Digital Music Stores Reviewed

Kozz writes "If you've thought about trying the new Napster 2.0, or perhaps MusicMatch, or even WAL*MART music service, you really need to read this review at BBspot.com. Brian takes a break from his standard satire fare and writes a comprehensive review not only of the previously mentioned stores, but also of BuyMusic.com, eMusic, Apple iTunes, and RealOne Rhapsody. It breaks down the features of each service, the prices, restrictions, general pros and cons, and really gives you an idea of which one(s) you should try depending on your needs."

Comments

How about... none.

[ldspartan]

Why is it not okay to buy CDs, but fine to buy music piecemeal via the internet? I don't want to give the RIAA my money, and distribution via the net doesn't change that at all. I buy the few CDs I want at concerts, in the hope that I'll still get legitimate music and the RIAA will get less money.

Hypocrisy sucks, pick a stance and stick with it.

--
lds

Highly Windows-Centric

[jstockdale]

The only down side in reading the review, is that it's highly windows-centric. The reviewer fails to point out obvious things like the fact that iTunes works seamlessly between Windows and Mac platforms (while most of the other services break completely). Besides that, it was definitely a good read.

Re:Wal-Mart?

[rolocroz]

Going to be? It is. Check out this article about Wal-Mart's ruthless business practices.

Try cdbaby.com

[key nell]

Ive said it before and ill say it again, cdbaby.com kicks ass. They let you listen to 2 minutes of 5-7 songs off an album to see if you like it, if you do buy it, if not go on to the next one! All their albums are reviewed by the editors to give you description of what the music is like. Plus, after your first purchase, they send you a free cd with each purchase thereafter (usually a mix cd which is pretty good.)

Disclaimer: all though this read like an ad, its not. Im just a satisfied customer.

This is a great alternative to emusic and such pay for play setups where you waste a quota trying to find music you like.

Is there a standard?

[gtrubetskoy]

Perhaps my question is off-mark, in which case mod it down, I'm a bit new to the downloadable mu$ic scene.

What I find interesting is that some songs are available in one service, but not others. So if you think of downloadable mu$ic as equivalent of a physical music store, it's not quite, becase a CD is a CD, and no matter where you buy it, you can play/rip it anywhere, on anything (capable of playing CD's, that is).

So there's still an insentive to buy CD's. But not as much, not enough to keep CD stores in business, I would not be surprised if they start closing soon. After that happens - what do you do to get a song that's only available from one service, but not the other?

Will there ever be a way to buy once play anywhere?

Re:Is there a standard?

[wessto]

You raise some good points. I would like to add that I think the music store will not become useless to me for several reasons:

1. I like to have a physical product
2. Physical product serves as a backup should my data become unuseable.
3. Lyrics, artist information, etc. are nice to have in cd inserts
4. I can rip to whatever format I want, I'm not limited by whatever format the online store provides me. This means that future formats can be utilized without a lossy conversion process.

These things being said, I do value the online store if for no other reason than I can preview most tracks from the comfort of my home.

The times they are a changin?

[gantrep]

This is interesting because I just read on CNN that 2004 is to bring loads of free music Could it be that the business model of the way that music is sold is changing due to all these online stores?

Audible.com comment

[fleener]

I wanted to buy a book on tape as a Christmas present for my offline mother, but I didn't want to pay for express shipping to receive it in time. Amazon.com referred me to an online download at Audible.com. "Great," I thought, "I'll buy an MP3 file and burn it to CD."

I rushed into the purchase without reading the fine print. I didn't realize I was buying a proprietary "MP3 quality" recording and not an actual MP3 file. I didn't realize I had to download Audible.com software to listen to and manipulate the audio file.

The audio software failed to recognize my CD burner, so I requested and received a refund. I was miffed at not having an MP3 file and the prospect of spending time with a tech support person to route around a problem that wouldn't exist if I had been given an MP3 file to begin with.

As luck would have it, I bought the book on *CD* from the manufacturer for only $2 more, plus $6 standard shipping, and it arrived today.

Re:you aren't buying anything, it's a service

[Doppler00]

Exactly, that's why I'm saying it's important to be able to make back-up copies of your music. With licenced music, you have to worry about the songs only working on a few computers, if that. If it was one of your favorite songs, do you think those few systems could withstand say 20 years? Will the online music website be there to re-verify your license files on Windows 2023? Will all these online music stores survive that long? Maybe not. At least with physical CD media you don't have to worry about such things.

Caveat emptor

[lurker412]

Let the buyer beware. As far as I can see, all of the existing online stores only lower prices to the consumer to the extent that one can buy a single track of an otherwise uninteresting CD. Now, that is better than nothing. But it is a far cry from the potential that online music sales offers.

From what I have read, about 45% of the final sales price of a CD is based on retail, manufacturing and distribution costs. If that is so, then the current online offerings actually raise the profit margin to record labels and the RIAA without benefiting the artists at all. Should I be grateful? I think not.

There is tremendous potential here for artists to go directly to consumers. The costs of setting up a digital recording studio are no longer prohibitive, though they are not trivial. It is reasonable to expect that sites will spring up soon enough to provide the infrastructure that independent artists need to distribute their music and collect on the sales with a reasonable overhead. The current online stores seem to be a last ditch attempt to maintain control by the music industry. Nothing surprising there, but we should think very hard about whether we want to support a timid change when the potential for radical change exists.

Stop hitting yourselves in the head.

[autechre]

I see a lot of people complaining in this story about restricted formats, money still going to the RIAA, and Windows-only. None of you read the article.

eMusic gives you unrestricted VBR MP3s at well under a dollar per song. They deal largely with independent artists who are not beholden to the RIAA, which is a big part of why they can offer these distribution terms. They also explicitly support Linux, as well as Windows and Mac OS.

"But I don't like that music!" Well, you _should_ :)

Yeah, it takes more effort to find music, but I've been on both sides of the fence and I've found the indie side to be far more rewarding. Bands like Enon, Quasi, El Guapo, Freezepop, Call and Response, Stereo Total...they will probably never hit mainstream radio, and there's absolutely no good reason why.

With a band like Freezepop, you don't even need an eMusic! Their CDs are cheap, and you can download full MP3s of many of their songs from their own site for free. Lifestyle, a side project of one of their members, has an entire album's worth of tracks that basically fall in between the first and upcoming second album. All for free.

There's plenty of crap in indie too, of course. Here, I'll have to give a blatant plug to the site linked in my sig, wmbc.umbc.edu. We are currently on hiatus until the spring, but you can listen to the automated music stream that usually fills in between live DJs. You can also look at our Top 30 chart, which is actually a representation of the 30 albums the DJs chose to play the most, not a pre-mandated playlist. And hey, we use Debian! And our music database software is available on freshmeat!

See, you can discover independent music the same way you used to discover mainstream. There are many other stations like ours (and I'll admit that some are probably better). You could also take eMusic up on their 50 free tracks offer, or check out cmj.com, where most college stations report their top 30. I'm almost positive you'll find something you like, and you don't have to feel bad for buying it.