Im new here what does everone use, Im stuck with WinMX and its useless. Suggestions???? I can never find half of the songs discussed in these forums.

not to be harsh...but you should try going to your local "indie" record store and looking these things up.

Imprezu21 speaks truth.

Go to a record store, and download some albums with your wallet.

Take it easy, guys. Not everyone has an endless source of cash. I, for one, do not have anywhere near the money to buy all the music that I listen to (due to college and medical bills). Still, I buy as much as I can afford. Someday, if I make enough money, I'll buy a lot of the records that I already have burnt, partly because I like having the actual album and partly because I feel a debt to those artists and labels.

Besides, if someone just wants to check out some songs recommended on these forums (maybe to buy it later if he likes it), I see no problem with it.

Frankly, if you can't afford whatever unnecessary extras you might want, you should just wait until you can.

As for the second bit of your post, Amazon.com and other sites do put up those 30-second samples for a reason. It's not the same as having a whole song, but it's the same principle as free samples of food at supermarkets. If you want a whole packet of biscuits, you'd better have some dough (worst pun ever, yes).

quote:

Frankly, if you can't afford whatever unnecessary extras you might want, you should just wait until you can.

What good would that do anybody? Nothing would change except I wouldn't get to enjoy music that I want to listen to.

30-second music samples do nothing for me. Most of the stuff I really like now is stuff that I disliked after listening to it the first time. Rarely do I find anything I like on first listen.

Yeah these "samples" on amazon and itunes are jokes, there is no way you can get a real feel for an album like that.

I choose which albums I download and which I buy based on how much I've contributed to that artist and how easy it would be to download the album. For instance, I downloaded Arcade Fire CD because I didn't want to risk buying something I wouldn't like, but then I paid to see them live, so I feel I've contributed my share to the Arcade Fire. The new Andrew Bird CD however I bought from local record store because the songs were too hard to find online...it is a pretty random system, but I don't have an inexhaustible supply of money, and I figure it will all even out in the end.

Should have cleared that up. I buy everything I listen to, but the songs in this forum are very very hard to find, and I do like to listen first. My problem was getting a few architecture in helsinki songs. Winmx didn't even give me one result. I bought the damn thing anyway, and it's great. Blind buy. I don't agree with downloading everything. Easy down folks. I'm not the enemy.

I guess it depends where u are from.There is nothing mentioned on this website that i can not find at any local record shop, but seattle is littered with record shops on every other corner.I could see how downloading would be important to someone in the boonies or a small market.
But still there are too many online retailers who have an inexhaustable supply of everything we talk about here...and most will kick in free shipping if u buy a few albums.

The location here is newfoundland and both of our more indie record stores are in danger of being eaten by hmv. Very difficult to find some music. I've checked every store in town for Archer Prewitt and it looks like I have to use amazon.

quote:

Originally posted by Set Yourself on Fire:
Should have cleared that up. I buy everything I listen to, but the songs in this forum are very very hard to find, and I do like to listen first. My problem was getting a few architecture in helsinki songs. Winmx didn't even give me one result. I bought the damn thing anyway, and it's great. Blind buy. I don't agree with downloading everything. Easy down folks. I'm not the enemy.

Fair enough.

Software-savvy cousin of mine recommends Bearshare (a P2P program, and therefore probably your best bet).

Thanks Biggles, ill check it out. Anybody have an opinion on the new Archer Prewitt cd, bother downloading? or worth buying?

I use Bear Share every now and then and it's pretty nice. It combines a few other P2P networks under itself so you get a pretty good variety. Also, allofmp3.com is a Russian site that charges by the mb. It comes to about a dollar an album. Is it entirely legal? Is any of that going to the artist? I don't think anyone knows for sure (to both). The selection is fairly limited (only about 3/4 of the albums in the top 200 are on it, maybe more but less the farther down the list you go).

i say screw the anti-filesharers. here are a couple ideas, from me and my friend. Our combined iTunes playlists are something like 75,000 songs, way more than half of which are "stolen." as if i care.

DC+
i2Hub (at participating campuses...maybe only in US? it doesn't work at AZ state, where i go...)
BitTorrent

i personally use none of these, instead choosing to instant message albums that i buy to my friends and vis versa. but my friends have used all three of these with impressive success rates and rarely any mislabelings or poor bit rates.
i think the idea of buying stuff that you download once you deem it awesome is a perfectly fair way of consuming music. i would do that more often, but...75000 songs...that's a lot money dude. don't worry about the naysayers (or the RIAA...my understanding is that these programs are totally untraceable, but p2p-er beware, you just never know)

Well, I always use limewire. it works perfectly. Hope that helps.

I've used Ares in the past, but it was very slow... could have been my computer?
Limewire was pretty reliable until somehow it managed to destroy my iPod

So now I buy pretty much all of my music.

Especially wth indie bands, I prefer to buy albums rather than downloading them. I used Limewire and Ares to sample music from different artists, never to download full cd's. I think there's a responsible way to download illegal music. I ended up purchasing a ton of albums I would not have purchased had I not firts heard a couple of the songs through Limewire.

I know legal download sites are not the hippest, especially ones that charge money, but I just became a member at emusic, and I dig it tremendously. No major label stuff, but a great mix of indy releases. I've found some jazz albums I almost spent $40 on on ebay, for what worked out to be about $1.25! I know you aren't talking jazz, but they have a lot of the music discussed here in these forums.
Not a plug, just saying.

While I certainly can't condone music piracy, the whole practice is very wink-wink. Does Apple really think you'll fill your 60 gig iPod off iTunes? What would that cost? 15,000 dollars? Computers routinely come with 80 or more gigs of hard drive space now. I doubt many people have 80 gigs of family photos, term papers, and music off iTunes. Personally, I think downloading, even (or especially) the illegal variety, is good for indie music. It greatly expands the listener base and allows listeners to honestly assess what they're hearing (I'm sure we've all bought a crappy album and talked ourselves into liking it just because we spent 17 dollars). Smaller bands will have many, many more fans than they otherwise would, and those fans will pay to see them live.
If you want albums, not individual songs, bittorrent's the way to go. torrentspy.com is a good torrent search engine.

Soulseek is rather bad ass.

As for the piracy debate... i hate burnt cds. I never listen to them as much as I do entire albums. However, i don't mind downloading shit and keeping it on the comp until either I buy it.

If I download it and i don't buy it... then it wasn't very good and usually gets deleted.

My entire apartment is basically filled with albums, and yet at the same time I download rather regularly. Let's just say I have no shame in that.

Anyone use eMusic? How is it? I'm thinking of starting an account.