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The Perfect Online Music Store?

Posted by Cliff on from the better-than-iTunes-and-Walmart-combined dept.

brace asks: "With the proliferation of online music sales, more and more companies are jumping onto the bandwagon and trying to sell you downloadable music. Some of them do a good job, some of them are just bad at it. The question I have for Slashdot readers is essentially 'What would the perfect online music store offer you?' Should it have OGG and FLAC tracks, as well as MP3? Would you rather pay per-song or per-month? Would you want the option to purchase hard-copy as well (like the actual album, or even band merchandise)? Should the song samples be 30 second downloads or full-song streams fed on-demand? Is a radio station important for an online music store?" "Personally, I'd like to see a store that has a 24/7 internet radio station, on-demand streaming, $0.99 downloads (and $9.99 album downloads), links to purchase actual albums or merchandise, and with MP3, OGG, and FLAC support. I'd also like to see the artists being paid more than 10%..."

9 of 532 comments (clear)

  1. allofmp3.com by n0iz77 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    allofmp3.com is already amazing. super low prices and i can get most of the music in ogg q5. :)

    1. Re:allofmp3.com by bullitB · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Unless you're a Russian citizen, living in Russia, listening to the music in Russia, allofmp3.com is also not legal. If you're going to violate local copyright laws, at least use a P2P service where they don't take down your name and credit card number.

    2. Re:allofmp3.com by blackmonday · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Those of us in the USA who buy music from allofmp3 need to remind ourselves thats it's not legal here. But dammit its the closest thing to perfect. There media app downloads the songs for you in the background, the tunes are dirt cheap and they have a good (but not excellent, at least in punk) selection. Their search engine sucks though. Search for "corazon oro" without the quotes, then search for "corazon de oro". that song should be there in the first search! I would also like it if it embedded the album cover into the tune, so iTunes could display it.

    3. Re:allofmp3.com by jonathan_95060 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Unless you're a Russian citizen, living in Russia, listening to the music in Russia, allofmp3.com is also not legal. If you're going to violate local copyright laws, at least use a P2P service where they don't take down your name and credit card number.

      And what do you base this statement on? Forget proof, has RIAA even ever commented on allofMP3? Last time I searched RIAA was mute on the subject of AllofMP3.com which is strange when you consider how much music US customers download from there. It is inconceivable that RIAA is unaware that US citizens are using AllofMP3 in droves.

      Granted, ripping CDs in the US and uploading them to allofMP3 is likely to be illegal but I have seen nothing to suggest that downloading music from allofMP3.com is illegal.

      Presumably if it was illegal to download from allofMP3 then RIAA would get an injunction (or some such legal device) against the credit card companies so that VISA and Mastercard would not let US customers do business with AllofMP3.

      I've used AllofMP3.com for nearly a year and I'm thrilled with them. They give me MP3s in the format I want (192kbps VBR MP3s) and they have old hard to find music (e.g. King Crimson - Discipline) that I can't get from other online services.

      SIDEBAR: it was actually the fact that I couldn't fine old AC/DC and King Crimson albums that I wanted on iTunes that drove me to AllofMP3, not the fact that AllofMP3 is cheaper!
  2. iTunes rock by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    After 3 years of boycotting music and not buying any, I finally started using iTunes 4 months back. Since then I've purchased 10 albums. I tried MusicMatch and looked at Real, but honestly iTunes is the most user friendly.

    1. Re:iTunes rock by dbn3 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      [Listening to the new U2 single just bought on iTunes :) ]

      Now that I am more than 10 years out of college, it is definately worth $0.99 to just get the song I want without trolling the p2p networks looking for music.

      Besides, in recent years, if it ain't hip with the teen/college crowd, it ain't on the p2p networks. Those tracks that are there are of very variable quality -- you have to get several copies because some moron can't rip or encode correctly. It's just not worth the hassle.

      Things I really like about iTunes:
      - cost;
      - quality;
      - ease of purchase;
      - the "others also bought" links let me explore things I haven't heard before; and, of course
      - buying the single for a buck instead of a 10 track crappy cd for $14 for that one single.

      Things I still am waiting for:
      - broader catalogue (Madonna and The Beatles for two are still not available)

      --
      open mind: teaching computers the stuff
  3. sound quality by evil+crash · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Guaranteed sound quality, and the ability to re-download any track I've ever purchased. (Ya just never know when ya might lose it.)

    --
    "Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job."-THG
  4. you just described allofmp3 by poptones · · Score: 4, Insightful
    and the prices are good, too. Problem is those "wav" files seem to be ripped in analog format or something, cuz their quality is very erratic.

    No fucking way am I gonna pay a buck a song and ten bucks an album for downloads unless I really like the work and can get pristine quality. Thus far I would say Magnatune does it best: you can listen to anything they have (and you can actually hear it because the quality doesn't suck) and, if you want to buy it, you can set the price and download it in high quality formats. I've bought a few albums there and have actually found myself going back to buy a work again because I decided I liked the work more than I thought and I felt bad about being such a cheap bastard.

    if the record companies would trust people to do the right thing and stop calling us all thieves they could make a LOT more money. If I can buy a used CD for five bucks, rip it and get the quality I want, why the fuck would I pay twice that for the download? Magnatune gets it... the others don't.

  5. Liner Notes by corian · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If I purchase an album digitally, I'd still like to download a PDF/Flash/something of the album art and liner notes. It's important content that the artist (or perhaps the label) feels complements the music, and that's why they are sold together. Although I'm puchasing music in a different format than a jewel case, I still want the same experience.