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tech crunch article comparing music services

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mouser:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/04/07/lets-buy-some-music-part-1/

We’ve analyzed the services that sell digital music (iTunes and its competitors). This Part 1 focuses on the pay-per-download services. In Part 2 we’ll compare the all-you-can-eat subscription services.
--- End quote ---


ps. Tech Crunch has been putting out some nice articles lately!

Hirudin:
First let me say: don't get me started on iTunes.

Nice article, short and to the point. I definately agree, AllOfMP3.com is the best. Cheapest and most compatible, if they have what you want, why would you get it anywhere else?

I'm disipointed that they opted to leave emusic out of the running. To me, it's the second best, for a few very simple reasons:
1. They sell .MP3s (not .WMAs, .AACs, .M4As, .MPAs(?), or any other wanna-be, DRM infested, .BS3 file format). And remember; MP3s are "iPod compatible" (and also EVERYTHING ELSE compatible). Sure, under a microscope, or stethescope as it were, their audio quality may not be as good as the newer formats, but I've yet to meet someone who both clames they can tell, and clames they care. Also, emusic uses the LAME "alt preset standard" VBR format for their compression, which many agree is the best.

2. They don't think getting LESS in a more convienient venue should cost MORE! Lets see, average CD: 17 tracks. Download technically inferior quality music, no disc, no cover art, no liner notes, no case jacket, no extras, nothing to put on your shelf, and very little overhead for the distributer: $17. Buy the CD at BestBuy (who has tons of overhead): $12... emusic's lowest price subscription comes out to $0.25 per song. Or if a marketing dude gets a-hold of it "4 songs for the price of 1."

3. They'll give you something like 40 or 50 free downloads just for checking them out. I bet the other services have a trial period too, but it's probably not as good. If you'd like to check out emusic, send me a message and I'll send you a referral link. (Or e-mail me at MY [email protected] - make the subject something like: "emusic referral")
Note: Using my link doesn't get you anything special, BUT it does give me 50 free downloads if you stay.
I bet the other services don't give you free stuff if you refer other people.

4. If you're like me; you like underground rap and emusic probably has the BEST sellection. I don't think 50 Cent is on there, but Copywrite and Jedi Mind Tricks are.

Did I mention that I hate iPods and that I REALLY hate iTunes? Here's why: it's propriatary bullshit! OK, you buy an iPod (because you don't care that they are expensive and brake constantly). Now you want some music for it. But where to get it? Nobody sells MP3s anymore (except emusic and allofmp3), so you're forced to use iTunes. You buy some music from iTunes at their outragious prices and you're happy. Oops, you dropped your iPod, well shucks, there goes $300! Maybe an HDD audio player isn't the right way to go! Lets check the market for players that will play your expensive iTunes music... oh, only iPods play iTunes .BS3s. Now make a choice, buy one of the 6 new models of iPod that have been released in the last 3 weeks, or throw your financial investment in iTunes music in the toilet....
As a mere audio player, they're ok, as long as you don't want the now standard features like audio recorder, replacable batteries, and FM tuner that are available on almost every other .MP3 audio player on the market, and you don't plan to use 6 of the biggest online audio distributers. Oh, and as long as you don't mind it loosing it's sexy shinnyness at the lightest touch. Compressed digital audio was suppose to SOLVE our scratch problems, not create new ones.

So, what do I think is a good portable audio player? I like my SanDisc m250! 2 gigs of space, takes 1 AAA battery (for ~19 hours of use), is small enough, shows up as removable storage when plugged into a windows computer (which means you can take music OFF the player if you chose to), and is about $120.

(edited to get iTunes rant out of numbered list)

tsaint:
hear hear Hirudin! What a dopey idea saying they're leaving out emusic because of independents.
Why not say they're leaving it out because their music:cr*p ratio is so high compared to the others?
One point for allofmp3 is that you can hear COMPLETE tracks before you buy - a seriously good thing.

Hirudin:
emusic ... ' ... s ... music:cr*p ratio is ... high compared to the others ...
One point for allofmp3 is that you can hear COMPLETE tracks before you buy - a seriously good thing.
-tsaint (April 08, 2006, 08:47 AM)
--- End quote ---

Yeah, that's sadly true. And without being able to hear the whole track, it's sometimes hard to filter the good from the bad.

I'm personally into getting whole albums, I don't judge an artist by individual songs as much as whole albums. I'd say I get 1 good album a month for my $10, the other ~2 albums are usually decient but with a few bad tracks.

Carol Haynes:
First let me say: don't get me started on iTunes.
-Hirudin (April 08, 2006, 08:36 AM)
--- End quote ---

I like my Creative Zen - good sound (at least to my ears), good battery life (and you can change them), I can play audible files now.

I do use iTunes a bit, mainly for hard to find classical music (or some music that is significantly cheaper than the plastic version and difficult to find in MP3). I got quite a few albums for free from iTunes too (in the UK BTinternet were doing a promotion with free iTune tracks and I must have clocked up about 120 free tracks).

Whilst the iTunes format is annoying in practical terms it isn't really a problem - just use iTunes to burn your tracks to disc and then they have no DRM so you can rip them back as MP3 files. I may have poor ears but I can't really tell the difference. This makes me wonder what the point of DRM is - a question I asked of Audible.com and they confessed they only really do it because the book publishers insist (and they probably don't understand the issues anyway).

The one place iTunes scores over other download stores is that classical music can run on from track to track (without a pause) and iTunes is the only place I have found where I can actually burn CDs properly and the files are correctly formatted to allow for this.

Other than that AllOfMP3 is the place for me.

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