Comments on: Music poll: How do you get your music? CD? iTunes? Napster?

The Audiophiliac wants to know how you get your music--CD, LP, MP3, iTunes, or maybe from a P2P or music subscription service?

[gunnerds]

cd's for me and then I rip MP3's from them

[garrybarton]

adsfd

[flatmap]

I regularly buy and listen to used LPs. That's my favorite source. I have about 2000 albums, mostly classical. I buy some new LPs as well and there are some great reissues of classics and jazz. Also I occasionally buy a new pop/rock LP,

I buy downloads from iTunes, Amazon MP3, Linn Records, Magnatunes and DGG web shop. I would be buying from Music Giants but this requires Windows at present. With the exception of Linn, Magnatune, and Music Giants, these all offer degraded quallity so I use these services mainly for music discovery and then I buy CDs from my local shop or from Amazon.com. Happily, the local shop has a section of new LPs along with CDs.

I really really really want full quality and hi rez quality from downloads without DRM. DRM is a true hassle. I would be buying a lot more online if I could easily get high quality nonDRM product.

I love music and I want recorded forms to be as high quality as possible and convenient as possible.

[research1st]

I hate the whole "music download" concept.
I have never and don't plan on ever buying downloaded media.
Back in the day's of Napster mania I downloaded a few "freebies",
just to see what all the hype was about.
Let's just say I was not impressed.

I currently have over 1000 CD's in my collection, maybe 500 albums,
I want a physical product in hand, that I didn't have to make myself.
Plus I'm a liner notes and album art junkie.

I love it when I talk to friends or people who have downloaded several
hundred songs, some free and some not. Then have a disc crash and lose it
all because they didn't do backups. Makes me laugh my a$$ off.

Back in the day I frequented the local "record" stores, and should
probably do it more often. Over the last 5 years or so most of my
CD and Album purchases have been through Amazon or Ebay,

[beerman55448]

Quote:I love it when I talk to friends or people who have downloaded several
hundred songs, some free and some not. Then have a disc crash and lose it
all because they didn't do backups. Makes me laugh my a$$ off.

What a good friend you are to laugh at others misery !!!!

[drummer49]

itunes,cd's,lp's.
cd's are purchased at local music stores and amazon,once in a while something from eBay.
lp's eBay,and local.

[vanderde]

I buy music both on CDs from retail stores as well as downloading from iTunes. I preder to buy CDs, because they are DRM free. Plus the music from iTunes is more expensive per song.

I never buy second-hand CDs. The risk that they don't work is too large.

I haven't subscribed to any services.

As for single tracks or full albums, I buy a mix of both. If I really like the artist, then I buy the full album on CD. If I only like one or two of someone's songs, I buy them off iTunes. I also buy a lot of compilation CDs.

I don't like DRM, because I can't put a DRM song onto a computer that doesn't have an internet connection. Plus you have much less flexibility with being able to share music collections with friends.

Most of my physical music I've gotten as gifts, either the CD or a gift voucher.

Sound quality is not really a factor. I find that MP3 files are fine for me.

"Do you buy CDs, burn 'em, and them sell them?" No, never. That toes the line a little too far for my liking.

I discover new music through listening to the radio and through friends.

[jpotter85]

I buy MP3's mostly from emusic, with some select albums from iTunes and Amazon. Regarding music subscription service, I use Rhapsody which for me is my testing ground before I download an album. I also rarely buy singles, preferring albums.

Currently, my music collection resides on a 1TB external hard drive of which I use 450GB. 30% of it is free from other people's external hard drives.

Sound quality is important, however I am happy with a 192kb MP3, since most of my listening is in the car or on my iTouch.

I discover new music through multiple sources-Rhapsody, CMJ and NME music magazines. My friends and I also have a record club whereby we make mixes and send them to each other monthly.

[buckyboy]

I haven't purchased a CD in nearly a decade. I started downloading MP3's in 1999, when all you could find was Led Zeppelin and Toto (as with most such innovations, the tastes of 18-year-old males dominated at the start). Some 5,000 CDs and DVDs later, I'm still at it, just a wee bit compulsively ... having explored and, in some cases, continued to utilize such sources as Usenet, FTP sites, P2P, and now BitTorrent, which is my main axe. I have zero interest in the "popular music" of today, so pose no economic threat to the music industry, apart perhaps from whatever marginal income they might have derived over the years from occasional forays into their back catalogs. But for the genres I'm most interested in -- vintage jazz, postwar R&B and early rock, live performances of long-dead musicians, etc. -- the download universe is a rich and rewarding scene that still manages to surprise me with undiscovered, long-out-of-print gems and some generous and knowledgeable folks.

[NM_Bill]

Retired now, I didn't develop my CD collection earlier. And my tastes broadened along the way. Unlike a college kid, giving me free samples or access to download a bit without payment only sows the seeds of selling me more product. In other words, like illicit drugs, it starts with free samples.

That said, yes I am too old to appreciate hip hop. The music industry sales suck because the quality level of current new output largely sucks.

No matter which the medium; vinyl (which I still have some library,) cassette, CD, whatever - the industry has always been greedy bastards. Yes - only one of several releases makes money - that is of their doing, not ours. And, the RIAA is not sticking up for the artists to protect intellectual property, but only the industry companies. Piracy IS theft. But if I stole a New car from the makers' lot, I don't expect them to sue me, I expect the police to search for the car & me. The offense is stealing per se, not using.

[hbpo]

I only buy music from online download stores anymore. I have a huge collection of LP's and CD's (from brick and mortor stores) from the past 35 years. I have begun digitizing many of the old vinyl and I load my favorite CD's to a hard drive. It is so much easier to have music ready to go when it's on a PC. I usually purchase singles from online stores but I have bought a few albums. I go for the highest quality bit rate I can find which has been from Real Networks, but I do not subscribe any monthly fee service and never will.

I hate DRM, so I will probably start buying the DRM-free tracks that are starting to be available. I do not do any illegal things with software format music, but I cannot stand the RIAA's attitude so much that if I ever have to buy some music hardware-wise (because of not being available online), I will make sure that it is in no-way connected to the RIAA. One thing is for certain, I will never, ever buy anything that has anything to do with the RIAA and I make it a point to make sure all my friends know about the RIAA's modern methods of deriving income.

[hbpo]

Okay, Steve Guttenburg... you are not the same as the movie actor..... but are you the guy that invented the printing press?

[dheyder]

I turn on the radio.

[cyberDJ-2038765336053745013836]

Do you buy CDs, LPs, MP3s, iTunes, or 8 track cartridges?

CDs
MP3 @ 320 kbps
WAVs
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If so, do you buy them from Amazon or other online retailer, brick and mortar chain store, or local "record" shop?

Online only. My music is not represented in my town anymore.
The exception would buying a mainstream title from a physical Best Buy store.
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Do you regularly buy used CDs or LPs? And rarely buy new CDs or LPs?

I buy new music because I am a DJ.
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Do you subscribe to a subscription service, if so, which one? Rhapsody, Yahoo, Napster, etc?

No.
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If you really like a tune you heard from a subscription service do you buy it?

N/A
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Do you buy individual tracks or complete albums?

Individual songs.
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Or do you get your tunes from a P2P like Morpheus or Blubster?

I stay away from these site. The sound quality is never guaranteed.
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What about DRM, do you care?

It took the music industry 30+yrs. to successfully embed something in the music so they can dictate what you can do with music you bought.
So yes, I care and I bypass this nonsense by buying the CD and ripping it into a format that has no entanglements.
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What percentage of your physical music collection did you get for free (ripped CDs, gifts, etc)?

<1%
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Is sound quality a factor, would you pay more for higher quality downloads or subscriptions?

Absolutely. I DO pay for more for higher-rez files.
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Do you buy CDs, burn 'em, and them sell them?

I keep every CD I buy.
I'd sell my soul before I sold a CD.
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How do you discover new music? Radio, friends, online, record stores?

Internet radio,
Myspace,
My nightclub
My primary online music store.
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What have I left out?

Do file format incompatibilities bother you?
How much of your music is file-based?

Thanks for the Q&A.

[turboej25]

Amazon! DRM Freedom!

[trsands]

-I have only bought CD's since 1985. Since I am getting older, there is much less new music that interests me. I own about 1700 CDs.
-I typical buy CDs on Amazon and in local used shops like Dimple Records.
-I subscribe to Rhapsody service. NOT the To-Go version. I love it. I have a Squeeze Box at home and listen on computers at work or at friends house.
-If I want to buy the music, I'll buy the CD.
-I would never use Morpheus or Blubster
-I hate DRM for owning music. It is fine for my Rhapsody service.
-I may have about 10 CDs worth of ripped music from some friends
-Sound Quality if everything. I would never purchase any digital music at less than 256k at VBR. I would never pay more than 50% of the cost of a physical CD.
-I Keep every CD I buy. I rip them for my own iPod
-Friends introduce me to some new music, but Rhapsody is the best for this.

[charl114]

I used to own about 1500 LP's and have now pretty well replaced all of that with a CD collection of over 2000. All bought - I was a late changer from vinyl to CD and am now, just, beginning to explore the 'download' option. As a music junkie and audio freak I have long found the quality of 192 kbps downloads to be below what I would regard as a reasonable audio quality, however a new purchase has cured me of that - a Sansa e200 v2 player (8gb - and 16 gb as soon as I can get hold of an 8gb SD card). The truly excellent audio reproduction of this player (through Grado SR80 headphones) has won me over to the possibilities of lossy formats and it looks as if this will be the way things are going to go anyway in the future. I am now waiting for Rockbox to be adapted for this player so I can play my Ogg and FLAC files on it.

What the internet has done for me in the last couple of years is allow me to track down and order rare and hard-to-find CD's that I have long sought and to listen to and discover new talent that I otherwise would not have found. For this I mainly use Amazon.com and Allmusic.com

Almost none of my collection was 'free'

About DRM - an intensely iritating system (as was 'copy control' on CD's - thank heavens that the record companies have stopped applying it) DRM is easily circumvented by burning tracks to a CD and then re-ripping the disk into another format - Ogg Vorbis for instance, and despite the mulitple conversions of WMA - WAV - OGG (and if you are careful in your choices of burner/ripper) the finished result does sound considerably better than the original download AND you are not restricted to being forced into the primitive and unfriendly world of WMP or itunes to do everything.

If downloads were available as better quality OGG or FLAC files I would pay for them - but would hope that then the prices on lower quality MP3 or WMA downloads would drop.

Burning and selling other peoples music for my own profit is against my principles. Artists should receive money for their efforts. I do (very occasionally) burn a CD to give to a friend, of music that they ought to hear - with the hope that they will go out thmselves and buy something from that artist.

[ejmfoley]

CD's

[brewnetty]

Amazon.com music downloads

[slemenda]

I buy CDs, SACDs , audio DVDs or the very occasional vinyl LP. I still retain good enough hearing to realize how much is lost in most music downloads, so I never download MP3s, except for books from Audible.com. I do own an IPOD, but it's only used for books. I listen to both Pandora and XM while using my PC, and I listen to XM through my home system and while traveling.

[uglo]

Napster, a long time ago when it first came out. The music on there was a lot of the oldies (but goodies), and I got all the music I'll ever want. If I do see a song that I don't have, I buy from Walmart $.88 or so.