Buying MP3 Music Online?

In the middle of last week I was on a train - where else? - and I was doing OK, yeah, listening to the onboard music system. Aside from my strong objection that Virgin Trains played some tracks containing explicit lyrics without any form of advisory in the listening guide it was all fine (fine) and I came across one track which for some reason I thought was quite cool (cool), you know how we do (do).

I liked this track enough to decide that I was going to buy it online, and I headed for tescodownloads which in the dim and distant past has served me well. However, as I have found more often than not recently it was broken. It listed the track in question, but would it let me buy it? No. After a few attempts, using IE6 as well as Firefox I gave up, thinking I would find it elsewhere.

As it turns out however, buying MP3s online is trickier than it seems, unless I've missed something obvious.

Ruling out iTunes (I don't like the format music comes in, and I'm happy with the player I've got, thank you), anything which forces you to pay a subscription, and Virgin Digital Music Store (as if I'm going to give them my credit card details just to register to buy individual tracks in the future) my options are somewhat limited. Please comment below if you have any suggestions, or know of any good sites.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hey JP, You can get some stuff from allofmp3.com. Not entirely sure how legal it is, and it is russian, but you can choose the content that you want it in. It's stupid how they try to force you to download music in a crap format because they dont trust you not to share it... What about those people who either don't want to do that or have no choice (ie no decent players for aac in linux). Ironically this probably increases the problem of piracy as people who just want mp3s find it easier to download than to buy...

Mark Z
JP... said…
Dave, I did consider deleting your comment, bur in the interests of free speech have this time decided against it. Instead I will apologise to readers who find it offensive and ask that you watch your language in future.

For the record, I am thick skinned and do not take offence to it personally. However I would not choose to use such language myself, especially not to the extent that many people do. The fact of the matter is that a lot of people do take offence to certain words and it used to be (and still should be) common practise to warn of such language in any form of public broadcast or material on sale to the public as a whole. I also feel that such language is not necessary and wonder why people bother in the first place sometimes.

Mark - thanks for the tip. The site seems quite good, and the terms of use policy implies that the artists get a cut; I can't see that it is illegal, despite being ridiculously cheap. I've still yet to take the plunge and hand my credit card details over to a site managed in Russia, but watch this space. Has anyone else ever used allofmp3.com?
Anonymous said…
I must agree with JP as to the frequent use of such words. Such vulgar words should be used extremely rarely as they are designed to emphasise a point in the most extreme way. If we find ourselves using them in evryday conversation and song lyrics then there is no point in such words even existing for they will fail in their basic duty to shock someone as to how much you wish to hammer home a point.
Anonymous said…
You are constantly complaining about over sensitivity in today's society and the strain political correctness has put on us. As I said in one of my earlier posts regarding religion, I show the same disregard for all religions which you didn't seem to have a problem with but now as I display my disregard for language (it is after all just a collection of words, the only connotations words get are due to your upbringing) you seem to be offended.

My very simple point was that people, even kids, find the risque interesting and if anyone takes offense to apparent rude language its either time to grow up, or time to live indoors. Fuck is only a 'naughty' word because sex to some people is 'naughty'. Cunt, the exact same reason. Piss, well it comes from your cock doesn't it so exact same reason again. I feel you're letting your Christian upbringing cloud your judgement.
JP... said…
"you seem to be offended".

No Dave, I'm not particularly - read my earlier post. But I am well aware that a lot of people do take offence and I feel that consideration for others is important. So, whether or not you can understand why people take offence to certain words it is in some cases important just to accept that they do and act accordingly.

Oh, and I find your use of such words in your comments - to prove a point I presume - neither mature nor funny.
Anonymous said…
You don't understand, it is not a display of maturity, nor is it a display of humour, it was just the best way I could articulate myself, hopefully understandable by all.
Anonymous said…
Kev G here Jimbo...

Tch tch, I don't know why you let that Dave Staunton on here Jim, if he's going to talk like that...

Back on topic, I've never got into this mp3 fad... you'd think people who like music enough to spend all their time downloading it would want to have it in proper quality and presented as intended by the artist (ie on a CD). If you could download songs for free, fair enough, but paying for an mp3 file seems daft to me. It's not as if the prices are even that good- Tesco charge £8 for an album, not much less than the cheap CD prices most online places offer. I suppose having an mp3 player is a useful means of taking a large selection of music with you on the move, but if I had a player I'd just make compilations of my existing CD collection...
I suppose buying downloads is useful if you just want one song by someone.. though I always get annoyed with people whose taste in music is just the most famous song of every artist. Get a real opinion damn you!
When I'm signed up, I won't be offering downloadble versions of the albums.. and I'll make sure the tracks on the CD all run into one another as a continuous whole, so you can't chop the album up into individual mp3s and play it all the wrong order and out of context. Nice.

Popular posts from this blog

the purpose of religion

och, I'm back

atheism is a matter of faith, not science: the debate continues