Buying DRM music

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alastairkn

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#72449 26-Nov-2010 10:08

What are peoples thoughts on Buying music online.

What stores are the best?
DRM free
Best quality

Do stores allow you to redownload music?

My first thought was itunes since I'm forced to use it because of the iphone, but I remember a while ago they had DRM (althought they state DRM free now?) and i believe they have a weird format m4a?

And of course the other solution is to go to a brick and mortar and buy a CD, and then rip it to mp3, but since that would be the only time i would use the CD it seemed a like a waste.

Thanks
Al

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#409788 26-Nov-2010 10:12

iTunes music is DRM free, but their format may not work on other devices. You can rip your own, but it's time consuming, and you have to make sure the meta tags are consistent and of good quality.

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b0untypure1

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#409789 26-Nov-2010 10:14

you could always convert those itunes download to another format?

http://www.ehow.com/how_5084524_convert-ma-wav-files.html

chiefie

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#409792 26-Nov-2010 10:23

Most iTunes songs are iTunes+ now (higher bitrate and non DRM) but there will be some publishers/artists keeping the DRM lock.

Regardless, you can convert M4A format to MP3 from within iTunes (if they're not DRM, I think).

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Behodar

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#409795 26-Nov-2010 10:25

Those instructions on eHow are incredibly convoluted and for some reason involve burning and reripping a CD. You can do the conversion directly in iTunes as listed in step 3, then the rest of the instructions are completely pointless.

Before you go converting everything, try playing the AAC (m4a) files on your device. Most devices made in the last few years support AAC directly.

I tend to use www.bandit.fm a bit; it's DRM-free but only offers MP3 (I personally see that as a downside since all my devices support AAC).

b0untypure1

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#409796 26-Nov-2010 10:27

yea forgot to say "step 3" is all you need to do.

chiefie

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#409800 26-Nov-2010 10:34

Have a try with doubleTwist as it sync with many DAP and DMP out there and using your iTunes library.

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alastairkn

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#409813 26-Nov-2010 10:58

Ha I forgot the word 'free' from the title. It should be 'Buying DRM free music'. Oh well at least people understood what I meant.

Ah, m4a is AAC, I should have done a quick googling before calling it weird. For some reason i thought it was one of apples magic files.

As for converting it, as long as it plays well with any device/media player I have (which is pretty much iphone, ipod and ipad), I don't really see a point since ACC is better then the standard mp3 format.

scuwp

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#409837 26-Nov-2010 11:25

I don't really see a point since ACC is better then the standard mp3 format.

I think you mean AAC (he he)...Yes I believe AAC is better (closer to CD quality) and smaller files. If it's going to be played on an iPod or iPhone then not sure what the issue is. iTunes all the way for me, had no issues converting anything thus far where needed.

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#409845 26-Nov-2010 11:39

scuwp: Yes I believe AAC is better (closer to CD quality) and smaller files.

I'm getting a little bit off-topic here but when Apple first started promoting AAC, one of the marketing lines was that 128 kb/s was "CD quality". A few years later when Apple pushed the bitrate up to 256, I remember a newspaper showing a complete misunderstanding of how it worked when they proclaimed that 256 kb/s AAC was double the quality of a CD :P

richms

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#409863 26-Nov-2010 12:45

I have found in the files I have gotten from people that got them thru iTunes in exchange for money, that often there is something weird with the tags that make non iTunes apps unhappy, also since apparently there is some identifier in the tags of who paid money to get it, stripping the tags is advisable anyway.

Also gapless seems to be an issue with iTunes sourced stuff.

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alastairkn

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#409869 26-Nov-2010 13:08

Unless you rip them your self i think that you will find weird tagging on any music files (especially when iTunes is involved)

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Behodar

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#409870 26-Nov-2010 13:14

richms: I have found in the files I have gotten from people that got them thru iTunes in exchange for money, that often there is something weird with the tags that make non iTunes apps unhappy

Interesting; I've never run into incompatibilities. However, I use a Mac, and therefore it makes sense that third-party Mac software will have been thoroughly tested for compatibility with the dominant Mac music download service.

Nety

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#409993 26-Nov-2010 17:46

OK been meaning to give this a go for awhile but just had a look now and there is no option to convert to mp3. Only convert to AAC. The files are m4a which means that should be DRM free. So has I tunes removed this option?

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#409994 26-Nov-2010 17:49

Preferences > General > Import Settings.

DeroyBoy

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#409995 26-Nov-2010 17:51

Nety: OK been meaning to give this a go for awhile but just had a look now and there is no option to convert to mp3. Only convert to AAC. The files are m4a which means that should be DRM free. So has I tunes removed this option?

You need to change import settings, in itunes preferences to mp3 first.

edit: to slow

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