# Best place to download music... legally!



## Sonnie

There are a few artist that would not mind having a collection of their songs downloaded to a CD so that I can add them to my car hard drive. I was thinking Amazon.com's MP3 Downloads is about as easy and cheap (.99¢ each) as the next one, but thought I would see what others are doing, if anyone is paying that it. :whistling:


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## gorb

I very rarely buy the downloads - I'd rather buy the cd. If I was going to pay for a digital copy, I'd go to the artist's website first and see if they had the album available there or links where to get it, so they get the most of the money


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## Stitch

Not sure if it's still around,but lime wire was prett reliable and cheap$$(free)


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## gorb

He said legally.


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## Theresa

HDTracks has hi-def music downloads. Not cheap but real HD without all the compression of mp3s.
I use Foobar2000 to play the .flac files.


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## Stitch

I've downloaded hundreds from I- tunes and only had one problem song...and they're usually 99 or at most 1.29


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## Theresa

Its not that there are problems downloading its that they are so compressed as to be un-listenable much of the time, especially with complex music such as classical.


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## Ziontrain

HD tracks is definitely worthwhile and pricing is good actually, particularly since you are getting original FLAC and not the lousy mp3.


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## Sonnie

That sounds like a question a spammer would ask... :bigsmile:

I would not download anything that is not legal... and about the only songs I would download for free are those that might be offered by the artist themselves on their respective websites, not from any other site.

So... in nearly every case for what I want, it would be paid.


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## honey34567

I'm sure iTunes is the most popular but I happen to like Amazon.. If you want a free trial eMusic (?) had a decent selection of current songs. I found them through fandango and got $10 credit to browse and download music without needing special software


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## KalaniP

Both iTunes and Amazon now offer music that is MP3 but DRM-free, and at a fairly reasonably bitrate (256 kbps) so it's not overly-compressed. It's not FLAC or raw CD-quality, but reasonably close, IMO, unless you are a SUPER-critical listener and using extremely high-end gear, you're not likely going to be able to tell the difference between 256kbps MP3s (or AACs in the case of iTunes) and the uncompressed source. If you are, however, I'd give up on downloads and just buy the CD and rip to FLAC or Apple Lossless yourself.


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## HenryVIII

Bandcamp (.com) is a site that hosts a lot of indie artists. You can listen to complete songs (not just short clips) before buying, the prices are low, and most are available in FLAC.

Sent from my Android phone using HT Shack


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## tesseract

Glad you could join us, HenryVIII!

Thanks for the info... and cool username. :T


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## Sonnie

I don't think I recognize the first artist there. I guess if I had time to listen to a lot of music from unknown artist I might eventually find a few songs I like. :huh:


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## Funk Sean

I'm a big fan of Murfie.com. They have an ingenious business model. You can buy and sell used CD's and when you purchase an album, they keep the CD stored in a warehouse. You can have the CD sent to you for a small shipping fee. What's awesome is that your completely own the rights to the album and they rip it for you. You can download your purchased albums in MP3, AAC, and FLAC. I bought John Lennon's Wonsaponatime for $2 and downloaded in FLAC format, all completely legal.


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## WooferHound

Legal Downloads

American
http://www.mpaa.org/contentprotection/get-movies-tv-shows
Canadian
http://www.mpa-canada.org/?q=content/legal-content-sites


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## Sonnie

That's a good one to bookmark there. 

I used the Murfie.com to grab a couple of albums for $2. Not a bad deal.


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## Mitch G

Funk Sean said:


> I'm a big fan of Murfie.com. They have an ingenious business model. You can buy and sell used CD's and when you purchase an album, they keep the CD stored in a warehouse. You can have the CD sent to you for a small shipping fee. What's awesome is that your completely own the rights to the album and they rip it for you. You can download your purchased albums in MP3, AAC, and FLAC. I bought John Lennon's Wonsaponatime for $2 and downloaded in FLAC format, all completely legal.


I just checked out the site.
I usually go and buy the cd if I can't find a (legal) flac download.
But since I back up everything locally and in the ubiquitous cloud, I would rather forego having the cd rattling around the house.
I'm definitely going to try it out.

Thanks

Mitch


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## natescriven

Amazon is good for used cd's. Usually cheaper than buying the album in MP3. I then rip the album myself. I'm going to check out murfie.com site. Any way of knowing whether they are selling the same album over and over? Or better to just not worry about it?


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## Sonnie

Yes, I have purchased quite a few used CDs from Amazon... if I wanted the entire album or enough songs to make it worth buying vs downloading only a song or two.

On Murfie.com I purchased *Neal McCoy - Neal McCoy* for $1. I am not seeing it for sale for $1 any longer, but on my dashboard it shows that I can put it up for sale on January 19, 2012. So I assume you can buy it, download it, leave the disc with them and resell it in 30 days... allowing someone else to buy it, download it and resell it again in 30 days. I assume it could be a never-ending cycle.


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## Mitch G

Sonnie said:


> <snip>
> So I assume you can buy it, download it, leave the disc with them and resell it in 30 days... allowing someone else to buy it, download it and resell it again in 30 days. I assume it could be a never-ending cycle.


I assume the expected behavior - and that promoted by murfie - is that if one sells the disc, one deletes the ripped files.
If not, the drm police are going to sue murfie into oblivion.


Mitch


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## Sonnie

Good point... and I don't plan to sell mine. I don't think I have ever sold a CD. 

I am finding out just what it's like to have accumulated several hundred since they first started making them... as I load all of them on our music server one by one.


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