twmac Posted July 11, 2012 I've been using Last.fm for a bit now (yes I am behind as I am sure people are using other, better sites) and it has started making me want to pay for these artists that have provided me with entertainment for free. The thing is, I don't want proprietary formats and I don't want DRM stuff (the ability to transfer the music to any device I wish to). Which is the best site to go with so that I can start giving people my money? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
brkl Posted July 11, 2012 Amazon doesn't have DRM for music. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
twmac Posted July 11, 2012 Nice, last fm links to them directly and I already have an account. Does this mean I can download it from anywhere once the purchase has been linked to my account? I tend to have things like getting my laptop destroyed/stolen on a fairly regular basis (1-2 years) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikemariano Posted July 11, 2012 I am addicted to crate-digging and have a closet bursting with used CDs. None of that money goes to the artists, but who cares? I recently bought a single on Bandcamp, and that was a decent buying experience. They let you choose lossless formats like FLAC and ALAC. However, it wasn't a decent browsing experience. It's hard to look through the music they offer without being linked directly from the artist's page. But I did see some Minecraft music, so that's something. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Iosef Stalin Posted July 11, 2012 On 7/11/2012 at 2:55 PM, brkl said: Amazon doesn't have DRM for music. Yeah, Amazon MP3 is pretty good. It has a little downloader thing which is really fast. And it's fairly cheap. I honestly don't buy music from a lot of big name bands, or if i'm low on funds that month, but I do buy things from independent artists or smaller bands I like. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
brkl Posted July 11, 2012 If there's something specific you're looking for and it's not from a big name artist, their publisher might have a store. For instance, I've bought a ton of Autechre from Bleep (https://bleep.com/), who offer both mp3 and wav. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nappi Posted July 11, 2012 I mostly use Spotify nowadays, but when I do buy albums, I usually look at the artist's store page first. For example, The Null Corporation has been really nice with its digital offerings. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
James Posted July 11, 2012 (edited) A qualified word of warning about Amazon: as far as I can tell, in some territories your ability to re-download your purchase depends on your keeping around the original .amz file. It seems like a weird requirement, but when I looked into it I found several people apparently confirming it. EDIT: It turns out the downloads expire, so there's no point in hanging on to the .amz files. Since there's no DRM, you can back your music up, but it's a bit of a pain to have to consider that. It's nicer not to have to blow a load of backup space on media that exists elsewhere (i.e. online). Aforementioned qualification: I don't think this applies in the US, as all music purchases are automatically added to your Cloud Drive account. That sounds like a perfect solution; it's a shame it's not available here. I split most of my digital music purchasing between Amazon and Bandcamp. Amazon has most things and is my default online shop, but Bandcamp is preferable, in that it offers FLAC, and the artist probably ends up with more of the money. Both are DRM-free. I also use Spotify, but probably not very cost-effectively. I have the expensive account because I only use it on my phone, but really I've just been listening to the same few albums over and over. I need some prompting as to other things to investigate. Perhaps I should look back through the music thread. Edited July 11, 2012 by James Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SiN Posted July 11, 2012 iTunes is also totally DRM free, and it seems to let you redownload stuff. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jake Posted July 12, 2012 Both iTunes and Amazon let you redownload, and also offer some sort of streaming/persistent support through their individual Cloud Solutions. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
twmac Posted July 12, 2012 Hmm, well I am in England so that backup thing is a bit of a nuisance. Like I said, I am prone to destroying/losing the laptop I am using on an irregular basis so I should probably look into a portable solution. The reason I like Last Fm so much is that it doesn't allow me to play it safe and I am forever listening to artists I have never heard of. After years of listening to the same 200-300 cds and rarely buying anything new (the last album I bought was Mouthful of Diamonds by Phantagram and before that Machinehead's Unto the Locust) it is pretty liberating. Good tip on going to the artist's website, Last Fm usually provides a link so I will go there before resorting to Amazon. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Donk Posted July 12, 2012 I want to start paying for music too but living in a small island country with a population of 350.000, pretty much everything is "Not available in your region". Can anybody explain to me again why, in the year 2012, in the age of communications, people won't take my money? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sal Limones Posted July 12, 2012 On 7/12/2012 at 12:32 PM, twmac said: Hmm, well I am in England so that backup thing is a bit of a nuisance. Like I said, I am prone to destroying/losing the laptop I am using on an irregular basis so I should probably look into a portable solution. Amazon has the cloud and you can choose to store your musics there, I believe. And it provides a handy player for you to listen to what you have in the cloud. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tabacco Posted July 12, 2012 Maybe just back up your laptop regularly so you're not always having to worry about retrieving your content? I use Backblaze, and it's both comically cheap and effective. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JonCole Posted July 13, 2012 As someone who doesn't care much for owning music, I'm pretty happy with Rdio. That being said, Rdio isn't available in England so I guess I'd suggest Spotify as it's essentially equivalent. Then again, it seems like you want to own music. I guess I'm not very useful in this particular topic. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
twmac Posted July 13, 2012 This is all massively helpful, especially in considering my options. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
James Posted July 13, 2012 On 7/12/2012 at 3:41 AM, Jake said: Both iTunes and Amazon let you redownload, and also offer some sort of streaming/persistent support through their individual Cloud Solutions. On 7/12/2012 at 1:44 PM, Sal Limones said: Amazon has the cloud and you can choose to store your musics there, I believe. And it provides a handy player for you to listen to what you have in the cloud. As I already said, whilst it would be an excellent solution, Amazon Cloud Drive is not yet available in most territories outside the US. On 7/12/2012 at 12:55 PM, Donk said: I want to start paying for music too but living in a small island country with a population of 350.000, pretty much everything is "Not available in your region". Can anybody explain to me again why, in the year 2012, in the age of communications, people won't take my money? I believe it's mainly tedious legal wranglings that perpetuate all that regional bullshit. Intellectual property law and differing licence holders and all that. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
n0wak Posted July 13, 2012 Depends on what kind of music you like, really. If you're into the more electronic side of things I heartily recommend http://boomkat.com (I've bought tons off them.) You can buy as mp3 (320kbps) or lossless FLAC. There's also junodownload and bleep.com (owned by Warp) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Alunnite Posted July 16, 2012 I normally just stream off spotify but when I do buy stuff it's usually off band camp, or directly off the artist if I can. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
