Getting cheap music

ben_j_davis

ben_j_davis

ben_j_davis

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26 Sep 2005
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Tonbridge, Kent
I have always paid to get music from my favourite artists. However for a long time I have felt along with many other people that the cost of a CD is extortionate.

What are the choices?

1. P2P - Loads of music, no restrictions and good quality sound files (if you look hard enough) But illegal. Your favourite Artist gets no money.

2. Napster, iTunes - Very low quality sound files, with DRM and other restrictions , plus the price is still too high. Legal

3. Pay full price for a CD, Artist gets very little, plus you get ripped off. Legal

I just wish music companies could sell cheap, high quality music without DRM or restrictions. Surely they would make more money, put an end to most piracy and actually create some good PR?

Think we are just going to have to wait till something is sorted out. I fill like a criminal just for wanting good quality music.
 
The artists should start releasing music on their own sites for a reasonable rate, high quality and without DRM.

It would solve most problems of piracy, the artist would get a fair share, the only people compalining massively would be record companies.

Of course this would only work for legitimate artists (i.e. create their own content) as the copyright for most music (manufactured) is held by the record company.
 
What they need is an independant napster really, to enable people to get their music into the public domain.

Otherwise i just go to Fopp in Camden town, cheap as chips there. All the latest cd's for a tenner, and all other year old cds for 3-6 quid.
 
ben_j_davis said:
I just wish music companies could sell cheap, high quality music without DRM or restrictions. Surely they would make more money, put an end to most piracy and actually create some good PR?
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They wouldn't make more money, as they'd be selling less for less.
It wouldn't end piracy, because the music would be easier to copy.
It would create good PR among the small amoutn of people who care.

They should drop CD prices, and consumers should stop ripping them off. I'm not arsed about DRM as I figure I will always be able to circumvent it.
 
nikebee said:
[COLOR=Yellow]www.linkremoved.com[/COLOR]
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Thanks for that link.
Thats much better than the likes of Itunes.
I might actually start paying for downloaded music!

At the minute I rarely download anything at all but I used to use p2p a fair bit.
Nowadays if there's something I want I'd just buy it from Jersey but thats cheap enough to warrant downloading again.

EDIT: Can anyone confirm the legality of the site?
 
I think you will find that the russian sites arent legitimate. Because of the copyright laws over there (fairly non-existant) they can do that there without and repercusions, but the money does not get to the artist and is a very grey area.
 
AndyBorzi said:
Try reading the website from the link and tell me its legit ;)
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wasn't trying to say its legit, just saying they state that it is on its website.

tried babelfishing the link but it can't translate it... just gives an error

as i said, if needed i'll remove the link to cease further agro :p
 
I personally buy CDs now. MP3's just don't have the level of quality that i'm looking for :( and i like to actually have 'something' physical, rather than just a file on a computer.

I'll generally pay a max of ~£8 for an album, which isn't too bad, but could be a lot better!
 
Hodders said:
www.linkremoved.com is fab and to quote:

You pay for the size of the file and you choose how it is encoded. DRM free as well !

Lots and lots of albums as well including some obscure/old stuff.
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May be fab but its not legitimate in this country. Hence - 'The Administration of AllOFMP3.com does not possess information on the laws of each particular country and is not responsible for the actions of foreign users.' Which should set alarm bells ringing.

EDIT - after reading very deeply into this situation, it appears that its possible its legal. Providing that our laws are similar to america's, we can import music from another country, which obeys their laws (which it does) perfectly legally provided its for personal use and not for further distribution. The reason for the low costs of the albums is simple, over there due to the economy, things are much cheaper, the exchange rate etc also plays a part. It costs roughly $3 to russians to buy a cd, which is considered expensive by them, so i think this is what causes the low cost. Also i was a bit dubious about handing credit card details to a russian company, but turns out its a company called Chronopay based in the Netherlands which deal with it, and they are fully authorised by VISA and Mastercard. I ve learnt several new things today!
 
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All cheap Russian MP3 sites are illegal in the UK.

To the thread starter: Unfortunately, for what you want, you will have to buy CDs. I suggest you take some time out to find th cheapest retailers (perhaps online). That online auctions site is always a good bet, too.
 
N9ne said:
All cheap Russian MP3 sites are illegal in the UK.
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Im going to look into it much deaper, as i have discovered its currently legal in most countries such as the USA etc, due to the importation laws and the fact its fully legal in Russia, thus being legal in the place of purchase.
 
Andre said:
Check out Wippit - pay £50 for a year, and get free/cheap downloads. Not the greatest choice, but not too shabby :)
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Wippit looks terrible. The server seems slow (general browsing), a lot of tracks are that dreaded .wma format (and probably 128kbit) and each song is 99p. So an album with 20 tracks would be ~£20 from Wippit? Even if it isn't, 99p per song is expensive, especially for .wma tracks at 128kbit.
 
robjf said:
Im going to look into it much deaper, as i have discovered its currently legal in most countries such as the USA etc, due to the importation laws and the fact its fully legal in Russia, thus being legal in the place of purchase.
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Well apparently there was some loophole in UK too, although I don't believe they're legal at all.
 
robjf said:
Im going to look into it much deaper, as i have discovered its currently legal in most countries such as the USA etc, due to the importation laws and the fact its fully legal in Russia, thus being legal in the place of purchase.
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Yes but they break Uk copyright laws do they not?

Am amazed the links are still here tbh.
 
N9ne said:
Wippit looks terrible. The server seems slow (general browsing), a lot of tracks are that dreaded .wma format (and probably 128kbit) and each song is 99p. So an album with 20 tracks would be ~£20 from Wippit? Even if it isn't, 99p per song is expensive, especially for .wma tracks at 128kbit.
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From what I read in the FAQ, once you've payed your subscription most of the songs are free to download with the exceptions being from 29p with subscribers discount.
Apparantly they're setting up a download client at the moment so you don't have to download from the website.
 
N9ne said:
All cheap Russian MP3 sites are illegal in the UK.

To the thread starter: Unfortunately, for what you want, you will have to buy CDs. I suggest you take some time out to find th cheapest retailers (perhaps online). That online auctions site is always a good bet, too.
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Can you explain why and give references ? I'm really interested in this.

It appears as though the Russian 'powers that be' have OKed the site as exploiting a loophole in Russian law.

So it comes down - I guess - to whether legally the point of sale is in Russia or where the PC running the web browser is.

If the former then it must be legal (I can buy a cheap CD in russia and send it to myself at home legally). If the latter then the situation is more complicated and murky.

Anybody with any hard info ?
 
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