Downloading music files - Where to start?

[ck42]

The woman has an mp3 player now and wants to start downloading music for it. Both of our boxen are running Gentoo, which makes things a little more difficult since it seems like so many of the online music sites are geared for Windows systems. Some won't even let you on the site once they detect that you're not running Windows!!

So...any suggestions on good places to download modern music that will work with a Linux system? (non-DRM preferred, but is that really a problem???)

Preferrably, I'd like a solution that doesn't involve me having to help her with getting things working. Although she's setup with a Linux box, she's a *user* and has little patience when she can't simply click and have things work all the time.

[i92guboj]

Make sure you use a convenient browser, like konqueror or mozilla firefox. They have plugins to open almost anything multimedia related. You can also set the user agent in the browser, so it will be identified like IE or any broser of your choice and the site should not complain in most cases.

You can install kplayer and netscape-flash for additional support. I know gxine has also support for brosers. You might need to enable the nsplugins USE flag.

EDIT, for konqueror you might need to install the nsplugins package.

[RageOfOrder]

I suppose you want to actually Buy the music online?

As much as I hate buying music without getting the actual CD..... You could try Magnatune. I assume since it's bundled with Amarok now that it supports Linux, and I'm pretty sure it's DRM free.

http://www.magnatune.com/

[Teetante]

I suppose you want to actually Buy the music online?

As much as I hate buying music without getting the actual CD..... You could try Magnatune. I assume since it's bundled with Amarok now that it supports Linux, and I'm pretty sure it's DRM free.

http://www.magnatune.com/

All music you buy from magnatune is uncrippled (meaning without DRM or anything). You can get MP3 and many other formats from them and are allowed to give them to a limited number of friends. Best thing: You can stream _everything_ they offer so you never run the risk of buying anything you don't wanna buy. (Magnatune integration is only available in amarok 1.4.4 so you might emerge the ~x86 version for that.)

[cokey]

itunes?
limewire (frostwire is preferred)?
there are lots

[numerodix]

itunes?

How does itunes run on linux exactly? Besides, he said DRM free.

To answer the OP, here is a list of sites that sell DRM free music: http://www.defectivebydesign.org/en/guide

[ck42]

I had looked at mangatunes, but it's selection seemed pretty limited and didn't appear to carry the top 40 type crap she's interested in.

emusic looked very promising until I found out it's a Russian company...located in Russia. No offense, but I'm not giving my credit card info to them.

She needs something like iTunes with it's big collection and ease of use...but able to play on a non-iPod player.

[bssteph]

I had looked at mangatunes, but it's selection seemed pretty limited and didn't appear to carry the top 40 type crap she's interested in.

emusic looked very promising until I found out it's a Russian company...located in Russia. No offense, but I'm not giving my credit card info to them.

She needs something like iTunes with it's big collection and ease of use...but able to play on a non-iPod player.

eMusic is not based in Russia (unless they've managed to slip one by lots of people). Are you sure you didn't accidentally look up "etunes" or "e-something-else-people-would-think-instead-of-music"? I use eMusic and they are great.

The music is unencumbered MP3 and once you've downloaded a song once, you can get it as many times as you want from any computer you want. I love them.

But they do not carry much or any top 40 stuff.

[Akkara]

If you have a collection of CDs I'd recommend ripping those using one of the many cd-ripping apps available. It is still the highest-quality source available. I rip to .flac (lossless) to build my library, and have a script to encode any new files to .mp3 or whatever the format of the day is, for use in a player.

[numerodix]

I had looked at mangatunes, but it's selection seemed pretty limited and didn't appear to carry the top 40 type crap she's interested in.

emusic looked very promising until I found out it's a Russian company...located in Russia. No offense, but I'm not giving my credit card info to them.

She needs something like iTunes with it's big collection and ease of use...but able to play on a non-iPod player.

If you need top40 stuff then there's a very good chance that you have to buy physical cds if you don't want DRM. The only webstore that sells non-DRM mp3s from the major record labels that I know of, is the Russian based allofmp3.com, whose legality is questionable.

[ck42]

bssteph: My bad. It wasn't emusic that I was thinking of that is based in Russia. As numerodix pointed out, it's allofmp3.com. I was all set to sign up with them until I did a little last second background reading and found out more about them. Otherwise I would have signed up in a heartbeat.

Akkara, yes, she has CDs but wants stuff that she has NOT bought on CD yet. She's also grown tired of her current CD collection.

numerodix et al: It sounds like there really isn't a good solution for me then....w/o having a windows box setup.

Ok....so let's say I go that route. I setup a little Windows system just so we can sign up at one of these music sites that requires windows and I'm assuming also sells DRM restricted tunes. What are my options then? What sort of restrictions will I have with this music? Hopefully it could still be transfered to her mp3 player and played whenever she wanted, right? Is there a way to extract the tune and create a non-DRM version? (legalities aside)

Oh....and to everyone who has chimed in to help. I really appreciate the comments and suggestions!

[numerodix]

Ok....so let's say I go that route. I setup a little Windows system just so we can sign up at one of these music sites that requires windows and I'm assuming also sells DRM restricted tunes. What are my options then? What sort of restrictions will I have with this music? Hopefully it could still be transfered to her mp3 player and played whenever she wanted, right? Is there a way to extract the tune and create a non-DRM version? (legalities aside)

I think this depends on where you buy from. If she has an iPod, it will work with iTunes. If she has a Zune, it will probably only work with some Microsoft webstore etc. This is the thing with DRM, the files become unportable.

And yes there are ways to remove iTunes DRM, but I've never had to so I don't know how it works or how much of a pain it is.

The whole concept of buying music online is just an illusion anyway, you think you can buy songs from well known artists, but you can't, not if you want control over what you can do with those files.

[ck42]

Ja....it's not a Zune or an iPod. But out of curiosity, does iTunes carry the kind of top 40 pop and whatever else she might be looking for?
I guess if it came down to it, she could be getting a pink Nano for Christmas

[numerodix]

Ja....it's not a Zune or an iPod. But out of curiosity, does iTunes carry the kind of top 40 pop and whatever else she might be looking for?
I guess if it came down to it, she could be getting a pink Nano for Christmas

I think they do, yes.

With DRM coming up, it's become a whole thing with matching your mp3 player with your webstore. 3 years ago you could choose freely, but now you have to be careful. I personally don't buy anything DRM at all.

[ck42]

Sounds like it's going the way of cell phones here in the U.S. It's rediculous that if you want a certain model phone, you have to go with a certain carrier (disregarding unlock phones of course).

This is a real shame. Every day I'm starting to understand more and more why certain people are so opposed to DRM.

[ZmiyGorinich]

Also you can try find MP3 in google.com

[Enverex]

I'm going to have to put a vote in for AllofMP3.com actually, been using them for a year or so now and never had any problems. Decent selection too and only place I've found where I can get FLAC format.

[tabanus]

I'm going to have to put a vote in for AllofMP3.com actually, been using them for a year or so now and never had any problems. Decent selection too and only place I've found where I can get FLAC format.

++

NO point using anything else really. They encode it in the format you want, and you can play the music on whatever player you want.

[numerodix]

I'm going to have to put a vote in for AllofMP3.com actually, been using them for a year or so now and never had any problems. Decent selection too and only place I've found where I can get FLAC format.

++

NO point using anything else really. They encode it in the format you want, and you can play the music on whatever player you want.

Just that they are under threat of being shut down any moment.

[tabanus]

I'm going to have to put a vote in for AllofMP3.com actually, been using them for a year or so now and never had any problems. Decent selection too and only place I've found where I can get FLAC format.

++

NO point using anything else really. They encode it in the format you want, and you can play the music on whatever player you want.

Just that they are under threat of being shut down any moment.

And have been for about the past 3 years

Though be sensible. Only put 10$ at a time on your account

[numerodix]

And have been for about the past 3 years

Though be sensible. Only put 10$ at a time on your account

Yeah, I did spend 10 bucks there. Then I heard it was sketchy legally and I didn't buy anything there again.

[dattaway]

Its time you learn about usenet news. Fill up that new hard drive in a few days:[/code]

Code: Select all

$ emerge nget
$ nget -g alt.binaries.mp3 -r .

[RageOfOrder]

I seriously recommend above all else to just simply buy the CD.

DRM is a bitch, and doesn't bite you until you've already wasted a lot of time and money with DRM'ed files.
You get restrictions on
1) How many computers
2) How many mobile players
3) What kinds of mobile players
4) Copying the music files
5) How many times you can burn the songs

I move my music around all the time, from one hard drive to another ( usually a bigger one ), to and from my iPod, and to and from my fileserver in my room. I also burn countless CDs with these songs and I would literally go nuts if I didn't have this freedom with my music.

So in light of this, when I don't have the budget, or I'm not able to find the album I want, I use bittorrent.
Might not be something you'd consider ( might not be legal in your area anyways ), but it works, and has more than enough DRM - free selection.

[numerodix]

@RageOfOrder
That's assuming you even want the cds. I don't buy cds anymore, and the cds I still have are back home in Norway and I don't need them for anything. I bought one cd in March and I gave it away after ripping it. It's a waste of plastic as far as I'm concerned, the only medium for music now is my laptop. I don't have a stereo and I wouldn't know what to do with it if I did.

Besides, it comes down to arguments like "I only want selected tracks" or "cds are too expensive", which is exactly what online stores are supposed to solve. Just that instead they pack in the DRM and push customers away, and onto independent stores that sell without DRM, like allofmp3.com.

And finally, you often have a better selection in an online store than the typical local music store anyway. I don't even go in there anymore myself, they don't have what I listen to.

[omp]

Besides, he said DRM free.

No, he said "non-DRM preferred".

Anyhow, I prefer BitTorrent.
/me hides behind a rock.