Downloading Music

Nephilim Wolf

I'm just wondering what are peoples thoughts on downloading. The only time I download music for free is when I want to see what album sounds like, is it good, memorable etc, what guitar sound it has, what are the arrangements like etc. If an album is not any good at all I won't buy it, if it has only two maybe three standout songs I won't buy it either, but if it is really amazing, and has a lot stunning songs and not just a couple, then I will definitely buy it. Thats generally the way I am when it comes to music. Sometimes I've ended up buying some albums twice, as in downloading it from itunes and then being so impressed with it I bought the digi pac or special edition of that album. So what are your thoughts on this?

Morf

Downloading is false, most new albums have most or all tracks streaming somewhere on the net for just the reason of "try before you buy".

Otis Driftwood

Speaking honestly,its unlikely I will ever buy a CD again.

Jako8

I prefer to own the actual CD. I don't know why but I'm not a fan of downloading music.

So CD over downloaded content any day for me.

c - 13

In truth I download a fair bit of it. However, I think i'll be going back to buying again.

I don't listen to most of the stuff I download properly because its so easy to come by. Back in the day when I was broke if I bought a CD it got a fair few spins whether I liked it or now.

Max Power1

honestly.. if its a new/underpromoted band that i like and want to support then i'd buyy the album.. if theres a bonus dvd i'd buy the album of established bands (slayer for example) but mostly I wouldnt buy the cds tbh

fluke

I download stuff now mostly, but if it's a band I really like or an album that has really impressed me I'll buy they cd. It feels more real. Having a cd in your possession and putting it on the stereo.

stringbox

Most of the bands I like don't get good record deals so I'm not going to support the labels. I have this theory that the only reason X-Factor types always top the charts is because the only people stupid enough to pay for music are sixteen year old girls.

GhostInTheRuins

The only albums I download are one's that the bands have decided to give away for free. Two recent local examples of this is For Ruin's Last Light and Gama Bomb's new album. Since then I've bought one and will be buying the other on cd when it's released.

Other than that I never download music, unless it's very obscure stuff that can't be bought anywhere, and I can't even remember the last time I did that.

Malice

Nephilim Wolf wrote: »

I'm just wondering what are peoples thoughts on downloading. The only time I download music for free is when I want to see what album sounds like, is it good, memorable etc, what guitar sound it has, what are the arrangements like etc. If an album is not any good at all I won't buy it, if it has only two maybe three standout songs I won't buy it either, but if it is really amazing, and has a lot stunning songs and not just a couple, then I will definitely buy it. Thats generally the way I am when it comes to music. Sometimes I've ended up buying some albums twice, as in downloading it from itunes and then being so impressed with it I bought the digi pac or special edition of that album. So what are your thoughts on this?

I'm pretty similar. I download a lot of albums. With that said, I do buy a lot of albums if I like what I've downloaded and I also pay for MP3s if that's the simplest way of getting a hold of an album (or I'm that impatient that I have to have the songs now ).

Through download sites I've been introduced to a lot of bands that I would never have otherwise heard of.

Morf wrote: »

Downloading is false, most new albums have most or all tracks streaming somewhere on the net for just the reason of "try before you buy".

So what happens if I want to listen to the new album somewhere other than on a computer connected to the Internet?

GhostInTheRuins wrote:

Two recent local examples of this is For Ruin's Last Light and Gama Bomb's new album.

I misread the first one as My Ruin and then I spent a few minutes on their MySpace page wondering if Tarrie B had quit .

Nephilim Wolf

Malice_ wrote: »

So what happens if I want to listen to the new album somewhere other than on a computer connected to the Internet?

Well said Malice. Those are exactly my thoughts as well. I would much rather listen to the album either driving down the countryside or reading a book with my iPod connected to the hi fi or my car stereo. As other people have said I would much rather buy a hard copy of the album preferbly in a limited edition or digi pac format, such as the truly excellent digi of 'Night Eternal' by Moonspell and the recently remastered digi of 'Black Metal' by Venom.

Malice

Nephilim Wolf wrote: »

Well said Malice. Those are exactly my thoughts as well. I would much rather listen to the album either driving down the countryside or reading a book with my iPod connected to the hi fi or my car stereo.

There's also the fun that can often be had with low-quality Internet connections where pages have trouble loading, songs stutter and the whole listening experience suffers as a result. Normally if I'm checking out a band's MySpace page or something, I'll let the song play for a couple of minutes before I wind it back to the start to actually listen to it. That way I usually avoid the stuttering problem.

endasmail

give up downloading after limewire fu*cked my computer up
prefer to buy the cd anyway

brendansmith

Nephilim Wolf wrote: »

Well said Malice. Those are exactly my thoughts as well. I would much rather listen to the album either driving down the countryside or reading a book with my iPod connected to the hi fi or my car stereo.

Reading a book whilst listening to music and driving a car at the same time??

Fair play to you! Thats serious multi-tasking.

Nephilim Wolf

brendansmith wrote: »

Reading a book whilst listening to music and driving a car at the same time??

Fair play to you! Thats serious multi-tasking.

Sorry what I meant was either reading a book/newspaper/novel with the iPod hooked up the hi fi or going for a good spin in the countryside.;)

Pygmalion

I can't justify spending money on music when I can get it for free (regardless of whether it's legal or moral).
And I tend to download FLAC so the quality is as good as CD anyway (although even if it was just MP3 I'd probably never notice the difference :pac:)

o1s1n

I understand the wanting to have a physical object. I've been collecting videogames for years and have hundeds and hundreds of them. Even after the advent of emulation. The originals still play better.

However, the difference between physical and digital music/video media to me are negligible. I haven't bought a CD in almost ten years. Buy the odd dvd...but in the end never really watch them so it's a bit pointless.

I'm not going to spend 10 euro (Or more possibly) for a booklet and case. Maybe if I was interested in collecting CDs, but I'm really not.

When I did buy CDs, I bought them second hand. So I suppose if I were going to go the moral route, the money was only really going to the record store and not the label/artists etc anyway.

I also don't think I'd have such a broad taste in music if I was limited to buying every album. I'd be less inclined to take a gamble on something I hadn't heard.

But anyway, as someone said previously, I too will never be paying for music ever again.

dasdog

Download (esp FLAC's)

With most of the recordings I listen to the main artist or in some cases all performers are long dead (and probably the engineers too). The ones that are alive have more than enough money already. When cd players first became cheap I duplicated most of the metal collection I had on vinyl with cd copies thinking DDD was going to sound better.

Diversity is not exactly widespread in shops (in Ireland) or in not too distant web sites which I would order from to keep shipping costs down. There is a seamingly limitless internet library out there referenced on blogs always ready to throw up suprises. And some of the best band/artist recordings were never officially/unofficially released but can be found on the web.

Delivery time is minutes rather than days/weeks waiting on postage from pay music sites. You are paying the wages of support teams, software engineers, factory workers, security guards, board room members, couriers etc needlessly.

No supporting of the music "industry" which is the root cause of standardisation of music which makes a lot of things sound the same (intro/verse/bridge/chorus/yawn). Recording should be an art form not a business. Playing live is where money should be made. And the cost of physical media is ridiculous.

Storage of cd's is a nuisance as is getting up off your arse to change a disk. I have a huge library sitting on a single (redundant) drive that can be accessed with a remote device.

No scratching or other damage. I think I bought "If I should fall from grace with God" by the Pogues three times in total due to drink induced carelessness.

In saying that I have bought some second hand (mostly jazz) vinyl recently and there is something good about having a physical copy.

Mushy

Only music I download are Porcupine Tree ones where i pay from their website, or some rare/live footage where the band knows its in the public domain and accesible for free. For example, I hve nearly all songs written/recorded by QotSA. Lots of them not on albums, only way I could get them is downloads.

Its like dvd's for me. People tell me to watch shows on the internet instead of buying boxsets. Much prefer the actual dvd, the quality between the two is worth so much more IMO. Same goes for cd's really.

Malice

endasmail wrote: »

give up downloading after limewire fu*cked my computer up
prefer to buy the cd anyway

Limewire wouldn't have messed up your computer on its own, something you downloaded and executed without verifying its safety did the damage.

Yellowledbetter

Im done with buying music myself tbh,Ive bought over 350 CDs and 50 or so concert tix over the years so i feel Ive done my bit for the music industry.

I intend to flog my unwanted CDs(I know I wont get much but its better than binning them) and only keep the ones from my favourite 3 or 4 bands.I will buy future Cds from Pearl Jam and thats it coz Ive a nice little collection of their stuff.

Downloading,either legally or otherwise,is the future.
I used to be the one one who was stil buying CDs while my mates were downloading free but i have now seen the light(IMO),that said i do miss the buzz of walking into a shop and actually buying a CD but Im getting over that!!

Thats my 2 cents worth

bigbadcon

I dont mind doing it as when it comes to going to gigs they get their own back with the over priced ticket prices...

Fair is fair I suppose

o1s1n

Mushy wrote: »

Its like dvd's for me. People tell me to watch shows on the internet instead of buying boxsets. Much prefer the actual dvd, the quality between the two is worth so much more IMO. Same goes for cd's really.

Not really. You can download video and music that sounds and looks perfect.

You can download DVD images. So they pretty much are the dvd.

What you're getting confused with is streaming media. This needs to be of lower quality so your internet can suck it down at a rate you can watch live. That's when it starts to look and sound crap.

The one thing I still pay for is Cinema tickets. Actually I have a yearly pass for Cineworld. I suppose it's similar to concert tickets. There are just some experiences you can't get at home for free.

Herb Powell

Nothing wrong with downloading

Malice

I think a distinction should be made between downloading copyrighted music and downloading music that is freely available. For most people, downloading music is synonymous with stealing and it shouldn't be.

For anyone that doesn't know about it, Jamendo is quite useful. Basically artists upload their music which can be downloaded for free by anyone. The quality of the available music certainly varies a lot but considering there is nearly 30,000 albums uploaded, you'll be a long time getting through it all .

Jay P

I've spent about €100 on CDs since Christmas, so I can safely say I much prefer buying CDs than downloading. That said, I've downloaded more than I should have in the same period. Listening to it just doesn't feel the same. I love having the CD, just to have. Also, I love listening to the album as it rips onto the computer and looking at the booklet, even if it's a bunch of pictures.

Somnus

I'd say I do a healthy mix of both.

I download albums of bands I've never listened to to see what they're like. If I like them I'd usually buy an album of their's next time I want one.

I always buy albums of bands I love though, regardless of whether I've heard them or not. Opeth, Dream Theater etc. I love sitting on the bus home and looking through the booklet, waiting to hear what the new album will sound like.

Downloading is a great way to get into more bands and music but I guess if you really like the band and want to support them then you should buy the album, expecially if they're not as well known (although I know that most bands probably make the majority of their money from concert tickets).

I like having the real thing too much to just download. I prefer listening to a CD over MP3's/ FLACs even.

Nephilim Wolf

Jay P wrote: »

I've spent about €100 on CDs since Christmas, so I can safely say I much prefer buying CDs than downloading. That said, I've downloaded more than I should have in the same period. Listening to it just doesn't feel the same. I love having the CD, just to have. Also, I love listening to the album as it rips onto the computer and looking at the booklet, even if it's a bunch of pictures.

I love looking through the booklets as well, especially the nice thick ones.:D

Star Bingo

far as i'm concerned 'new' music is pagiarism anyway as there's nothing original left to do so feel free to d/l a copy of someone copying others but hey maybe they appear original so force em to appear onstage by way of dwindling CD/MP3 sales. its a cut n thrust 21st century the originators made their money anyhow so its game over maaaan

.. yknow i was into some serious lame mainstream when music was a physical product for me, top 20 metal/ indie or what.. often probs more influenced by the sleeve. but its up in the air innit.. just an aural thing from a consumer's point of view.
thank f- for soulseek as what i like is 80s and obscure. even then probs not actually available lol

dasdog

Star Bingo wrote: »

far as i'm concerned 'new' music is pagiarism anyway as there's nothing original left to do so feel free to d/l a copy of someone copying others but hey maybe they appear original so force em to appear onstage by way of dwindling CD/MP3 sales. its a cut n thrust 21st century the originators made their money anyhow so its game over maaaan

I hear what you are saying and the merry go round has well and truly run it's course but there will be something new at some point. It just needs a tortured race/society to spurn something new. Oh sh1t, the new PC world...maybe not then

Star Bingo wrote: »

.. yknow i was into some serious lame mainstream when music was a physical product for me, top 20 metal/ indie or what.. often probs more influenced by the sleeve. but its up in the air innit.. just an aural thing from a consumer's point of view.
thank f- for soulseek as what i like is 80s and obscure. even then probs not actually available lol

I just discovered captaincrawl myself. Looks like it will save some leg click work and trawling through blogs.

Malice

Dr.Poca wrote: »

I prefer listening to a CD over MP3's/ FLACs even.

That's another interesting point. Has anyone ever sat down and done a listening test with the original CD against a ripped MP3 or a FLAC?