Have you bought music off iTunes Music Store?

Cabaal

With all the talk of allmymp3 and other sites I'm curious how many people here have actually used iTunes to buy music, I have to say I've bought maybe 6 albums of it at this stage which is a 300% increase a year on what I buy in shops.

While the DRM can be annoying sometimes I have to say its not very restrictive when it comes down to it, easy burn and ripp stuff to remove the DRM and will play on upto 5PC's.

Thomas_S_Hunterson

No on both counts, it's not really any cheaper than just buying the CD in the long run

hopeful

Was just thinking that you may want to expand the scope of this poll to include all DRM restricted music stores. There are more than just iTunes you know

On a personal note...I will not purchase music that I do not have complete and unrestricted use of. ::rant mode off::

Cabaal

Can't edit the poll, however if anyone wants to mention other sites they use (ala Napster) please feel free

Tom Dunne

I buy from iTunes and the first thing I do is burn the CD and re-rip it.

Endurance Man

You can buy music these days?

hopeful

Endurance Man wrote:

You can buy music these days?

I hear they sell it in shops and everything!
My wife goes to these places and comes back with all sorts of stuff...something to do with the exchange of money or something. All a bit beyond me TBH

falteringstar

Yes I have, and no I wont be buying again! The quality is rubbish only 128Kbps and you cant choose to download at a higher bit rate.... they sound fine on my iPod but awful on larger speakers.... never again!

Come on for 10euro Id expect decent sound quality no matter where I listen to it

aidan_walsh

tom dunne wrote:

I buy from iTunes and the first thing I do is burn the CD and re-rip it.

Ditto.

mathias

Ditto for quality issues , online stores are all very bad quality at the moment , until that improves I'm sticking with CD's.
The only way to listen to MP3's is variable bit rate 100% quality , takes up more room but well worth it !

One good thing about allofmp3 was that you could get the uncompressed CD audio as an option. Shame theres no legal site like that , if there was Id buy online in a heartbeat.

Another plus about CD's is I can play them on any CD player I come across , anywhere , I will not buy DRM crap , no sh*t for brains record company exec tells me where and when I can listen to music !!

el Bastardo

I only use itunes for albums/songs that I can't find anywhere else (usually Irish artists). Yes the quality ain't great - considering the price vs CD-Wow etc it's pretty awful actually - and yes the first thing I do is remove the DRM (since I don't have an ipod, it'd be more than a little restrictive).

nando

What is DRM?? Sorry I'm a technology idiot...

I only use iTunes to download free podcasts. Buying music is too much hassle - maybe if I just wanted one particular song I'd consider it once off.

Creamy Goodness

No, and never will unless the quality gets much much better. the .m4a format is dirt and don't think my mp3 player supports it.

burning it to a cd then reripping it just wastes cd's and even if you used a cdrw it still takes a lot of time doing this process that makes me just say **** it i'll pay the extra fiver or whatever and buy the cd instead at least that way i get artwork and stuff.

rogue-entity

IMHO AAC is the best of the compressed formats, granted its not near as popular as MP3, but it its better. IIRC Ogg Vorbis can achieve the same quality as AAC at lower bitrates, but few players support it sadly. AAC is supported by the majority of MP3 players available today. AAC files are supposed to be saved as .mp4 which is also used for MPEG-4 Video but .m4a and .aac are also used.

What people should be complaining is the unfairness of copyright laws, and the promotion of fair use. Copyright law is two one-sided which is not right.
If I buy a DVD I should be legally allowed play it on any player I want even my iPod without having to break the law to do it. I would like nothing more then to put my movies and television shows onto my iPod or my PSP to watch. Remember, when you buy a DVD, CD or digital download, you dont pay for the media, you pay for the right to use the content. So you should have the right to view/listen to it as you please and on whatever device you chose to use. Copyright owners shouldnt force you to use one device of their preference.

Sad Professor

I've only bought two albums from it, both iTunes Originals. Wouldn't buy anything I could get (probably cheaper) on cd or elsewhere. Doesn't seem worth it to me. I don't have a problem as such with DRM or AAC but 128Kps isn't good enough IMO considering you can get a cd for the same price.

SeanW

DRM sucks and the quality of the download is inferior. IMHO the legal download services just aren't worth either the money or the hassle.

My portable Mp3 player only supports .wav .mp3 and insecured .wma

And whatever about those Sony Rootkits? Even CDs aren't safe.

Me, I simply avoid the lot by downloading Mp3s although I do buy the odd CD and DVD. But if the music industry were to sell Mp3 songs and Mpg videos, I'd buy them in a heartbeat.