirama.co.nz/

It's a locally owned web site with tracks selling for NZ$1.75 each, which is not too bad. There is a lot of retro stuff on there going back several decades.

Have a browse through their collection and listen to the 30-second preview clips. When you have found what you want, register and add the clips to your shopping cart. Then pay for it with your credit card. It's as simple as that

Once you have downloaded the tracks, you can burn them to CD, usually up to 3 times per track (which should be more than enough in your case).

Does that help [?]

You are a treasure Grant. I will get to it in the next few days (full programme) and then I will be back for instructions on how to "burn" it. I know the computer is capable! Thanks.

I've downloaded the software that comes with it but it keeps saying that theres no cd in the drive. Also tried windows media player. Thought maybe cd drive was buggered so i did a back up of myob on cd and that worked fine (sigh) am getting quite frustrated! The songs are all sitting there waiting to get saved to disc. The other thing i thought i might try is saving them to "shared files" and trying it on dad's laptop. Dunno how tho and when i right click on the file i don't get the "save" option:(

quote:Originally posted by devan

...i thought i might try is saving them to "shared files" and trying it on dad's laptop. Dunno how tho and when i right click on the file i don't get the "save" option:(

Devan, I think you are getting confused here:

* If you "SAVE" the file from Windows Explorer onto a CD, it won't be playable in an Audio CD player (which I guess you are wanting it to be)

* Instead you need to use the "BURN" function from Windows Media Player. It's very easy -- you just click BURN on the top menu bar and then drag the music tracks you want into the Playlist, then insert a blank CD-R and click START BURN at the bottom and it all happens

If Windows Media Player still says you don't have a CD in the drive, then your software is set up wrong and you will need to take the PC to a computer technician to get it sorted out.

The whole process is very easy once you have things working properly.

Most recording artists have their own websites & facilities for downloading their music legitimately. I tend to go through those channels as then you can be confident that it's a source that the artist endorses & that they'll be directly benefiting from you purchases.

quote:Originally posted by GloPony

Most recording artists have their own websites & facilities for downloading their music legitimately. I tend to go through those channels as then you can be confident that it's a source that the artist endorses & that they'll be directly benefiting from you purchases.

Yes, agreed It's a much better idea to pay the artist directly for their work where possible and cut out the greedy record companies [xx(]

However, some artists who have this facility charge a lot more than US 99c per track for their music (for example UK 89p = NZ$2.47), and it is also not so convenient having to go to all the different web sites (some of which are very slow) to get the various tracks.

The on-line music store with the absolute best selection is Amazon.com @ US 99c per track:

www.amazon.com/MP3-Music-Download/b/ref=...0HP9773M1H4D061PEPPT

BUT: You need access to a US credit card in order to use it -- which I have

Failing that, Digirama provides the best selection for NZ residents @ $1.75 per track:

www.digirama.co.nz/

I was using Digirama for about a year before Amazon.com opened their MP3 download site. And before that I used CokeTunes for about a year.

ok i think i know what i'm doing wrong. because the songs i downloaded saved to the c drive on my computer, so i copied them onto shared network so i could burn them on dad's laptop. I guess if you can't copy file and then burn them i'm a bit stuffed really

So, does Amazon UK have an MP3 site too? I have no US credit card, but I do have a UK one

That's true Grant, it is a bit more mucking around. Although it's pretty easy for me, I only listen to one artist these days.