"Sales of song downloads overtook those for physical singles for the first time at the end of 2004" (BBC News 7th Jan 2005)

I have been purchasing music online now since the launch of iTunes UK music store in June. I don't buy CDs anymore and enjoy the flexibility, increased choice and convenience offered through using iTunes.

How many of you out there would consider or indeed are already using a digital download store to purchase music?

Originally posted by JonJParr
How many of you out there would consider or indeed are already using a digital download store to purchase music?

I would.

But can not.:(

The reason.... I run Win 98 and Linux\bsd & everywhere wants me to have Win HexPee :gag: installed (I don't think so)!

Not that there is a great deal of stuff that I would like to add to my collection - most of what I would buy has long since been deleted (small indie labels\short runs etc)!

I download music online.

Try www.winmx.com

It is probably not legal but i have used it for around 4 years.
It is the people who download 24/7 for profit the authorities are after. Bye the way, have you noticed the price of CDs drop since people started doing this. I am not saying its right or wrong, but its not greedy like the record companies.

yes i do but i don't pay for it- why should i line the pockets of simon cowell when he already has millions and millions- im never going to get caught so why should i bother.

Originally posted by viking
Try www.winmx.com

It is probably not legal but i have used it for around 4 years.


There's no way I'd use any file sharing app.

Not only due to the (i)legallity issues, but security also.

I use many things to download music, most of it is not legal, but I do use one legal paid for source.

http://www.allofmp3.com its the cheapest one on the tinternet and has a HUGE collection of everything, not just all the latest chart crap or all pop and dance poop :P

plus you can choose the format you want, MP3, Ogg Vorbis, Wma, wave... what bitrate you want 128, 160, 192, 256? Constant bit rate, or average bit rate, or Variable bit rate... basically its a REALLY great site for anyone thats loves quality music, not crap 128kb mp3's :P

I have also used WinMX, but to be honest its crap, if I dont get it legally from that place (which isn't often these days) then its either from a torrent web-site that specialises in music torrents http://www.oink.me.uk

or I get them off of one of a few channels on Phazenet on IRC :)

There's no way I'd use any file sharing app.

sccsux, that is your choice

Scottandandy......You are a theiving b*****d and I hope you get caught....

The record companies come in for a lot of stick about the high prices of cd ect. Most of the time the stick should be aimed at place like HMV and virgin who were charging a fortune for them to stock the cds.

Originally posted by tron
Scottandandy......You are a theiving b****d and I hope you get caught....

that i may be- but im not going to get caught- neither are the other 20 million people who d/l tracks.

Don't get me wrong - if i see an album i want i will go out and buy it in the shops but for stuff your not sure on im not going to risk it im afraid.

If the fatcats of the music industy decide to reduce the album price's to a level thats actually consistant with the cost of producing an album im sure more people would buy them too- £14.99 for 15 tracks is outragous!!!

Carcrash... its not just HMV and Virgin's fault though... CD's are expensive cus theres about 20 middlemen all taking and needing a little cut of the dosh...

How much does it cost the average person to write a CD these days and print the covers etc? 50p? I'm sure that most major CD makers are spinning out the the CD's in cases with everything for no more than 40p at pure cost value...

but then you've got maintenence on machines, workers, distributors on trucks, ferry's, staff at the stores, then theres the fact all these people need to make more than just a cut but a profit... not forgetting the fact the artist, the band, the manager(s) need to make some dosh...

now if your talking digital media, whats there to pay?

band records their music, sends originals to distributor, they rip the CD, cost of server hardware maintenance and a few staff, and the cost of bandwidth... oh wait, now this is why digital is cheaper, cus theres not so many greedy people inbetween ;)

Originally posted by Scottandandy
If the fatcats of the music industy decide to reduce the album price's to a level thats actually consistant with the cost of producing an album im sure more people would buy them too- £14.99 for 15 tracks is outragous!!!

this is true, but if you look at the place I posted earlier, for high quality 192kb Ogg Vorbis or MP3 albums your talking no more than $1 (american dollar) currently its 0.01c per mb, its going up to 0.02c per mb in a few days... personally I think thats very reasonable... especially with the fact that the US to UK exchange is REALLY amazing at the moment, about $1.85 to £1!

you cant afford to spend 40p to download an album? if you dont like it what have you lost? hardly anything :P

Originally posted by xafier
this is true, but if you look at the place I posted earlier, for high quality 192kb Ogg Vorbis or MP3 albums your talking no more than $1 (american dollar) currently its 0.01c per mb, its going up to 0.02c per mb in a few days... personally I think thats very reasonable... especially with the fact that the US to UK exchange is REALLY amazing at the moment, about $1.85 to £1!

you cant afford to spend 40p to download an album? if you dont like it what have you lost? hardly anything :P

i don't want to d/l albums though- i want to buy them - alongwith the nice cd case and the booklet inside!!! It sounds old fationed but it looks much better next to your cd player than a cd wallet.

Originally posted by Scottandandy
i don't want to d/l albums though- i want to buy them - alongwith the nice cd case and the booklet inside!!! It sounds old fationed but it looks much better next to your cd player than a cd wallet.

But I thought you didn't want to line the pockets of Simon Cowell? Confused.

Also, when you buy a track on iTunes you get the album cover digitally. Its displayed in the player whenever you click on the track. As previously stated in this thread, the amount of middle men in the process is significantly reduced when you buy digital music online- this is because the value chain of an e-business is much shorter.

Originally posted by JonJParr
But I thought you didn't want to line the pockets of Simon Cowell? Confused.

Also, when you buy a track on iTunes you get the album cover digitally. Its displayed in the player whenever you click on the track. As previously stated in this thread, the amount of middle men in the process is significantly reduced when you buy music digital music online- this is because the value chain of an e-business is much shorter.
I don't want to until they come down to a more reasonable price.

I know why its cheaper to buy online- of course its more logical to but burnt CD's wear out faster and PC's break- i prefer to have 1 master original copy.

Originally posted by Scottandandy
I don't want to until they come down to a more reasonable price.

I know why its cheaper to buy online- of course its more logical to but burnt CD's wear out faster and PC's break- i prefer to have 1 master original copy.

So you think 79p a track is unreasonable? Especially when you don't have to purchase every single track on album. I think it's more unreasonable for HMV not to allow you to listen to an album before you buy it and for the music industry to force you to buy an entire CD.

Buying music online is all about flexibility, variety and convenience. You don't get any of these when you buy a CD from HMV.

Originally posted by xafier
I use many things to download music, most of it is not legal, but I do use one legal paid for source.

http://www.allofmp3.com its the cheapest one on the tinternet and has a HUGE collection of everything, not just all the latest chart crap or all pop and dance poop :P

Thanks for that site i've signed up :) I used to use Napster but I hated getting wma files all the time.

i personally dont agree with downloading tracks. And to tell you the truth i dont really think albums are that expensive, cheaper then downloading a free song with a virus on it and having to get your computer fixed.

the people involved with the cd (artist, managers, manufacturers etc) all need wages, i mean isnt that the reason they made the music in the first place? its their job. Im sure you would get annoyed if you didnt get paid anymore because your company werent getting any money any more because all of the product or whatever you make/do was getting done for free illegally. People gave bands like Metallica loads of stick for sueing Napster, but so would i if it was jeapordising my wages. People say "im sure they have enough" but thats not the point, the point is would you want to lose your wages in a similar way because someone was stealing off you, regardless of how rich you are, coz most of these people that have the albums arent multi millionaire Eminem or whoever

true, downloading is ok in some cases, e.g. one song to see if you would like the album, but thats it.

i personally dont agree with downloading tracks. And to tell you the truth i dont really think albums are that expensive, cheaper then downloading a free song with a virus on it

True, but why have they realised that they needed to get to a reasonable price eh?

If music sharing had not started, the CDs would be £18 by now

Originally posted by JonJParr
So you think 79p a track is unreasonable?

I think it is, I get mine for about 7p a track :P

I dont think artists and managers are losing out much with digital media, as I mentioned earlier the fact is that the costs to distribute via the net is significantly lower than by CD...

how much of the £15 you pay for a chart album goes to the artist do we rekon? it certainly cant be more than £5 as in 12 months time that will be its price in the sales... I'd like to bet it's only a few pennies per album that goes to the artist, and a few pennies for the manager...

from what I understand artists make a lot more from royalties due to movies or adverts using their songs than from album and single sales

The beauty of downloading music is this, I have a CD as follows:
Track 1 Def leppard
Track 2 Patty Smith
Track 3 Ozzy ozbourne
Track 4 Iron maiden
Track 5 R.E.M.
Track 6 Saxon
Track 7 Westlife
etc etc etc

Where could you buy in the shops an album like that?
Most of the time when you buy an album, you will only like a few of the tracks.

Whats the difference between downloading nowadays and recording the top twenty off the radio like we used to as kids?

Originally posted by viking
Whats the difference between downloading nowadays and recording the top twenty off the radio like we used to as kids?

Good point


I believe that with the downloading of music from file sharing programs increasing, it means that artists will have to work harder to make their albums sell (i.e. better artwork on the cover and a better arrangement of tracks to make the album more worthwhile).

Originally posted by IanMitchell
it means that artists will have to work harder to make their albums sell (i.e. better artwork on the cover and a better arrangement of tracks to make the album more worthwhile).

you buy albums for their covers? personally I buy music because it sounds good :P taping off the radio is all fine and dandy provided one thing... they actually play the stuff you want to hear, for a heavy rock and metal loving person like me, thats like hardly ever :P

personally I'm sticking to buy CD's in the sales or off cheap web-sites like cdwow.com or 101cd.com ... and getting my digital media from allofmp3.com :)

I get enough illegal stuff with software and movies, I think I'll stick to legal music from now on :)

Originally posted by viking
Track 1 Def leppard
Track 2 Patty Smith
Track 3 Ozzy ozbourne
Track 4 Iron maiden
Track 5 R.E.M.
Track 6 Saxon
Track 7 Westlife
etc etc etc

Where could you buy in the shops an album like that?


Hopefully nowhere! putting Westlife on the same CD as Ozzy, Iron Maiden, Def Leppard and R.E.M should be an arrestable offense :P

Originally posted by viking
Most of the time when you buy an album, you will only like a few of the tracks.


Only if the bands your buying are crap, pretty much most of the stuff I listen to I like all the songs on their albums, maybe minus one or two, but 90% of the album... its the difference between great artists and fly by night crap ;) if you want one song, buy a single :P or download the single... or wait for the album to become £4 on 101cd.com :P

Originally posted by xafier
you buy albums for their covers?


To make it eye catching, more promotion whatever :P

I don't buy albums for the covers- I'm a zeppelin fan, have you seen their album covers?!?!

Originally posted by xafier
Hopefully nowhere! putting Westlife on the same CD as Ozzy, Iron Maiden, Def Leppard and R.E.M should be an arrestable offense :P



Only if the bands your buying are crap, pretty much most of the stuff I listen to I like all the songs on their albums, maybe minus one or two, but 90% of the album... its the difference between great artists and fly by night crap ;) if you want one song, buy a single :P or download the single... or wait for the album to become £4 on 101cd.com :P

You should get your PC confiscated for downloading Westlife, I mean just... WTF?! :loopy:

i use emule to download albums, but if its an album i really want i will go out and buy it, last album i got was morrissey - you are the quarry special ed

You should get your PC confiscated for downloading Westlife, I mean just... WTF?!

It`s everyone to their own, You probably like Elvis and you should have your PC blown up for that so dont :loopy: me