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[atimholt]

Okay, so I'm new here, but I was wondering how many people here use a music subscription service. I use Rhapsody. I like it because I can stream all my music without having to fill up my hard drive, I can listen to almost any music I hear about, and ... um... music is good.
There are only rare holes in music availability, but they are very gaping ones. The Beatles is unavailable. All of Radiohead except for In Rainbows, and Led Zeppelin.
But they've got so much good stuff. Almost everything I ever hear of.

Maybe most of you just pirate. To each his own.

I figured a thread like this would be a good place to ask about various services. What's available on the Zune Marketplace, for example, that isn't available on Rhapsody? This is something I'm curious about, because I think I'll eventually switch. Unless their holes are more gaping.

This is probably a stupid thread. How many of you just pirate music?

[wm_star]

We subscribe to eMusic and occasionally supplement with purchases from iTunes (mostly because people keep giving us iTunes gift cards!).  I like eMusic for the opposite reason you like Rhapsody, because I *can* download AND KEEP the music - it's not like other services that say once you stop subscribing, you can't use the music any more.  You are buying the music, and you get a certain number of downloads every month with your monthly payment (and can buy more if you run out and want more stuff that month - I think we pay like, $20/month and get 75 downloads or something like that).  It's got a lot of smaller, more indie stuff - we still have to go to iTunes for most of the mainstream things, but eMusic is getting more all the time, so maybe we won't have to for long?

[Divide by Zero]

I usually use iTunes or even Amazon.com when I don't just skull-and-crossbones it. There's some stuff I've been able to find on iTunes that I haven't been able to find elsewhere, although I haven't looked at that many sites. I found Mark Ronson's cover of No One Knows through iTunes, and I doubt that I would be able to find it easily elsewhere. Also, there's some college a Capella stuff that's important to me that I can't find anywhere else, including the BOCA stuff.

[valley_parade]

Radiohead except for In Rainbows

Not to sound like a dick, but you paid for all of Radiohead's albums, and DON'T have the one that was free?

Frig. That's the only one I do have.

[michaelicious]

I think he meant that In Rainbows is the only Radiohead album available on that website he is advertising for.

[valley_parade]

That'll teach me to post before fully awake.

[Divide by Zero]

I think he meant that In Rainbows is the only Radiohead album available on that website he is advertising for.

I don't think he's advertising for them. I think he's telling us what he uses so that we can all compare notes. The self-deprecating nature of his post, combined with the way he talks about piracy, lead me to believe that he's not a plant from Rhapsody at all. That seems to be what you're implying.

[celticgeek]

I don't use subscription services, I usually try to buy any CDs that I want.  I also buy CDs from small local groups, and I can usually get them autographed.  Or I buy them at concerts and get them autographed. 

I also do not pirate music at all. 

I don't have an mp3 player of any sort, although if I ever do buy one, it will be this, or something like it:

http://www.cowonamerica.com/products/cowon/a3/

And yes, I rip my music in .flac format.  (Sorry about that.)

However, Amazon does have a lovely selection of the type of music that I am interested in, and they also now have a download application for GNU/Linux, so I have purchased a few albums from them.  I tend to like the service, and their selection of Celtic/Folk music, so I will probably buy more from them.  Their music is DRM free, which is a plus for me.  And the albums are about $9.00 US (or $0.90 per song), which is comparable to other music programs.  And their mp3 music is at 256 kbps, which is better than some.

I also have a membership in mp3tunes, and I have purchased music from them.  Their music is also DRM free.  The advantage there is that you can download anything you have purchased at any time, so if your hard drive dies, or something, you can go back and get the music again.  Their selection has been relatively sparse in the Celtic/Folk area, so I have not purchased much from them.  Their albums are also about $9.00 US, or $0.90 per song). 

The only problem I have (and it is temporary) is that my GNU/Linux system will not burn CDs from mp3 format, so I have to go to a different distribution in order to make any actual CDs that I want, such as compilations. 

So that is my approach to this situation. 

[Tom]

Type "totally fuzzy" into google and have some fun 

[Liz]

I subscribe to the Mediafire thread. That is basically it.

[Ocarina654]

I prefer to buy CDs in most cases.  To me, paying for bytes that have no physical copy, no liner notes, and no art is pointless.  If I have the CD I can rip it in many formats, most of them better than what I can download.

Plus, DRM is gross.  Of course, as mentioned, some services are DRM-free, but meh.

But, the Mediafire Thread is pretty much a daily stop for me, even if I don't download anything from it that day.

[a pack of wolves]

I feel the same, when I have money I buy vinyl and when I don't I just pirate, mostly from the mediafire thread, mp3 blogs or Soulseek. People seem to underestimate Soulseek now that torrents are so prevalent but about seven times out of ten I find what I'm looking for, which is a pretty good ratio since I'm often searching for obscure emo bands. I can't see myself ever paying for mp3s, although I will make donations if a band hosts stuff for free (like Craw or Quote Unquote Records) when I have cash.

[SensoryOssuary]

The Amazon.com music downloads are actually pretty good, feature-wise... but honestly, I just use Soulseek.

[TheFuriousWombat]

eMusic and sometimes iTunes

That's the same as I do. emusic also has booster packs outside of the subscription service that are still cheaper than iTunes and have no drm. I only use iTunes if I can't find it on emusic or on piratebay, mediafire thread etc. What are some other good pirating sites for indie rock and other fairly obscure music?

emusic, in my experience, is the best service out there. I don't use it any more because I found they had and less and less stuff I want but I used it, and was delighted with it, for a long time. Lots of pricing options and booster packs are great. itunes is ok every once in a while if somehow you can't find a full album online but they have a seriously limited collection and charge too much.

[Nodaisho]

I personally use napster, I used to use rhapsody, but napster has a much larger library. I don't remember what all I found on napster that wasn't on rhapsody, but there was quite a bit.