Download music

Bugnug

Hi,

I am a complete music download virgin, not a clue. I would like to start and I am wondering what is the difference between MP3 and Ipod? Which is better? I do quite a bit of entertaining at home and I am fed up swaping cds. I believe I can do all kinds of collections on one of the above devices and plug it into my sound system. Would anyone out there be kind enough to give me an absolute fool proof ididots guide to downloading music and recommend the best web site for down loading.

Cheers,

liah

Well.. legal downloading, I don't know much about, and I'm pretty sure the other sorts of downloading aren't meant to be discussed here.

Anyway, I fully recommend getting an mp3 player (creative, preferably) over an iPod. iTunes is absolutely horrible, whereas any other mp3 player you can just drag and drop the mp3 files in. Loads easier.

The only reason iPods are so much more popular is because they're by Apple and they have good marketing behind them, otherwise they are far, far inferior to Creative (or any other company that does mp3 players, tbh).

Bugnug

Cheers. Will get started soon as.

Fanny Cradock

Just a quick clarification.

MP3 is a format for encoding music, whereas an and iPod is a device made by Apple upon which you put and play your music. So the iPod is analogous to a Sony walkman just as MP3's are analogous to the tapes that went in them. There are many MP3 players out there made by different companies and all with different names, the iPod just so happens to be the most popular player.

If you decided to download music the songs will be encoded in an audio file format. MP3 just so happens to be one of the most popular formats available, but there are others like WMA and AAC. All these different file formats basically do the same thing - encode music so you can play it - but some allow for better quality while others are are better at compressing information which means they take up less space. This really isn't important though.

I hope that clears matters up for you.

As for downloading music, it's damned easy. I would suggest that iTunes (a program made by apple for use with their iPods, but just about any MP3 for any company will work with it) would be your best bet. From this program you can rip al your CD onto your hard drive and play them or you can download songs from the iTunes store.

Bugnug

Thanks alot guys this is all great help. Is there one particular product and model that anyone can recommend to get me started? My budget is around €100.

Thanks,

dceire

liah wrote: »

Anyway, I fully recommend getting an mp3 player (creative, preferably) over an iPod. iTunes is absolutely horrible, whereas any other mp3 player you can just drag and drop the mp3 files in. Loads easier.

The only reason iPods are so much more popular is because they're by Apple and they have good marketing behind them, otherwise they are far, far inferior to Creative (or any other company that does mp3 players, tbh).

I'm sorry but that is a complete bull, iPod's sell better because they are far more intuitive to use, they rarely freeze/break & iTunes is a great library too.

I had a creative before, it barely lasted a year. My sister and a friend of mine both swore by their creatives too but now there having nothing but trouble with them and are buying iPod's.

As for iTunes, i have a 80gb iPod, any music i put on iTunes is automatically synced with my iPod so it couldn't be easier.

Fanny Cradock

It depends what your needs are. How much space would you want? For instance, you can fit about 1000 songs onto an 8GB player.

You will get a lot of people arguing over whether the iPod is any good or not. For me it is, but there might also be better alternatives out there.

You might find some suggestions here:

http://www.anythingbutipod.com/archives/2008/12/top-5-mp3-players-of-2008.php

Fanny Cradock

here is another one:

http://www.mp3.com/hardware.php

Just go to browse MP3 players

liah

Are you serious?

I've got an iPod (not by choice, mind, I've got it as a gift) and iTunes has to be the worst program I have EVER encountered. Ever. As for the mp3 player itself, I've not had issues with it, but I've known loads of people who have theirs break on them constantly, then they go buy Creative and have them for years.

iPods are really not that intuitive at all, especially considering you actually have to download a specific program to even put your music onto it. Basically any other mp3 player I've ever had-- even a crappy €20 one-- has been better. Audio quality is defined by file type, so really, it doesn't matter at all what kind you get.

I still recommend getting anything other than an iPod or any other mp3 player which requires you to install software. Get an mp3 player where you can just drag and drop files from your folders onto the mp3 player itself. It is much quicker, more efficient, and tbh there's just plain a lot less bull involved.

Anything > iPod, even if it's just for iTunes.

Fanny Cradock

How about some positive suggestions, guys?

Ponster

The debate isn't about which MP3 players to use but the best source for mp3 files.

I'd say give Itunes and Amazon mp3 downloads a go and see if you like it.

The future though (IMO) is in streaming where you pay a monthly fee though never actually own the physical copy of the music (yet you can access your account from most devices that allow an Internet connection).

I don't know of any Irish services yet though it won't be long before they turn up (I use www.deezer.com and www.spotify.com in France)

lordgoat

What Ponster said. Spotify is the biggest thing for music out there.

I've had an iRiver before and i liked it, easy to use not very stylish.

If buying i'd buy a pod. I like them, they are easy to use and while i don't like the concept behind i-tunes, the user interface is very easy to use, to say otherwise is puzzling.

Makaveli

There are iTunes alternatives. Quite a few media players like Foobar (Winamp too I think) have plugins that allow you to add music to your iPod, although not every one is supported, I'm pretty sure there's no iPhone support yet.

iTunes is overly bloated and a memory hog, the only time I ever use it is to add music to my ipod. The store is nice though, particularly now that there is quite a bit of DRM free music.

Otaku Girl

Itunes is a terrible satanic spawn of a creature.One update erased by library,including stuff I naively purchased from their Itunes store(thank God for torren...ahem lol!).I was'nt the only person who had an issue with this update.There was alot of complaints about it on the net,don't ask me which update it was off the top of my head.Anywho,avoid Itunes at all costs.I used to have a creative Zen and never had any issues with it.

Monkey61

Despite problems over the years I would still personally choose Creative Zen. I have a Zen V Plus at the moment and it is amazing. Both the player and the software are much easier to use and it seems a lot more reliable than some of the older Zens. Obviously if you want 120gbs of space then this isn't for you, but for something within the 100 euro mark I could not recommend this more.

Personally, I find Itunes really difficult to use. Navigating my way around the Ipod itself seems clunky and awkward - a lot of the controls just seem counter intuitive. The sound quality is quite good though and you can't fault them for space.

I use Napster for downloading. I know in a way I am probably getting ripped off with the pay monthly thing, but to be honest it feels worth it, to have such a huge catalogue of albums at my disposal. It is brilliant for discovering music and you can always buy a CD (for considerably cheaper than the 99p a track or whatever) later on if you really want to physically own it. This way I listen to much more music than I would otherwise because I still couldn't reconcile myself to paying for individual songs. And it is brilliant for entertaining because you can ask people what they want to listen to and it is all there.

Oh and don't forget that for MP3 players other than Ipods you will have to buy them online as they don't sell them in Irish shops anymore.

Denalihighway

Regarding mp3 player I use a Sansa Fuse. It has 8GB and a seperate 4GB card included. Should be plenty for even the avid music fan. It has FM radio, voice recorder etc etc. I find it fantastic and extremely easy to use. It also has the thumbwheel which is a very 'Ipod-like' feature which a lot of mp3 players don't have which although slightly gimmicky, it makes things very convenient. See http://www.sansa.com/players for more info. BTW I had a Creative Zen before this and it kicks the Zen's arse. Its cheap enough too at around €100 and I think u could get it for less these days.

Here's a review which would give u an idea but there's probably better reviews out there. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QP8rDrrYDN8&feature=related

Use the net to review your options and dont be obsessed with Ipod. To be honest if money wasn't an option, they do seem to be the best players but I'm not sure if you can put non-Itunes songs on them (I think u can but someone can clarify that).

jester77

I've no idea what iTunes on windows is like but it's one of the best apps you can use on the mac. Another good alternative is SongBird.

As for buying Music, these would be my top 3 stores.

7digital - easily the best imo, better encoded and good price and if anything ever happens your music you can re-download it.
Amazon - lot of bargains for under €5
iTunes

Just shop around between them as there can be big differences in the price.

artielange

I find iTunes to be awkward to use and never took the time to figure out playlists and the like. I mostly listen to podcasts and audio books so music isn't the priority. Podcasts and video podcasts are extremeley easy to manage and free, you can even download University classes. For me, this is why iTunes is my first choice.

mikemac

Otaku Girl wrote: »

Itunes is a terrible satanic spawn of a creature.One update erased by library,including stuff I naively purchased from their Itunes store(thank God for torren...ahem lol!).

It works great on a mac. I don't use windows, well outside work anyway so I don't know how itunes performs. It's the same program though, no?
Great for podcast too, I get Talking History on Newstalk, Football Weekly and a few documentary ones and lots of NFL podcasts. They all update themselves, works great
A mac, itunes and an ipod all work great together. Seems I'm brainwashed.

Maybe it's different on windows but for me anyway itunes works great. I constantly buy stuff from the store. Audiobooks mainly which seeing as they aren't very popular, they can be difficult to get elsewhere on the internet

Denalihighway

forgot to say...the only place i download from is www.legalsounds.com. It's not great for new releases though, u usually have to wait a bit so places like itunes are better in that respect.

Despite it's name, its legality is dubious so feel free to take down this post. Songs around 9c each. No downloads should cost 99cent, its a crazy price for downloads but most people dont seem to be aware of this (and apple has increased many of its new releases to 1.29)

James G

The best "MP3 player" really depends on what you're looking for. If you want to use lossless audio codecs, such as FLAC, you'll need more space on the player. You'll also need a player that actually supports it, which for example an iPod wont. I agree with others here that have said iTunes is horrible, but I think iPods are decent excluding their file compatibility issues. If you use something else to play music on your computer, such as Foobar, look out for some addons to help with your iPod. I know foobar has a plugin that lets you sync music to an iPod.

I guess I'm getting quite off topic here since OP wasn't asking for an MP3 player. Amazon or iTunes should be good enough for music.

MooseJam

Ipods are great - nothing beats the wheel for ease of use.

Fanny Cradock

Denalihighway wrote: »

forgot to say...the only place i download from is www.legalsounds.com. It's not great for new releases though, u usually have to wait a bit so places like itunes are better in that respect.

Despite it's name, its legality is dubious so feel free to take down this post. Songs around 9c each. No downloads should cost 99cent, its a crazy price for downloads but most people dont seem to be aware of this (and apple has increased many of its new releases to 1.29)

You are basically paying some crooked Russians money to buy songs that they are knicking. Sure, it might make you feel better, but it's far from being above board.

artielange

Fanny Cradock wrote: »

You are basically paying some crooked Russians money to buy songs that they are knicking. Sure, it might make you feel better, but it's far from being above board.

Unless they changed it, its legal in Russia the way its set up, I think they been taken to court many times only to be found innocent.....or not guilty. Not sure of the legallity downloading outside of Russia though.
The one i used to used charged 1 us cent per mb download and you could choose bitrate....stopped using them when they started charging 2 cent per mb:)

lordgoat

artielange wrote: »

Unless they changed it, its legal in Russia the way its set up, I think they been taken to court many times only to be found innocent.....or not guilty. Not sure of the legallity downloading outside of Russia though.
The one i used to used charged 1 us cent per mb download and you could choose bitrate....stopped using them when they started charging 2 cent per mb:)

It was neither legal or illegal in russia, it was a loophole as far i can remember. But if you're going down that route all you're paying for is the convienence. Trying to satisfy your morals in this way is misplaced. Unless you feel you owe mother russia something.

MooseJam

If you are buying off some dodgy russian site you may as well just go and download for free

artielange

lordgoat wrote: »

It was neither legal or illegal in russia, it was a loophole as far i can remember. But if you're going down that route all you're paying for is the convienence. Trying to satisfy your morals in this way is misplaced. Unless you feel you owe mother russia something.

Well it must be one or the other loophole or not. Was paying alot less for the convience. My morals are very satisfied thanks.


And just for clarifaction i found it easier downloading music I already owned 2 times over already(cassette and cd) in acc format than ripping my cds into itunes.

artielange

lordgoat wrote: »

It was neither legal or illegal in russia, it was a loophole as far i can remember. But if you're going down that route all you're paying for is the convienence. Trying to satisfy your morals in this way is misplaced. Unless you feel you owe mother russia something.

No its legal. Feel free to contribute to Mother Russia if this news satifys your morals.:)

http://www.allofmp3.ru/press.shtml

Otaku Girl

"Stealing" from the music industry?My heart bleeds with empathy....

lordgoat

artielange wrote: »

No its legal. Feel free to contribute to Mother Russia if this news satifys your morals.:)

http://www.allofmp3.ru/press.shtml

Oh i missed it acquiring it's legal status as of janurary this year. And now a name change too. Sure really legit guys.

http://www.technewsworld.com/story/34512.html

Here's an interview with the main gut behind them, apparently the aim to only cater for Russian users. If you honestly think there is nothing dodgy or shady about this. I am going to call you stupid.

Firetrap

I tend to buy my music from 7digital.com. If not there, then I resort to iTunes. If your musical tastes are a bit further left of field, try emusic. The choice isn't so good in the latter (though you can find gems if you rummage around) but they do give you a load of free downloads if you join up and you can cancel at any time.

One thing to bear in mind if you do buy music is that there's still a lot of it around that has a thing called DRM on it. DRM stands for Digital Rights Management and it basically cripples the music you buy so that you can't copy it to multiple computers or mp3 players. I bought some DRM protected songs a few years ago and now I can't use them because over time I reformatted my computer's hard drive and changed computers twice. The licencing didn't extend beyond three registrations so they're now officially useless :mad: It's dying out now by the looks of things but try to buy music that isn't copy protected if you can help it. MP3s aren't copy protected but usually WMAs are.

In iTunes, they sell songs in Apple's proprietary format but unless it's protected by DRM, you can convert the files to mp3 and you can play them on any sort of player. If you leave them in the format iTunes sells them to you, you can only use them on an iPod or play them on your computer.

If you are looking to buy a music player, I heartily recommend the Sansa Fuze. You can get the in Xtravision now and they work pretty much like an iPod but have two big selling points IMHO.
1. They have a radio
2. You can drag and drop songs onto them just like you can with a USB key. iPods are a horror to use. This was reinforced to me last week when a friend who's not tech savvy asked me to put music onto his little Nano. Try running two iPods off the one copy of iTunes. Headache!