Wondering the best way to buy music?

pinkstars

Is the going thing to use iTunes these days? Rather than buy the cd. Just wanting to get back into music and there's an album I want to purchase. Also if I buy from iTunes will I be able to access it on all my devices?

Many thanks

salamanca22

pinkstars wrote: »

Is the going thing to use iTunes these days? Rather than buy the cd. Just wanting to get back into music and there's an album I want to purchase. Also if I buy from iTunes will I be able to access it on all my devices?

Many thanks

There are a lot of places to buy music nowadays. Personally I would not buy from itunes as they add drm to all their files. When I did used to buy music before I stuck with streaming services such as spotify or google music I would have used amazon as the music is drm free and any device that can play an mp3 will be compatible.

Saying that it has been a long time since I bought from itunes and maybe they don't use drm anymore? Fairplay was the last drm I remember them using.

pinkstars

salamanca22 wrote: »

There are a lot of places to buy music nowadays. Personally I would not buy from itunes as they add drm to all their files. When I did used to buy music before I stuck with streaming services such as spotify or google music I would have used amazon as the music is drm free and any device that can play an mp3 will be compatible.

Saying that it has been a long time since I bought from itunes and maybe they don't use drm anymore? Fairplay was the last drm I remember them using.

Sorry but what's drm?

salamanca22

pinkstars wrote: »

Sorry but what's drm?

Digital rights management, basically an encryption or other technique is employed to make sure the music only plays on approved devices.

Anesthetize

Avoid using iTunes no matter what. It's a music lover's and sensible person's worst enemy.

There's plenty of options available to you depending on what format you feel suits you i.e. digital file, streaming, CD or vinyl. Amazon is a good bet for mp3s and CDs. You could also go to a bricks-and-mortar shop if there's any decent ones in your area. Or if you want to get into streaming you could purchase a Spotify or Deezer subscription.

NIMAN

I always buy the physical CD.

lewisdhead

Go to an indepentent record shop. Shop local, or at least in Ireland if there is not one near you. Rollercoaster Records in Kilkenny is where I shop, and I'm a Deise lad. I know they will post stuff out to you.

loyatemu

If you want to get back into music, sign up for 3 months of Spotify for 99p http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/3-months-spotify-premium-new-accounts-for-99p-2331390 - you'll discover tons of new stuff & at the end of the trial you can either decide to keep your subscription (its €10 per month), or go for a free account, or you can go and buy some of the albums you liked on CD, or from 7digital or iTunes.

salamanca22

lewisdhead wrote: »

Go to an indepentent record shop. Shop local, or at least in Ireland if there is not one near you. Rollercoaster Records in Kilkenny is where I shop, and I'm a Deise lad. I know they will post stuff out to you.

It's nice to shop local but it is often way more expensive. Plus you can often get higher bit rate flac / mp3's

lewisdhead

salamanca22 wrote: »

It's nice to shop local but it is often way more expensive. Plus you can often get higher bit rate flac / mp3's

And sometimes it's less expensive. And there is the bonus of dealing with a real person. But to each their own, just giving my tuppence worth.

paulosham

You don't buy from iTunes, you rent.

dirkmeister

lewisdhead wrote: »

Go to an indepentent record shop. Shop local, or at least in Ireland if there is not one near you. Rollercoaster Records in Kilkenny is where I shop, and I'm a Deise lad. I know they will post stuff out to you.

I'll second Rollercoaster, they are very good.

They are very competitive with HMV for records prices.

Anyway, with regards buying music...

I recently got Spotify Premium after using iTunes for years,I find I'm being exposed to much more new music than before.


Also,if I like an album I'll purchase the record and to be honest most of these come with a digital download which would allow me to burn it on to a CD.

Dean12319

dirkmeister wrote: »

I'll second Rollercoaster, they are very good.

They are very competitive with HMV for records prices.

Anyway, with regards buying music...

I recently got Spotify Premium after using iTunes for years,I find I'm being exposed to much more new music than before.


Also,if I like an album I'll purchase the record and to be honest most of these come with a digital download which would allow me to burn it on to a CD.

+1 on Spotify. I also have Spotify premium and my collection of music keeps getting bigger. I'd say if it wasn't for Spotify I wouldn't have started listening to the Beatles.

endacl

Grumpy auld fella answer:

blastman

Dean12319 wrote: »

.... if it wasn't for Spotify I wouldn't have started listening to the Beatles.

This needs to be made into a t-shirt, seriously....

Custardpi

Depending on the album, e.g. if it's a few years old it may actually be cheaper to buy the CD than pay for it on iTunes, particularly if you can find it second hand. In some cases there may also be alternative download options - check out a band's Bandcamp page if they have one.

Dean12319

blastman wrote: »

This needs to be made into a t-shirt, seriously....

Haha it's true though

RFOLEY1990

Spotify all the way. shops?! who in their right mind talks to people now unless absolutely Necessary?

eviltimeban

I won't use Spotify as they are ripping off artists. They pay f**k all in royalties.

I recently went over to iTunes Match, as I ran out of storage room on my laptop, and my iPod was playing up too. I was able to upload all my music to iCloud, and it matched it automatically to what was in the iTunes store, meaning that when I listen back, it's 256-Kbps AAC, DRM-free, even if my original copy was a lower quality. And anything it didn't have (like some rare stuff I have) gets uploaded and stored too.

The beauty is, I could retire my iPod as everything now magically appears on my iPhone Music app as well. So I can play music from my phone, or from my laptop. And when I upload a new CD into iTunes, it also appears on my phone within seconds, pretty handy!

I still buy CDs, Tower Records is very good, big vinyl selection as well. I find iTunes pretty good though, as you can get a preview of each song. They've got good deals too; recently I've bought loads of old jazz albums for around a fiver each.

YouTube is handy too; often full albums are uploaded to YouTube and for the most part you don't get ads - certainly not like you do with Spotify. Spotify is the devil basically.

Sad Professor

iTunes purchased music has been DRM-free for years.

loyatemu

eviltimeban wrote: »

YouTube is handy too; often full albums are uploaded to YouTube and for the most part you don't get ads - certainly not like you do with Spotify. Spotify is the devil basically.

how much money do you think an artist gets from you listening to their album on YouTube? If you pay for Spotify (and I believe 70% of the revenue goes to royalties) then there are no ads.

noby

The best way to buy music really depends on how you listen to it. My preferred format at the moment is vinyl with a download code. I get to play the record at home, and have a digital copy for the phone.
Maybe I'm showing my age by wanting something physical for my money.

eviltimeban

loyatemu wrote: »

how much money do you think an artist gets from you listening to their album on YouTube? If you pay for Spotify (and I believe 70% of the revenue goes to royalties) then there are no ads.

None, but at the same time YouTube aren't positioning themselves as a music service - there's so much other stuff on YT. People don't necessarily go out of their way to use it for music.

Spotify pay f**k all to artists - I know this from personal experience. Even that Avicci / Aloe Blacc song "Wake Me Up", the most played song on Spotify history, only netted him a couple of grand: http://www.wired.com/2014/11/aloe-blacc-pay-songwriters/

noby

eviltimeban wrote: »

None, but at the same time YouTube aren't positioning themselves as a music service

Well, not entirely, but they are launching a music streaming service.

http://www.theverge.com/2015/11/12/9723496/youtube-music-app-offline-background

I don't want to derail the thread, and would love for artists to be compensated accordingly for streaming services, but the fact is Spotify is a legit service (as opposed to pirated downloads) being offered to the public, and as such is bound to get recommended on threads like this.

oliviablond

I always buy the CDs

iamstop

Vinyl.

/thread