Internet Music Legal Downloads

[Mike]

Are these a good idea? Yahoo! was a DRM (music protection) distributer of legals songs over the internet which were for sale. However, Yahoo! were not successful in the legal downloads world and are taking their service off line shortly. The problem is, they are also taking their DRM license key servers offline at the same time. What does this mean? Your legally purchased music will no longer work. Nice. Just a small point to say that DRM sucks and is a rediculous system which restricts my uptake on internet tunes dramatically.

[stimpsonslostson]

I find it immensely frustrating that I cant burn copies of some of my legally purchased tunes.
That said, I'm still quite old school in that I enjoy hunting for a CD, looking at the artwork, reading the linernotes etc. There is a great satisfaction to be gained from finding an album for a couple of quid (and then seeing it for £12.99 in HMV ).
I've got a habit of buying things that I only have electronic copies of (all legal one of course ) for the simple reason that if I REALLY like an album I want to feel that I have shown my liking by actually PAYING for it... kinda like tipping in a restaurant.
p

[Mike]

I agree it is important to buy the music you like, what I object to is the having to pay for it again in digital format that you could eventually not be able to use!

[mr_e]

Once the Yahoo store goes down and the key servers go offline, existing tracks cannot be authorized to play on new computers. Instead, Yahoo recommends the old, lame, and lossy workaround of burning the files to CD, then reripping them onto the computer. Sure, you'll lose a bunch of blank CDs, sound quality, and all the metadata, but that's a small price to pay for the privilege of being able to listen to that music you lawfully acquired. Good thing you didn't download it illegally or just buy it on CD!

Not quite as bad as it first seems, but the workaround is a bit annoying.

DRM still sucks though.

[Mike]

So much for the ease of purchasing music off the internet. . . .

[johnriley1uk]

In terms of paying for stuff, I've always tried to make sure that music, software, etc. is properly licensed. The reason is simply that someone somewhere has paid good money to make/provide the material for our use and they deserve to be paid for it. In another way, if we expect the content to be provided then someone needs to buy it or there won't be any more of it in the future.

If I make a photograph I don't expect anyone to use it anywhere without either my permission and, if commercial, a suitable payment.

As regards CDs I still like to have the proper CD, complete with a good quality case and a nice booklet full of interesting information. Everything from matrix numbers to session dates and musicians please. If for example you think the drumming on one album is fantastic, then it's interesting of you find out that the siperb drumming on another album turns out to be the same person. Without all this stuff we diminish the depth to which we can understand and appreciate the music.

I see downloads as a bit of a trivilisation of the effort put in and don't really have a need for 10,000 tracks everywhere I go. A different CD in the car every day, contstantly repeating so I can get to know the subtelties.

And that's the way I see it, so no iPod for me I guess.

[Mike]

A single CD per day. . . that would drive me crazy. What if you are having a bad day and don't want the classical tunes every where you go?! Or do you mean a different Franki Valli CD every day?!

[johnriley1uk]

Well perhaps it has already driven me crazy...

Yes, a CD oper day, and if my mood changes then I put in a different CD. Remarkable use of the eject button saves madness ensuing!

[John Knight]

I actually have quiet a neat solution the car cd problem already. it is cd plyer that also plays mp3's of a cd. so if you rip the albums you like onto your computer as mp3 you can burn 7-8 albums per cd. It has the added advantage that you are not leaving high value original cds in he car for some scumbag to make off with. and you dont need horrid stick pads to conect your i-pod. The next generation ones have built in hd's and automatically rip the cd's as you play them, or take usb memory sticks/conection to laptop. so drm could be a problem. good job most of mine is ripped from my own cd's.