By David Strom
The reason for the title is simple: we all know that a world of music is available for the stealing from any number of sites. But if you want to download music legally – and if you are going to pay for it you might as well get it without any digital rights management (DRM) copy protection restrictions — what are your choices?
Before embarking on this project, I asked my kids if they have ever heard of any of these services. Other than iTunes, I got blank stares. Of course, none of them pay for their digital music, and don’t care. Here are the five sites that I spent time with:
eMusic.com offers several different monthly subscription plans for what they claim are from two million DRM-free songs. The cheapest is for 30 song downloads at $12 per month, up to the most expensive at $20 for 75 songs a month. No matter which plan, you get 50 free downloads and you can cancel your subscription at any time. If you want to be really mercenary about the whole deal, you can sign up, take your 50 songs, and cancel within the same day, without spending a dime. You have to sign up before you can browse their store, however.
Rhapsody.comfrom Real Networks claims more than four million songs, and you can just listen to the full length of up to 25 tracks a month for free, provided you sign up and give them the right to send you unlimited email solicitations. (They are a bix obnoxious in that regard.) If you want to download them, you pay 99 cents per most songs or $10 per most albums. You can only download a song once, and if you use their Windows software, it will automatically add the songs to iTunes (but not Windows Media, they are still a bit huffy after the lawsuits). Mac or Linux users can download a zip file with multiple songs included, and then you have to manually import them into your music library.
Amazon.com has “millions” of songs, but unlike Rhapsody you can only listen to a 30 second sample and not the entire song. They have optional downloading software for Windows, Linux and Mac that will add them automatically to iTunes (or Windows Media) and makes buying multiple tracks simple. If you don’t use the downloader, you have to download one track at a time. Each song is 89 or 99 cents, albums range from $6 to $10. The ones I purchased had fairly high encoding rates of 256 kbps. You can only download them once like Rhapsody.
iTunes Music Store (which claims a catalog of five million songs) is beginning to experiment with DRM-free music from some of its publishers. The songs are 256 kbps encoded and cost the same as the copy protected songs. If you have bought a DRM’ed version previously you can upgrade for an additional 30 cents a track or a third of the price of the original album purchase. To do this (not that you want to give Apple any more dough), you go to the iTunes Store within the latest version of the software, click on the link for “iTunes Plus,” and then click on the upgrade button. It will show you which of your tracks can be upgraded and what it will cost. Unlike the other services, you are buying an AAC file rather than an MP3, but most portable and PC-based players will be okay with this format.
Finally, there is SpiralFrog.com, an interesting site run by a friend of mine that doesn’t charge for its downloads, but only gives you music that contains DRM. They claim 800,000 tracks and have a large music video selection as well. You need to be running a recent version of Windows, Windows Media Player and dot Net Framework. Unlike eMusic, you don’t need to register and Install their download manager to browse the site, so you can get an Idea of what they have to offer. But once you install their software, you can download whatever you desire. And one other limitation: you can’t copy their tracks to more than two portable players, and you can’t play them of course on iPods. You also can’t play them on Zunes, which shows you how messed up Microsoft’s DRM Is.
So there you have it. There are some choices, other than stealing your music. If you want to do a lot of downloads, I would go with eMusic, especially if you go beyond 15 or so songs a month, but it is a subscription service and right now you might feel as I do that you are paying enough between monthly charges for premium cable, premium DSL, and premium unleaded gas.
If you are the occasional downloader, as I am, then Amazon makes the most sense, especially as I have my music on my Mac and it has a nice client for that OS. You can turn on the one-click ordering and it is effortless. I don’t like Rhapsody’s corporate culture, and if you use the iTunes player the imports into your library is cumbersome. And while the iTunes Plus Music Store is trying to get more DRM-free tunes, most of its music is still copy-protected, so best to steer clear until that changes. Finally, SpiralFrog has an interesting twist on the music download, but since I am Mac- and iPod-based it isn’t for me.
David Strom is an international authority on network and Internet technologies. He blogs at strominator.com
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25 Comments
1. Pajamas Media » How You Can Download Music Without Going to Jail:[...] Read the entire post here… [...]
Jul 9, 2008 - 9:40 am 2. David Thomson:“Of course, none of them pay for their digital music, and don’t care.”
I find this comment most disturbing. Is the author suggesting that he is indifferent about teaching his children not to steal? Also, does he really want to admit on a public forum that such theft is apparently occurring within his own home? Did I possibly misread the sentence? I sure hope so.
Jul 9, 2008 - 10:24 am 3. Serge:I am from Ukraine. I am glad just beacause It is the idea of buying music through Internet. Here we don’t hava any thoughts about it.
Jul 9, 2008 - 10:26 am 4. kabud:However, while we have got sites like piratebay we can’t fight it.
totally obsolete approach
there is plenty of Creative Commons license music out there
the best producers work under this license
The problem is that your kids are brainwashed by commercial advertisers promoting their product-
so they download stuff that is of the low quality in all respects
So it is a cultural thing and as well the way you bring them up, man
it is the problem in your family, not in the society)))
well, lots of families have it the same way
but it it solvable only at the FAMILY LEVEL
Jul 9, 2008 - 12:13 pm 5. Birdie:If I love it I can’t justify not buying it because I know music makes such a big difference in my life. I would feel guilty enjoying a song an artist put a ton of work into and I had just ripped off someone else. I’m still love cds too, I’m so behind. I have an iPod but I have to admit in the car I still find myself putting in cds.
Jul 9, 2008 - 12:34 pm 6. jdkchem:I rather like Amazon’s service, Emusic is a distant second only because their selection of artists and titles is limited. Emusic is great if you enjoy jazz and/or classical music.
Jul 9, 2008 - 2:03 pm 7. kabud:also public library – good reason to walk and loose some fat
Jul 9, 2008 - 2:05 pm 8. Cletus:I use limewire and utorrent. No one has arrested me yet.
Jul 9, 2008 - 3:36 pm 9. Aaron:NAPSTER is my choice…. DRM (digital music rights) are actually amazing. Instead of buying music, I “rent” it. I pay $15 a month. I can download as much as I want. The catch: As soon as I stop paying the $15, the songs become “inactive” and can no longer be played. If I dont plug in my MP3 player at least once a month, the songs go inactive. Another catch: Big artits like The Beatles, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Lenny Kravitz are not available for “rent”. However 99% of all music is. Its amazing because I dont have think about if I want to check a new album. I just listen to it. I listen to about 20 new albums a month… all for $15 a month.
Jul 9, 2008 - 4:44 pm 10. July 9th Link Round-Up | THE HOT JOINTS:[...] Download music without going to jail [...]
Jul 9, 2008 - 7:10 pm 11. kabud:there is also a very nice soulseek service that has a donation option that gives your better speeds and all
also they take out any music from the service if copyright owner demands it
mostly it is music that is not punishable for downloading which is nice
Jul 9, 2008 - 7:58 pm 12. Dave Barnes:First:
http://mp3sparks.com
Nice Russian boys who sell you music cheap.
Second:
Jul 9, 2008 - 8:24 pm 13. Mike:Your friends.
They have purchased lots of CDs that you can convert to FLAC.
All these services have been around for years and have gotten ample coverage. This might have been a useful article in, say, 2005, but why does PJM deem it worthy of publishing now?
Jul 9, 2008 - 10:57 pm 14. DoktorNo:First important question: why people are downloading music via P2P? It is only a matter of price?
Second one: how DRMs are related to the consumer’ choice? If you buy music at iTunes, you can only play it on PC/Mac with iTunes application or iPod. If your music has DRM9 from Microsoft, you can play it only on compatible player etc.
Jul 10, 2008 - 12:12 am 15. KAhikatea:I agree with Mike on this one, EXCEPT for sites now popping up distributing music under the likes of a Creative Commons type license, as kabud mentioned. Jamendo (www.jamendo.com) is another great example. As Kabud also mentioned we have been conditioned by the advertising and record companies who have spoon-fed us ‘good’ music, chosen by them. The likes of Jamendo are opening up new ways of exploring and getting to what music is out there. Some of the music on Jamendo is just plain bad, BUT SOME OF IT IS JUST PLAIN EXCELLENT. Don’t choose your music from what someone else thinks about it – Check out the likes of Jamendo and discover music that you never knew existed.
Jul 10, 2008 - 2:07 am 16. Jill Peterson:I have a subscription to Rhapsody, but unfortunately, my Blackberry is not compatible with the service. I have used Limewire to download songs I paid for on to my phone. Will this even it out and ease my conscience? It does for me. I have no problem paying for music. I want the influx of new artists. But if there is no way for these artists to make a living, there will not be an influx of new talent.
Jul 10, 2008 - 6:45 am 17. Mike:I also go to the library for music I cannot find. The world is not a perfect place, but, I try to give back to the artists. I have been a small business owner and frankly, I liked getting paid for my services. What’s the difference?
It’s also kind of funny that this piece contains *not a word* about the different content of these sites. Emusic, for instance, is almost entirely indie label music which means that if you sign up thinking you’ll be able to download mainstream pop/rock, you’ll be disappointed. Rhapsody is likewise limited. You’d think this is the kind of minor editorial detail that would be attended to.
Jul 10, 2008 - 8:31 am 18. kabud:to KAhikatea
true that man
You know professor teaching in Harvard MBA program explained that contemporary `market` economy is becoming less effective then socialistic models because advertising and promotional expenses far outgrew the expanses to develop and improve actual products!!
Marxist actually in the beginning of the 20th century pioneered this brainwashing technique
that we know as advertising, PR and promotion.
It is all about taking away your soul from you.
And it has nothing to do with freedom of speech
I don’t know the answer except that we as a community, united by world wide web have to help each other not to become slaves of the manipulators.
There is basically no philosophical difference between imposing commersial advertising and marxism
Jul 10, 2008 - 10:31 am 19. Grover Pillsbury:I have heard of Ares. Does anyone know about it?
Jul 10, 2008 - 11:11 am 20. Grover Pillsbury:I am only looking for oldies which I already own but can’t find on cd’s. I feel I am entitled to ‘free’ downloads of these for my own use if I can find them on the internet, but so far no luck.
Jul 10, 2008 - 11:15 am 21. hoosiertoo:I use eMusic. I like it, but I like jazz and classical music. They also have a nice collection of old folk stuff. I don’t have time to winnow through the dreck that passes for much of the “indie music” scene, so eMusic provides a valuable service by exposing me to a bunch of stuff I normally wouldn’t give two seconds of attention. Once every 3 or 4 months, something stands out and I buy it.
I also don’t listen to rap/hip-pop and/or bubble-gum crapola, so don’t feel left out indie folks.
I use amazon.com a lot and have never had a problem.
Jul 10, 2008 - 1:06 pm 22. Peter:I think that we should not be told we are stealing because we share files over the internet. It is like the old days when we all used to tape records we borrowed from our friends. As long as we copy only for our own personal use, and not for any commercial gain there should be no legal sanction.
Jul 10, 2008 - 11:32 pm 23. Bobnormal:There is also IMEEM.com which is a streaming service,create your own playlist,all kinds of good music from all genres,totally legal.I also feel that if I ever bought the music even once,I am entitled to a copy on my hard drive,I mean,,isn’t a cassette tape like a cd/EULA?
Jul 13, 2008 - 9:09 am 24. whiskey:Bob
Another alternative, and one that is sort of cumbersome but can get you some rare music, is to rip from LPs.
Simply buy a turntable (some have recording to CD capacity) and grab the audio output (RCA jack) from your laptop. Some turntables are best through an amplifier. Some rare classical and jazz recordings are available on used LPs only, and while the result will not be professional, it’s often “good enough” to duplicate the kind of cassette tapes people used back in the 1980’s. Needless to say as long as you own the LP this is completely legal.
Since your rip the audio yourself from LP, there are no DRM issues, of course you’ll have to add ID tags etc. to the MP3s, but hey that’s relatively trivial. Yes hisses and pops are annoying, but that’s part of the “charm” of LPs and the sound DOES still sound “warmer” than CDs.
Jul 13, 2008 - 11:11 pm 25. Rob:Thanks, i find this article timely as i try to aquire more music for my ipod w/o downloading it illegally (like I did for the first 30gigs, shh). For me the biggest barrier is that I don’t want to be stuck buying music that i’ll hate. I’d like to see a service where you can listen to it in full once and then have option to buy it (of course that won’t happen because you can capture the music without paying for it). I also dont want DRM, if i pay for music then I want it. Its stupid to pay a dollar a song and have it locked in DRM, where you can get the same song on a CD for a bit more (used CDs are dirt cheap).
Jul 14, 2008 - 7:17 am