Lowdown on iTunes please :-)

[FlyingFish]

A bit late to the game, I know, but just got an ipod nano 8Gb. Mainly for the car.

I've put most of my cd's on the lil thing, and still have plenty of room left

Just been having a browse thru itunes.....loads of stuff!

What are the ups & downs of buying thru itunes?

Low/high bitrate?
Mp3 or other?
Once downloaded can I do with it what I want.
If I lose it can I redownload it?


Anything else thats good or crap with buying songs/albums thru itunes


Thanks
Mick

 

[Will_3rd]

Low/high bitrate?

128 - 256 Kbps usually

Mp3 or other?

AAC or Protected AAC

Once downloaded can I do with it what I want.

Protected files will only play on your PC or Apple devices, DRM free music can be played on devices that support AAC.

If I lose it can I redownload it?

Not usually, although I have heard otherwise on Podcasts that I listen to.

Anything else thats good or crap with buying songs/albums thru itunes

Expensive, the Rainforest type website has quite a good service coming out soon, cheap and they sell stuff in DRM free MP3 VBR.

 

[Mr Jones]

Not usually, although I have heard otherwise on Podcasts that I listen to.

iTunes, when you've registered with a user name, you will have a default Purchased" playlist, so if you've formatted your system and want those purchased songs again, you're alright to redownload it as long as you've signed in.

But like Will said, it is abit expensive buying off iTunes - the odd singles and/or TV shows like South Park, it's okay but compared to an album CD or TV series DVD prices, iTunes kinda suck to some online shops from Jersey (or is it a G?)

 

[FlyingFish]

cheers

Is aac apples equivalent to mp3? How do they compare?

Expensive? I thought 79p a track was good

Are we allowed to recommend any better/cheaper places for buying music?

Sorry for all the newbie Q's

Mick

 

[Will_3rd]

Is aac apples equivalent to mp3? How do they compare?

AAC tends to sound better at lower bitrates compared to MP3

Expensive? I thought 79p a track was good

Yeah it's OK for the occasional song, but when you start buying whole albums you would be better off buying the real CD/DVD.

 

[Mr Jones]

Is aac apples equivalent to mp3? How do they compare?

I've only got a few songs in AAC format and at lower bitrate 128, it's comparable to a 192kbp of MP3 - but I'm no audiophile. Most of my collection are ripped LAME encoder, VBR (variable bit rate) at 210kbps.

Expensive? I thought 79p a track was good

For the odd songs, it's relatively cheap. But say you like 7 songs out of 18 from Now (whatever number it is now), you'll be paying over £5 when you can quite easily get the CD for that price too... That's my view, plus, the bitrate is "lower" than what's possible from ripping an original CD (and also, the owership of the actual CD)

The only iTunes album I got was Roy Zimmerman's album - because I can't find it in the UK and it's cheaper overall to buy that off iTunes than to import. Got Nessun Dorma single by Pavarotti - 1 song, cheap as chips.

Are we allowed to recommend any better/cheaper places for buying music?

You're allowed to mention it as long as the store don't sell anything that's of direct competition to OcUK

 

[FlyingFish]

aaahh....

Just done a search on the new service from the rainforest, and its seems to be a better thing....mp3's upto 256k, cheaper, works on any mp3 player..

Wonder when its coming to UK?

Or is it possible to open an account from the US dot com store?

Mick

 

[Will_3rd]

It is still in Beta at the moment, will come to the UK eventually

You might be able to trick it, but I'm unsure on the details probably have to use a proxy connection etc.

 

[PhillyDee]

What about the credit card address details though . . . That might be a little problem.
I wouldnt buy off itunes. I lost an album from them, could i redownload it, seeing as i has actually paid for it, no. So its strictly CD's for me.