Hate to Admit this, but...

KiwiSaint · 01-11-2012, 07:11 PM

I have just entered the world of MP3's. Transferred most of my favorite music from CD's to the MP3 player but now have a question on MP3 purchases.

What is everyone's recommendations on buying music online...best sites, etc. It appears that there are a lot of different options out there.

Ted · 01-12-2012, 10:14 AM

I don't buy any music. I have a $15/month Rhapsody account that allows me and My Woman to stream any music we want to either our computers or iphones (either of which can be connected to home or car stereos). That way I can sample and find way more music than I'd ever buy without actually hearing. Also, with this I don't have to have all of my mp3's loaded up on my phone (and they wouldn't fit), but I can still listen to anything I want whenever I want to.

mattbourge · 01-12-2012, 10:35 AM

Welcome to the digital age!! I've found that amazon is the best and cheapest place to buy singles and albums. They have a FREE cloud service to do what you want with your purchases (app called amazon MP3). You can also have your songs automatically downloaded to your iTunes. As much as I don't like Apple, iTunes is a good program to make playlists, etc. But buying on iTunes comes with way too many restrictions.

Soundwave · 01-12-2012, 10:59 AM

I just use iTunes because i know for sure there wont be any compatibility issues.

Tiny Shark or Rhapsody are great apps for just streaming anything you want.

KiwiSaint · 01-12-2012, 11:16 AM

Thanks guys...I don't think I want to go the streaming route because I'm going to be traveling internationally and want the songs right on my MP3 player. I've got a Sandisk Sansa which seems pretty good but am considering upgrading. Any recommendations...just interested in music, not videos, etc. so is the I-Pod still the best option?
BTW...I've found lots of music that I hadn't heard before by using Pandora in my office. I'm sure everyone is aware of it, but I really love it.

Ted · 01-12-2012, 02:47 PM

just FYI, Rhapsody works with Sandisk Sansa players. As long as you plug it in once a month for it to check to see if your subscription is up to date, you can download as much as you want onto your Sansa (or iphone, too).

And, no, I don't own stock in Rhapsody.

KiwiSaint · 01-12-2012, 04:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ted

just FYI, Rhapsody works with Sandisk Sansa players. As long as you plug it in once a month for it to check to see if your subscription is up to date, you can download as much as you want onto your Sansa (or iphone, too).

And, no, I don't own stock in Rhapsody.

That might be the best option...so for the $15 per month, I can fill up the player and delete and add songs at will?

Ted · 01-12-2012, 04:13 PM

yes, that's correct. there's software that you install on your computer. you find songs, add them to your "library", then can drag and drop them to your mp3 player. pretty sure they have a free trial period to see if you like it.

KiwiSaint · 01-12-2012, 04:28 PM

Thanks, Ted!!! I'll try it out next week.

Saints 4 life · 01-12-2012, 07:23 PM

Amazon.

Ted · 01-12-2012, 07:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saints 4 life

Amazon.

and, yes. in the pretty rare instance that I can't find a song on Rhapsody, I use Amazon. **** itunes. That monstrosity is the most annoying, proprietary piece of **** I've ever run across.

RockyMtnSaint · 01-17-2012, 01:55 PM

If I buy digital music, I always buy it in FLAC format, which is lossless. Then I convert that to MP3 with an encoder called "lame". I very, very rarely will pay for music in MP3 format because if I'm paying for it, I want ALL the bits. Plus I trust the way I encode it better than what somebody else might do. All of my CDs are encoded into FLAC for my home stereo but I use the MP3's on an iPod in my car.

Saints 4 life · 01-28-2012, 05:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RockyMtnSaint

If I buy digital music, I always buy it in FLAC format, which is lossless. Then I convert that to MP3 with an encoder called "lame". I very, very rarely will pay for music in MP3 format because if I'm paying for it, I want ALL the bits. Plus I trust the way I encode it better than what somebody else might do. All of my CDs are encoded into FLAC for my home stereo but I use the MP3's on an iPod in my car.

Sounds wonderful, but... some of us are computer-illiterate

Zack Lee · 01-29-2012, 05:22 PM

I have recently been converting my old files because I just got an ipod. There were some very helpful posts on it in the tech forum.

Music file formats

I had a napster account where I could stream any playlist I put together for 5 bucks a month plus get 5 free downloads to keep. Of course now that Rhapsody has bought Napster they want more of my money. I was still going to do it but they screwed up the xfer of my account.

KiwiSaint · 01-30-2012, 09:53 AM

I went with Rhapsody and think it's a pretty good deal. I added several hundred songs to my MP3 player and it definitely got me through a long trip back and forth to Moscow last week. Thanks for all the recommendations.