Legal Music Downloads

[endersshadow]

Call me crazy, but I don't pirate music. But, there are some songs that I want without buying the whole album. Does anybody know of any legal way to download MP3s, or even better, OGGs? I realize that it probably won't be FLOSS, so no need to go into that.

The real question is, if there isn't one, what would it take to make one?

[xequence]

Well, allofmp3.com is the only one accually worth looking at in my opinion.

About legality, it would be illegal in most other countries, but not in russia. (Which is where it is).

You can get albums for 2$, and you choose the bitrate, and you get it in MP3.

[Danielle]

Call me crazy, but I don't pirate music. But, there are some songs that I want without buying the whole album. Does anybody know of any legal way to download MP3s, or even better, OGGs? I realize that it probably won't be FLOSS, so no need to go into that.

The real question is, if there isn't one, what would it take to make one?
here's a great free music site. EDIT shareware sorry :(
http://www.magnatune.com/

and here's a link i haven't really looked at yet, but has magnatune on so could be good.
http://www.ghacks.net/2005/12/03/free-music-list-december-2005/

and there's legaltorrents too
http://www.legaltorrents.com/index.htm

[majikstreet]

LEGAL? whoaaaa???

[MetalMusicAddict]

LEGAL? whoaaaa???
Not everyone pirates music. ;) I like owning over 1000 CDs.

In the end you wont find many "Legal" "for pay" (their are ones to get free music) music sites that dont use some form of protection in their format. Ive seen individual artists put stuff up in .ogg (Vorbis) or FLAC. Harvey Danger and Primus.

[xequence]

Not everyone pirates music. ;) I like owning over 1000 CDs.

In the end you wont find many "Legal" "for pay" (their are ones to get free music) music sites that dont use some form of protection in their format. Ive seen individual artists put stuff up in .ogg (Vorbis) or FLAC. Harvey Danger and Primus.

Where would you keep all those 1000 cds? A hard drive with 1000 albums in MP3 would be smaller ;)

[gylf]

http://www.eclassical.com

[majikstreet]

there are people who don't pirate music? woah. my mom pirates music.

[MetalMusicAddict]

Where would you keep all those 1000 cds? A hard drive with 1000 albums in MP3 would be smaller ;)
I have then hanging on a wall in display cases in my stereo room. I dont listen to them though. They do go right into the PC than back into the case. Its about 70gigs @ alt-preset standard. They then go to my server where I use 'em through my HTPC.

there are people who don't pirate music? woah. my mom pirates music.
Unfortunately thats the way of the world.

[zenwhen]

Unfortunately thats the way of the world.


It will continue to be the way of the world until CD prices fall to a price-point people will pay instead of pirating. We, the consumer are in control thanks to small portable audio formats. They will lower their prices or lose the sales.

[Kelpie]

if i could listen to music at the same time while playing games that require sound then id probly have a nice small collection of music, but since the soundcard i have is one before the time of being able to do something like this i cant :( but it is legal to download a song and keep it for 24 hours (download for free) but you have to delete it after 24 hours :nod:s

[raublekick]

i prefer not to pirate if i can avoid it. sometimes i break though. most of my pirating is just ripping other family member's stuff for my own easy enjoyment.

i also don't think CD's are priced really badly. there are plenty of stores i go to which average $10-15 for a CD, which I don't think is too unreasonable. I've been collecting the Yes re-releases, and they're about $15, but they come with bonus tracks and a nice booklet with commentary. Lot's of CDs are being released at $10 or less for the first week or so.

The only places I see overpriced albums at are mall stores like FYE.

[xequence]

but it is legal to download a song and keep it for 24 hours (download for free) but you have to delete it after 24 hours :nod:s

Thats a myth ive only ever heard with game ROMs, and its not true.

there are people who don't pirate music? woah. my mom pirates music.

I guess there are some...

People at my school accually buy CDs. I dont know why, they dont know how to pirate or something :P

But yea, the main point of pirating music is the price of CDs. They are extremly overpriced. Plus todays music is horrible, atleast most of it.

[MetalMusicAddict]

It will continue to be the way of the world until CD prices fall to a price-point people will pay instead of pirating. We, the consumer are in control thanks to small portable audio formats. They will lower their prices or lose the sales.
The MSRP should fall. $18.98 US is ridiculus. "We, the consumer" also have control over where we buy our music. Noone forces us to buy high-priced music. BestBuy in the states is often a decent place to buy music but I prefer local shops where I often get music for $13 (US) average.

The internet is often the great price equilizer.

Honestly I dont think people who do heavy pirating will buy music at any cost when they can get it for free. In the end they really dont care. This is often the younger "internet" crowd brought up in this "If I can download it why buy it" mentality.
Ive had lots of experience with this being a part of a bittorrent community.

[ssam]

there are a few bands that let people download their music for free (leagally).

steadman (http://www.steadmanband.com/home.html) where mentioned on boingboing a few days ago.

there are quite few tracks at http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/gsteel/radioplus/

there is sometime good info at http://www.downhillbattle.org/

[endersshadow]

The MSRP should fall. $18.98 US is ridiculus. "We, the consumer" also have control over where we buy our music. Noone forces us to buy high-priced music. BestBuy in the states is often a decent place to buy music but I prefer local shops where I often get music for $13 (US) average.

The internet is often the great price equilizer.

Honestly I dont think people who do heavy pirating will buy music at any cost when they can get it for free. In the end they really dont care. This is often the younger "internet" crowd brought up in this "If I can download it why buy it" mentality.
Ive had lots of experience with this being a part of a bittorrent community.

Agreed, the price of CDs is a cop out, as you can get most CDs for about $10-$15, which is not that much at all. I, in fact, don't mind paying $20 for a decent CD.

I inquired about legal downloading programs because there are some CDs that I don't particularly want to buy but just songs. For those people that complain that the CDs today just don't merit buying 15 songs for one good song, look into buying it on a song-by-song basis. If everyone only buys the one song, the record label is making much less of a profit off of it, and therefore, will push to make quality CDs.

At any rate, I don't pirate because I believe that it's completely against my values, my ideals, and most of all, FLOSS. The point of OSS is that the authors relesae their work under an OSS license (CC, GPL, BSD, etc.). I don't believe that one can claim to be in full support of a license such as the GPL but pirate music. Therefore, I get all of my music legally.

Thank you to those who have provided sources, but I can't seem to find anything that has nearly as extensive library as iTunes or Napster.

I would love to undertake a project to make an OSS program like Napster, but undoubtedly, users would have to pay for their music. Therefore, if it was GPL-ed, the record labels would never, ever contract for their music to be sold. Undoubtedly, though, an OSS Napster would provide for much cheaper songs since we would not have to try to profit for it (such as iTunes).

Oh well, I'll just ask for the CDs for Christmas :-D

[GreyFox503]

I've never used it, but I've heard a lot about allofmp3.com lately.

[MetalMusicAddict]

Theres a post about it above sayin its only "Legal" in Russia. Our guy is lookin for legal-in-the-rest-of-the-world options. I do think he has gotten the answers he needed by the looks of his last post.

[AllenGG]

Legal: Free: (some) Good: http://music.download.com/2001-1_32-0.html?tag=fd_panel

This is commercial, tinkering involved: http://www.ford.ca/english/learnabout/fordcast/
:cool: Allen

[endersshadow]

Theres a post about it above sayin its only "Legal" in Russia. Our guy is lookin for legal-in-the-rest-of-the-world options. I do think he has gotten the answers he needed by the looks of his last post.

It's quite all right. I figured I was going on a wild goose chase, anyway. All of the ones offered up are freebies, which require the artists to release it for free. I'm realistic enough to know that I'm going to have to pay for the music, and that's not that big of a deal to me.

Oh well, doesn't hurt to ask, eh?

[vvlist]

Call me crazy, but I don't pirate music. But, there are some songs that I want without buying the whole album. Does anybody know of any legal way to download MP3s, or even better, OGGs? I realize that it probably won't be FLOSS, so no need to go into that.

The real question is, if there isn't one, what would it take to make one?

There is an excellent solution on linux. Check out "SharpMusique" it's an iTunes Music Store client for linux. It's nice, it works just like the Music Store, you can preview the songs and everything. It resides at GnomeFiles. Here. (http://www.gnomefiles.org/app.php?soft_id=890)
Hope that's what you were looking for.

[MetalMusicAddict]

Thanx man. Thats pretty cool.

[Kelpie]

Thats a myth ive only ever heard with game ROMs, and its not true.



I guess there are some...

People at my school accually buy CDs. I dont know why, they dont know how to pirate or something :P

But yea, the main point of pirating music is the price of CDs. They are extremly overpriced. Plus todays music is horrible, atleast most of it.
Actually most sites that let you download free music have that warning placed before you download the music and it is a faulty kind of thing

[endersshadow]

There is an excellent solution on linux. Check out "SharpMusique" it's an iTunes Music Store client for linux. It's nice, it works just like the Music Store, you can preview the songs and everything. It resides at GnomeFiles. Here. (http://www.gnomefiles.org/app.php?soft_id=890)
Hope that's what you were looking for.

Awesome! Thanks!

[jonny]

If you can be bothered to google for it, there's extensive analysis of allofmp3.com's legal position for consumers outside Russia. The concensus seems to be that it's perfectly legal in most jurisdictions, as you're personally importing a legal product.

I'm not happy that I deprive the music's creators of royalties when I buy from allofmp3.com - as I do regularly. But until I can buy music in a high quality unrestricted format from somewhere official, and for as long as I have to face my CD's being violated by copy protection, I'm not going to risk buying the mainstream vendors. I'd rather have silence.

[poptones]

FROM WHERE do people get this notion about "depriving the creators of royalties when I use allofmp3.com?" Those "creators" (the artists) get about as much from allofmp3.com as they get from emusic.com or the bastard child napster. Allofmp3.com pays ROM, and ROM is a legit organization. The record companies don't seem to have a problem with this as they have offices and do plenty of business over there.

Allofmp3.com is every bit as "legit" in the US as those sites in australia, canada, new zealand, italy, etc.

But no matter where it comes from, you're still being a sucker by sending money to the people who are lobbying away your rights. Don't support Vivendi, Universal, Sony, Disney, Warner... support the artists who remain with artist's labels.

[dkitty]

Audio Lunchbox (http://www.audiolunchbox.com) doesn't have a lot of mainstream tunes, but they're a great source if you like indy.

[ember]

I know of allofmp3.com and mp3search.ru, which, I think, both have the rights on the music in russia, so at least it's not definitely illegal. There are however attempts of the music industry to try to prevent users in other countries from buying music at that prices.
Anyway, allofmp3.com is very comfortable on Windows, because there is a software that lets you search and download music and it is able to sort it into user-specified directories, plus it has the correct tags.

Yet most of the time I end up buying CDs and LPs (don't have thousand, but about 300).

[erikpiper]

I like good sounding music- so I buy CD's.

[poptones]

I've bought some hideously mastered cds...

[majikstreet]

there is also PyMusique: http://drmnews.com/pymusique/

[mistergq]

There is an excellent solution on linux. Check out "SharpMusique" it's an iTunes Music Store client for linux. It's nice, it works just like the Music Store, you can preview the songs and everything. It resides at GnomeFiles. Here. (http://www.gnomefiles.org/app.php?soft_id=890)
Hope that's what you were looking for.
Thanks for posting this. This is awesome. I bookmarked it and will remember it for the future! :cool:

[unkemptwolf]

allofmp3.com rocks my face off personally. I found it because of this thread and it is awesome. So long Yahoo! Music.

[MystaMax]

there is also PyMusique: http://drmnews.com/pymusique/
I heard about this in a IRC channel. I also read this on wikipedia.org (http://en.wikipedia.org)

PyMusique was the first program to exploit a loophole in the system, allowing users to download songs without the DRM protection.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PyMusique)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PyMusique

Anyone out there can validate this?

[M3ta7h3ad]

Http://www.epitonic.com - Offers streams, and downloads of artists for free

http://www.pandora.com - Offers a "unique" experience in which it will analyse the artist details you enter, and attempt to offer similar artists in a streaming radiostation style :) You basically make your own radio station up :)

[nalmeth]

What I have to say probably won't help you, because if you are looking for MUSIC that you can find in a retail RECORD STORE anywhere else for FREE, and LEGAL you are right out of luck. There is simply no loop-hole where you can break copyright-law completely legitemately. That is, unless of course the label allows you to do so under the licence with which the music was copyrighted. Some people have provided such links here.

Essentially, living in Canada, it is of course illegal for me to download record-label produced music in terms reproducing and distributing copyrighted material.. But naturally the process of downloading in itself is not considered illegal. And my government does not allow record-companies or organizations representing them to retrieve information about me from my ISP.

Having said that, while I have in the past, I don't download any music which I don't have hard copy of already. That includes albums bought, traded, or given as a gift.

Because of ethical issues? Heavens no. And you know I'm not worried about legal issues, even though these things can change.

Understand first and foremost: I am a musician, and I will never take any issue with the idea of music being downloaded and passed on for free, or for money.

That's all I will say.

If you would like my opinion on this subject, you could email me or PM me, because I know just how much people need to know what I think! :p

[M3ta7h3ad]

lol @ only downloading music you have a hard copy of.

In the UK it is illegal to rip cd's to your hard drive, so the above suggestion will still not work :) (read the copyright act :))

That said epitonic does contain music by some of today's artists, I've downloaded stuff by "at the drive in" "clinic" and some other artists. They do have licences to distribute the content for free. That said there isnt a great selection there of artists you've heard of, but then I use it more to discover different types of music to listen to. :)

[cstudent]

...They do go right into the PC than back into the case. Its about 70gigs @ alt-preset standard. ...


I use to do that in the days of vinyl. Buy the album and record it to cassette on first play, then back in the sleeve. I have hundreds of mint condition vinyl albums. :) Those were the good 'ol days.

[junior aspirin]

if you are into electronica, like suff off warp records or ninja tune try www.bleep.com. they offer high quality mp3s with no DRM, and also offer some releases in FLAC format, they were also thinking of selling OGG too at one point. if only everything was like this. i have not used the service though. i prefer CDs, that way i have a permant backup, and i just think its nice to have something real with the artwork and everything.

[MystaMax]

I have no intentions of downloading illegal music or anything. I have every intention of compensating the artist. let me explain more:

I love my iPod, couldn't leave home w/o it. Its like my cell phone, I use it everywhere go. Be it for music, extracting data files, or maybe someday booting ubuntu off of it. my video collection is beginning to grow, and I'd love to get the Creative Zen Vision PVP (http://www.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=210&subcategory=211&product=12985) and dump my iPod. Then I'll be able to watch my videos and listen to music @ will. Only problem is that Apple's DRM only works w/ Apple products (the iPod). Which just sucks. I wish I could get iTunes to work w/ other players. As right now, its far superior to other Music Stores (IMO!!!) Other thing that sucks, is that the Zen Vision only comes w/ a 30 gig hard drive. WTF? I'd fill that up w/ music easily. how do they expect anyone to put decent quality video on there!

[imagine]

AllofMP3.com is *perfectly* legal in Russia and I have yet to see a law which prohibits the import of music you legally bought in Russia. Especially if you only imported it for your own private use.
And to be honest if such a law existed I wouldn't care about it anyway, since that would be just plain stupid.

I don't use AllofMP3 because it would be cheap - in fact it isn't, it just looks cheap compared to iTunes & Co - but because I can get MP3 and Ogg files there. I will not buy music with any kind of Direct Restriction Management.

AllofMP3 or any other company which sells music in foreign countries just gives us what's needed since ages in the music market: Competition!
There's zero rivalry between Universal, Warner, Sony BMG and EMI. They rule the market, the radio stations, dictate the prizes, the format, the music which is sold or not sold. Of course they try to sue everybody and everything to prevent the customer from having *choice* but that hopefully won't work.

And according to the Music And Film Industry Association (MAFIA) there's also something else wrong with AllofMP3: They give a portion of their revenue to ROMS, which itself pays it to the artists all over the world but not the companys mentioned above. Of course this cannot be accepted. Where would we end if the customers could directly pay the artist without going over his recording company which keeps half of the money for itself.



And because soon it's christmas and some people might come up with the idea to give their money to the MAFIA so they can continue with their lobbying against privacy and civil liberties: http://www.whatacrappypresent.com

[M3ta7h3ad]

if you are into electronica, like suff off warp records or ninja tune try www.bleep.com. they offer high quality mp3s with no DRM, and also offer some releases in FLAC format, they were also thinking of selling OGG too at one point. if only everything was like this. i have not used the service though. i prefer CDs, that way i have a permant backup, and i just think its nice to have something real with the artwork and everything.

If you mean by permant (sic) backup that you rip your tunes from your cd to your computer or mp3 player.

Your a UK Resident as is evident from your user info, therefore you are breaking the law, and equally as liable under the exact same laws for the exact same crime as a music pirate.

You are not allowed to make "back ups" of any multimedia content, the only "back ups" you can make are of software (not music, and "games" are a grey area in that section.)

[M3ta7h3ad]

Little more info :)

Source: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1988/Ukpga_19880048_en_3.htm#mdiv17
Infringement of copyright by copying.

17.—(1) The copying of the work is an act restricted by the copyright in every description of copyright work; and references in this Part to copying and copies shall be construed as follows.

(2) Copying in relation to a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work means reproducing the work in any material form.
This includes storing the work in any medium by electronic means.

[junior aspirin]

M3ta7h3ad, thats where the law is stupid, to be honest i did not realise it was illegal.i have over 500 CD's that i have legitimatly bought, it is far easyer to deside what to listen to, and organise on my pc.

in my opinion i sould be able to do what i want with the recording, ie make as many copys for my own use as i want.

in adition to that i have some encoded in mp3, so that is illegal for me to play them, and also i watch dvds on my pc, and that is illegal on ubuntu too.

these things maybe illegal, but in my opinion its just stupid, who am i harming, or commtting the crime against? its not as if anyone is loosing any money from this!

[M3ta7h3ad]

lol I agree the law is too strict in some places however, saying "I think the laws are stupid thats why I break them" wont lessen the punishment you'll get for breaking them.

[junior aspirin]

i cannot see that anyone is going to be bothered about this to come to my house and check my pc for music i have ripped on there. that would be about as silly as the police stoping you in the street and fining you for having a portable medai player on you, that has tracks from a cd you just bought.

to be honest though i wouldnt be surprised if the RIAA (and whatever the british version is) did start doing this. they would just shot themselves in the foot-oooo why are our cd sales declining even more.... hmmmm

anyway rant over on the stupid laws.hehe

[Nu-Buntu]

Call me crazy, but I am leery about giving credit card info to a faceless place in the US, much less in Russia.

[imagine]

Use Paypal/Xrost then.
I don't even have a credit card, so I can't give out any information about it.

[neoflight]

Call me crazy, but I don't pirate music. But, there are some songs that I want without buying the whole album. Does anybody know of any legal way to download MP3s, or even better, OGGs? I realize that it probably won't be FLOSS, so no need to go into that.

The real question is, if there isn't one, what would it take to make one?


there is www.coolgoose.com
.... very good quality music downloads...mp3...not sure its legal... create a login and start downloaing 3 at a time...

use at ur own risk:D

[BoyOfDestiny]

http://www.archive.org/details/audio

The site also has movies etc. The catch is some stuff is "old" (public domain), or under some creative commons license, etc...

For audio, I've got to say I'm enjoying the complete works of caruso (opera) they have on the site. :)

[DaMasta]

I've never used it, but I've heard a lot about allofmp3.com lately.
I use allofmp3.com. It's an excellent product. And their explorer app runs under wine. You can choose several different formats from mp3 to ogg to flac to wav. You can choose your bitrate preference as well.

[Astrophobos]

"Open source" music

http://www.jamendo.com/en/

On jamendo, the artists distribute their music under Creative Commons licenses. In a nutshell, they allow you to download, remix and share their music freely. It's a "Some rights reserved" agreement, perfectly suited for the new century.

[DigitalDuality]

I feel guilty downloading. About 2 years ago i stopped even listening to music from any band on the RIAA. I just can't support that business model anymore than i can software like Windows.

I tend to find a indie artists somewhere around the globe and tend to support them and buy their cd.

In terms of online music service....I'll never take part in it. Not unless they offer FLAC (for both quality and openness), and don't use DRM of anykind. And is not affiliated with the RIAA. The day that music store opens, is the day i become a fan.

[Harry_Sack]

some free music
http://www.skrudd.com

[Deaf_Head]

Buy indie. Steal the rest, because artists deserve alot more than a dollar (they usually get less) per cd sold. Hell, most big music companies even collect royalties that the musicians never even hear about.

[aysiu]

Apparently the British Phonographic Industry is trying to bring a lawsuit against allofmp3.com (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1985293,00.asp). I'm not sure how they're going to try allofmp3.com, since Russia is outside of its jurisdiction.

The article says specifically that BPI will be charge the company and not the customers (who could be under their jurisdiction).

[NaterGator]

I don't know if people have found anything better to get legal music. I want to switch exclusively to linux by my Napster subscription keeps me from doing so.

I'm wondering if anybody has tried Grooveshark ? www.grooveshark,com

I believe it is java based and ultimately your music is in mp3 format (no drm)



Thoughts? I really want to go linux-only!

[Peyton]

Apparently the British Phonographic Industry is trying to bring a lawsuit against allofmp3.com (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1985293,00.asp). I'm not sure how they're going to try allofmp3.com, since Russia is outside of its jurisdiction.

The article says specifically that BPI will be charge the company and not the customers (who could be under their jurisdiction).

But allofmp3.com does do business in the United Kingdom. Just because a defendant does not reside in a given territory doesn't mean that that territory's courts cannot assert jurisdiction. Whether any decision can actually be enforced, however, is an entirely different matter.

[SZF2001]

It's funny, a lot of college kids tend to host their favorite albums and songs on the schools network. So a search like "index.of .mp3 (song/album here)" can get you what your looking for.

But yea, I usually just go to Shoutcast and find a neat station (Radio GOSU rocks) or I find my music by other means...

[ticopelp]

Wow, two pages and no mention of emusic? http://www.emusic.com

I've had a subscription there for years... cheap mp3s, no DRM (that's important to me) and a pretty good selection... not a lot of mainstream stuff, but I tend to listen to mostly electronic, experimental, and offbeat music anyway, so it's win-win for me.

I tried allofmp3.com, but "perfectly legal" or not, I stopped buying from them after they got shut down. The legal situation there just makes me nervous.

[DeadSuperHero]

Jamendo's pretty nice, though the artists really aren't notable yet.

[TeaSwigger]

Call me crazy, but I don't pirate music. But, there are some songs that I want without buying the whole album. Does anybody know of any legal way to download MP3s, or even better, OGGs? I realize that it probably won't be FLOSS, so no need to go into that.

The real question is, if there isn't one, what would it take to make one?

Of course there are many places to get legal music downloads, finally. iTunes is the monster, but there are many others from MySpace artist sites to alternative businesses like Magnatune to completely free FLACs - mostly of concerts or P.D. materials, to be sure - at archive.org. The "majors" really showed the depth of their ah... well, they missed the boat to the online marketplace by such a length it's beyond belief, even my belief, and I'm expert at missing 'em ;)

here's a great free music site. EDIT shareware sorry :(
http://www.magnatune.com/

Yeah, but still some great stuff. Listen free, buy if you like, and you pick the price level. Not so bad eh?

Not everyone pirates music. ;) I like owning over 1000 CDs.

Me too!

Where would you keep all those 1000 cds? A hard drive with 1000 albums in MP3 would be smaller ;)

hehe yeah, but y'know. With a decent player and a pair of Grado headphones, the better sounding titles (often meaning the older titles, ahem...) are actually worth keeping at hand and playing from the original disc "for best results." The output electronics (and possibly some of the conversion aspects?) in my PC / sound card blows compared a good dedicated playback system. Then there's the art & liners in some of the better cases. Sometimes they were worth the money. Sometimes...

It will continue to be the way of the world until CD prices fall to a price-point people will pay instead of pirating. We, the consumer are in control thanks to small portable audio formats. They will lower their prices or lose the sales.

"They" don't appear to understand those concepts; rather it would seem "they" make up ever-multiplying revenue projections and start suing, threatening, punishing, firing, etc, at everybody who can't really defend themselves if "they" don't get the revenues "they" thought "they" were entitled to. It may concern innocent and guilty alike, and since as far as I've seen report "they" always win, it looks like this may only be a tiny beginning. I used to actually like knowing that my purchases were supporting some of the music business. Nowadays they seem to be their own worst enemies, and I often feel guilty buying knowing my money could be going to help ruin someone's life. :(

[wolfen69]

i have 34,000 songs. so?

[wolfen69]

Of course there are many places to get legal music downloads, finally. iTunes is the monster, but there are many others from MySpace artist sites to alternative businesses like Magnatune to completely free FLACs - mostly of concerts or P.D. materials, to be sure - at archive.org. The "majors" really showed the depth of their ah... well, they missed the boat to the online marketplace by such a length it's beyond belief, even my belief, and I'm expert at missing 'em ;)



Yeah, but still some great stuff. Listen free, buy if you like, and you pick the price level. Not so bad eh?



Me too!



hehe yeah, but y'know. With a decent player and a pair of Grado headphones, the better sounding titles (often meaning the older titles, ahem...) are actually worth keeping at hand and playing from the original disc "for best results." The output electronics (and possibly some of the conversion aspects?) in my PC / sound card blows compared a good dedicated playback system. Then there's the art & liners in some of the better cases. Sometimes they were worth the money. Sometimes...



"They" don't appear to understand those concepts; rather it would seem "they" make up ever-multiplying revenue projections and start suing, threatening, punishing, firing, etc, at everybody who can't really defend themselves if "they" don't get the revenues "they" thought "they" were entitled to. It may concern innocent and guilty alike, and since as far as I've seen report "they" always win, it looks like this may only be a tiny beginning. I used to actually like knowing that my purchases were supporting some of the music business. Nowadays they seem to be their own worst enemies, and I often feel guilty buying knowing my money could be going to help ruin someone's life. :(

whatever

[TeaSwigger]

whatever

:popcorn:

[bradjones]

Here is a legal site for free music downloads (http://www.emusic.com/toolbar/download.html), such a site does exist, I know....gasp, its...its...wonderful, just sharing the good news. Perfectly legal, anyone heard about it?:cry::D

[drascus]

well first of all please don't call sharing piracy. that term says that your on the side of the record companies. Please at least be neutral by saying unauthorized copying or unauthorized P2P. There are plenty of good sites to get music at. The best pace to find them is at Defective by designs guide to DRM free living: http://www.defectivebydesign.org/guide

[drascus]

People at my school accually buy CDs. I dont know why, they dont know how to pirate or something :P


Some people buy CD's because the audio quality is superior to MP3 and then you can have a truly high quality rip as a FLAC. there is not a lot of places where you can buy a FLAC online or even P2P a FLAC so we still buy CD's because we are audio junkies. it doesn't make sense really to save 2 bucks by buying the MP3's when the audio is inferior and you don't get any packaging or liner notes.

[wyattbobo]

Call me crazy, but I don't pirate music. But, there are some songs that I want without buying the whole album. Does anybody know of any legal way to download MP3s, or even better, OGGs? I realize that it probably won't be FLOSS, so no need to go into that.

The real question is, if there isn't one, what would it take to make one?

I agree with BradJones on eMusic.
I recently posted on a topic like this one and you can check it out here - http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=8110549&posted=1#post8110549
And like I said there, I like eMusic for legal music downloads (http://www.emusic.com/). I go into detail about it in that post, so you should check it out there.

[lisati]

I'm surprised that nobody's mentioned Frostclick (http://frostclick.com) in this thread.

[Crunchy the Headcrab]

I don't pirate music either. My favorite music service is Rhapsody. You can usually buy individual songs for like $0.99 or entire albums for about $9.99. The quality is pretty good. 256kbps mp3 last time I checked.

They don't have a Linux client for their music store software but you can also buy songs from Rhapsody.com. I don't know the prices on Rhapsody.com

[-grubby]

http://www.rrradio.nl/release.php?albumid=2968

[tuahaa]

lol you guys should stop admitting if you actually do download illegal songs

http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/06/19/24-songs-woman-ordered-to-pay-192-million-to-riaa/

[ebozzz]

I like buying CDs and do so as inexpensively as possible. Most of the stuff that I purchase is older Jazz, Funk, R&B, Rock and Reggae/World Music. I occasionally hear newer artists that strike my fancy but not very often.

Most of my new discs are purchased at the following....

YourMusic.com (https://www.yourmusic.com/home/) (Most of the CDs in their inventory are $6.99 USD with free shipping. You basically set up a queue which automatically ships one disc per month. there is no long term commitment meaning that you can stop at any time without penalties. The downside is that you may not find everything that you are looking for with them.)

Amazon.com
eBay
Craig's List
Angelo's Music (Local)
Jerry's Record Exchange (Local)

For used stuff I hit everywhere! Pawn shops, garage sales, classified ads and most that I listed above. I but the discs, immediately rip them into to FLAC and the disc goes into the archives. I currently have close to 400 GB of music in digital format that is stored on a network attached server and the collection very eclectic. About the only thing that I don't have a lot of is Country. No disrespect intended to you fans of Country music.... ;)

[witeshark17]

For the moment, I just use my Mac and iTunes. Playing music on my laptop doesn't make much sense anyway. :popcorn:

[manny43]

i think allofmp3 was shut down about a year ago

[slushee]

But no matter where it comes from, you're still being a sucker by sending money to the people who are lobbying away your rights. Don't support Vivendi, Universal, Sony, Disney, Warner... support the artists who remain with artist's labels.

this is an important point for me. i absolutely will pay 15USD for an album, so long as it's not under an industry behemoth. i like--and encourage others--to support smaller labels with monies, but when it comes to the larger companies... no. i don't support the sterilized, focus-grouped, image-oriented shite circulating in the mainstream toilet. in my opinion.

an exception would be for albums i know i will never, ever, ever part with: dsotm, sgt pepper's, joshua tree, moon safari, lateralus, etc. i've dropped the monies for those, but those albums are important to me and i like having the hard copy around. especially tool; their album art is essential.

edit: wait. i forgot to answer the op. has anyone mentioned lala? once you sign up (no charge), you get 25 free songs. nothing major, but hey, if you're looking for free--legally--music, then there it is.

[Khakilang]

I don't pirate music either. I just listen to you tube.

[starcannon]

Anyone NOT taking advantage of the fully legally free downloads at Jamendo (http://www.jamendo.com) in preference to the locked down commercial music found elsewhere, is REALLY missing out.

I couldn't really say how much superb and superior music I've gotten from Jamendo, I have it spread out over too many hard drives and partitions(I need to get my music conglomerated someday); but, the reality is, if you are a REAL music lover, and want great tunes for "free", then ditch torrents, ditch itunes, hell even ditch amazon, and just start checking out all the great artists at Jamendo or some other open source music download site. The only thing you have to lose is the stupid prices of the recording moguls.

[ebozzz]

Jamendo sounds cool and I do plan to investigate the music on their site a little more. Realistically, I don't expect to find much of the type of music that speaks to me. I am a product of the Old School. I prefer the stuff where the bands cut the tracks live rather than being so studio slick.

Here's a thought. Does anyone visit their local library for music? I have had had lots of good luck doing so. There's some truly good music in the inventories of the libraries in my local area........

[starcannon]

Jamendo sounds cool and I do plan to investigate the music on their site a little more. Realistically, I don't expect to find much of the type of music that speaks to me. I am a product of the Old School. I prefer the stuff where the bands cut the tracks live rather than being so studio slick.

Here's a thought. Does anyone visit their local library for music? I have had had lots of good luck doing so. There's some truly good music in the inventories of the libraries in my local area........
Yep, I check out CD's from my local library, and your right, theres some good stuff there.
Jamendo artists range everywhere from Garage Band with a 4 track with a DAT, to the latest greatest Protools; and everything between. Your almost certain to find something that suits you, if not, hell you got to check out a few independent artists :)

[Shpongle]

I dont like the mainstream manufactured stuff by the industry giants add that to the restriction they put on sharing and drm , I support the GOOD artists , like the ones on the stonesthrow label!

[ebozzz]

Jamendo artists range everywhere from Garage Band with a 4 track with a DAT, to the latest greatest Protools; and everything between. Your almost certain to find something that suits you, if not, hell you got to check out a few independent artists :)

Oh, I definitely plan to spend some time at Jamendo and I hope that I am pleasantly surprised by the quality of the music that I find.....

[olafurg]

Check out gogoyoko.com (http://gogoyoko.com). Artists actually get paid for what's sold in there and are in full control. A really nice site. Their tagline is "Fair play in music" and I think they're as close as it gets to it. I use it a lot.

[alanmoore78]

I used to download a lot of music from mp3.com.au but it's been awhile and I'm not sure what they have now or even if they have free music. What got me interested was most of the music on the site was from USA musicians who couldn't or wouldn't get on USA labels. I'd rather hear music from people who care about music than people who want to make money. If I wanted to hear that I could turn on a radio.

[rakcy]

www.musicmaniac.in i preffed coz itz has good sound quality nd itz free tooo unlimited downloads and they hav new collection too

[Fedz]

I've used http://MP3Fiesta.com for years - never a problem: fast & dirt cheap :D

[Thewhistlingwind]

there are people who don't pirate music? woah. my mom pirates music.

As a matter of principle, I think it reflects badly on humanity to complain about music prices, but refuse to listen to indie artists that put out free tracks.

[koleoptero]

OMG this thread is here since the beginning :P Probably older even than kiwinz :P

[not found]

If you guys like metal... check out www.severdfifth.com... two complete albums for free... (I have a link for a double album full of free metal from the middle east too... but I will have to post that when I am home...)



Rock on \m/
404

[Legendary_Bibo]

As a matter of principle, I think it reflects badly on humanity to complain about music prices, but refuse to listen to indie artists that put out free tracks.

I've listened to a lot of indie artists, you have to sift through a lot of crap to find something good. I've heard some good artists, but I've never downloaded their music when they put of up free tracks.

[Thewhistlingwind]

I've listened to a lot of indie artists, you have to sift through a lot of crap to find something good.

Not even going to try and deny that. Sturgeons law is in full effect (More like overtime.) The fact that some genres don't lend themselves well to being produced by indie artists (Pop, etc.) doesn't help matters.

I'd still rather sift through crap than rip peoples tracks.

[DigitalAlcatraz]

You can get great free music on Jamendo (http://www.jamendo.com/)

My profile

http://www.jamendo.com/en/artist/Digital_Alcatraz :D

[illunatic]

If you are looking for a search term, try "Creative Commons Music (https://encrypted.google.com/search?client=ubuntu&channel=fs&q=creative+commons+music&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8)".

It should also be noted that DOWNLOADING copyrighted music is not a crime in the US.
UPLOADING (ie; distributing) content beyond what is considered fair use can make you subject to a civil suit. Keep in mind that bittorrent protocol normally shares files by default so if you are downloading, you are uploading as well.

Although uploading is allowed to some extent under the law, a general rule to be followed is:

DOWNLOADING = SAFE
UPLOADING = Don't unless you understand the law and risks.

Title 17 § 506 (a) (1) (A-C)
(http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap5.html#506)

[dniMretsaM]

Just use Amazon or Ubuntu One. Amazon has MP3's but I'm not sure what U1 uses. I would guess .ogg though.

[cheat117]

/* I realize this post may be dead if so, forgive me */

I use slacker radio (im on windows mostly due to my gaming habits) and then ported that into another program(don't remember the name at the moment) and i dig into the source code on web pages that stream radio and record. Clear Channel had the best streams and then someone got smart on my local station and banned right clicking. Then even smarter to make a popup window appear on the view page source hotkeys...

So Hawaiian radio or the starting up radios are good sources to rip from!:guitar:

[not found]

/* I realize this post may be dead if so, forgive me */

I use slacker radio (im on windows mostly due to my gaming habits) and then ported that into another program(don't remember the name at the moment) and i dig into the source code on web pages that stream radio and record. Clear Channel had the best streams and then someone got smart on my local station and banned right clicking. Then even smarter to make a popup window appear on the view page source hotkeys...

So Hawaiian radio or the starting up radios are good sources to rip from!:guitar:

Ripping streams != Legal Music Downloads.


404

[Euroman]

Probably already mentioned a thousand time but I really love Jamendo. Discovered so many great stuff there and of course downloading from Jamendo is always legal. Another service I like is SoundCloud, like it much better as a music player than YouTube. Although YT still has more music you can find some pretty obscure stuff on SoundCloud, sometimes with download option. Also SoundCloud has complete DJ sets (sometimes multiple hours) uploaded by the artists or the event hosts. Last but not least it's friendlier on the processor compared to YouTube with Flash and even html5,

[not found]

Can't believe I almost gave up an oppertunity to plug Severed Fifth (http://www.severedfifth.com).

Download all their music (latest album included) from their site now for free!!! :guitar:


404

[dniMretsaM]

Ripping streams != Legal Music Downloads.


404

Timeshifting?

[SeijiSensei]

Read the Terms of Service for whatever service you're listening to. Those are the rights you have because you agreed to the TOS either explicitly by signing up or implicitly by using the service.

And, if you're thinking that timeshifting is generally legal in the US, the answer to that is no. The "Betamax" decision (http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=464&invol=417) that legitimated off-air recordings of broadcast programming specifically applies only to advertiser-supported programming distributed on US broadcast television stations. It doesn't grant any blanket permission to record programs for timeshifting. Justice Stevens's ruling relied on argument that no "harm" occurred because the audience for the advertisements was expanded by timeshifting as well. He specifically excluded programming on what were then-emerging "pay TV" channels like HBO (see fn 2 (http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=464&invol=417#tt2)) and limited his decision to broadcast television programming.

[dniMretsaM]

Read the Terms of Service for whatever service you're listening to. Those are the rights you have because you agreed to the TOS either explicitly by signing up or implicitly by using the service.

Federal law has supremacy over state law. Until the Supreme Court rules that contracts are immune to the "supremacy" clauses of the Constitution and the Copyright Act of 1976, you have at least a plausible case. It so also worth noting that violating a contract is not a crime. I understand that this site doesn't support breaking contracts (and with good reason), but that doesn't change the fact that it isn't a crime. Thus, ripping a stream, even if that is against a ToS agreement, is not illegal.

And, if you're thinking that timeshifting is generally legal in the US, the answer to that is no. The "Betamax" decision (http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=464&invol=417) that legitimated off-air recordings of broadcast programming specifically applies only to advertiser-supported programming distributed on US broadcast television stations. It doesn't grant any blanket permission to record programs for timeshifting. Justice Stevens's ruling relied on argument that no "harm" occurred because the audience for the advertisements was expanded by timeshifting as well. He specifically excluded programming on what were then-emerging "pay TV" channels like HBO (see fn 2 (http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=464&invol=417#tt2)) and limited his decision to broadcast television programming.

Timeshifting is not limited to public television anymore. TiVo and Cablevision, anyone?

As for audio-specific, there is the AHRA which is said to apply to digital audio in the RIAA v Diamond case (some sat that it may have been said obiter dictum, but it was still said. Either way, there is no way you can say that recording from a digital audio stream is illegal no matter what).

[KiwiNZ]

Note: US legal decision have jurisdiction only in the US. Check with the appropriate legal authority in your own country.

Also remember this from the ubuntu forums Code of Conduct.....

"Material that suggests illegal activity or contains illegal content is also forbidden. We do not support circumventing TOS, EULA, etc here"

[dniMretsaM]

Note: US legal decision have jurisdiction only in the US. Check with the appropriate legal authority in your own country.

Also remember this from the ubuntu forums Code of Conduct.....

"Material that suggests illegal activity or contains illegal content is also forbidden. We do not support circumventing TOS, EULA, etc here"

Is this warning specific to me, or is it just general? Because I acknowledged that section of the CoC (I also realize that we're talking about US jurisdiction only).

[KiwiNZ]

Is this warning specific to me, or is it just general? Because I acknowledged that section of the CoC (I also realize that we're talking about US jurisdiction only).

just a general friendly heads up.

[Artemis3]

Can't have enough Jamendo (http://www.jamendo.com/), please try it. Oh and boycott major labels; unsigned artists = freedom.

[johnnybgoode83]

Can't have enough Jamendo (http://www.jamendo.com/), please try it. Oh and boycott major labels; unsigned artists = freedom.

I have recently started using Jamendo and am discovering loads of great new music.