Download music?

[Monarch]

Hey,

Basically I used to get my music really cheap, it was leagal IIRC...but because it was Russian or something it was then found to be illegal. Anyway, fact of the matter is I need a new place to get music from. I don't want any of that file sharing crap...tbh its not so much the illeglness but the fact you get rubbish quality songs. When you pay, you know you're getting decent songs, plus usually fast downloads.

From what I can see the standard price is around 79p...which is quite expensive IMO. If thats the same with all download places then I'll just use iTunes Music Store. But obviously I'm looknig for the best, free and legal choice.

Any suggestions?

[Reverend Joe]

http://www.mp3sugar.com/

I am quite sure it is legal, and the songs are 10 cents apiece, with all whole albums (that I have seen so far) at 99 cents maximum. Good deal.

Just found it recently, when I was searching for "Candy and a Currant Bun."

[Blodrast]

wow, just wow. That IS a damn good deal !!
99 cents/song or whatever it is iTunes gives you isn't very appealing to me, considering I prefer whole albums - then most albums would end up around 12-18 bucks, not _that_ much cheaper than I can buy it somewhere else in a store.
But 99 cents (or less) per album is really impressive, and very much worth it, imho, and from a quick check they seem to be better stocked than lots of stores (at least for the not-so-mainstream stuff that I'm usually interested in).

Cool find, thanks for the heads-up, Zorba! :bow:

[Banquo's Ghost]

http://www.mp3sugar.com/

I am quite sure it is legal, and the songs are 10 cents apiece, with all whole albums (that I have seen so far) at 99 cents maximum. Good deal.

Just found it recently, when I was searching for "Candy and a Currant Bun."

I'm pretty sure that that's the Russian site that is in trouble and which caused Monarch to post. The reason songs are so cheap is that they are not paying the artists and using some Russian legal gobbledegook to defend themselves.

I'd be wary if I were you, though no-one has yet said they will chase down purchasers in other countries who acted in good faith. That may change now the balloon has gone up.

I don't hold much of a candle for the music pigopolists, but artists getting short-changed worries me. :smile:

EDIT: Oh, and Blodrast, albums are cheaper on iTunes if you buy the album entire - $9.99 I think in the US.

[Masy]

Seeing as your also from the UK i would recommend Tesco.com (though it is 79p a track) but you are given a code which means you can download the same track as often as you want (in case you delete it i guess). Also, if you have a clubcard you can get points etc

[Reverend Joe]

I'm pretty sure that that's the Russian site that is in trouble and which caused Monarch to post. The reason songs are so cheap is that they are not paying the artists and using some Russian legal gobbledegook to defend themselves.

I'd be wary if I were you, though no-one has yet said they will chase down purchasers in other countries who acted in good faith. That may change now the balloon has gone up.

I don't hold much of a candle for the music pigopolists, but artists getting short-changed worries me. :smile:

EDIT: Oh, and Blodrast, albums are cheaper on iTunes if you buy the album entire - $9.99 I think in the US.
Well, I'll be damned... I think you're right. There was a link to a Russian website, rather suspiciously positioned.

I'm asking for a refund of my remaining monies and a removal from the website as we speak. I would strongly advise noone else to go there.

[Blodrast]

Oh, ok... thanks for the heads-up, both of ya.

[Monarch]

Nah actually the russian site is ;)

(Until we're sure it's not piracy or theft, let's leave out the links please - Beirut)

[Blodrast]

okie... so is this other one, mp3sugar, legal or not in the end ?

[Reverend Joe]

Oh, damnit... :wall:

It still links to a russian website, and it is still rock-bottom cheap, so I would be wary.

[Banquo's Ghost]

Being a cynical chap, my rule of thumb is 'if it looks too good to be true, it probably is'.

If the big players in this market could afford to sell at such low prices, they would probably do so to drive the little guys out of business. Such a huge disparity indicates to me that someone is fiddling, and Russians and copyright rarely sit well together.

Caveat emptor.

[Byzantine Mercenary]

http://money.independent.co.uk/personal_finance/invest_save/article754352.ece

Your favourite albums available for 70p, the day they come out, or even in advance of their official release date? Or individual tracks for just 4p? If you think that sounds too good to be true, the British record industry agrees. This week it promised a legal blitz on a Russian website offering super-cheap music downloads to fans in the UK.

[Blodrast]

Interesting; also, the article refers allofmp3.com, but not the mp3sugar site... It could be either because mp3sugar is more recent, and hasn't gained enough popularity to be a big loss for the industry, or because it's actually legal. Hmm...

Been googling a bit; I guess it's mainly undecided, this quote probably sums up the situation best:
"However, the site is legal in Russia, but would certainly be absolutely illegal in most countries.".
Apparently, it takes advantage of loopholes in Russian copyright and IP legislation.

You can have a look at http://cdbaby.org/stories/06/01/31/3980055.html
or http://hypebot.typepad.com/hypebot/2006/05/mp3sugar_joins_.html

[Byzantine Mercenary]

well the article is about a month old, so i recon its because the sites new