Have your say & ask the experts

Does anyone have a good list of sites that supply a very comprehensive selection to music (to rival iTunes) but supply (legal) MP3 DRM free music for purchase ?

I have searched the website and the best I have is Play.com and 7Digital but the selection is limited. Rhapsody.com in the US looked better, but it wont let me buy as it identifies me as non US.

I would like straight forward purchase i.e. not subscription ala Napster and want MP3 as opposed to WMA or any other format.....

thanks.

Emusic.com isn't too bad, but why not just download your itunes, invest in a CD/RW disc, burn the album to the cd, then rip to MP3. Bit messy, but works.

Alternatively, there are programs out there that will "re-record" the tune from itunes into whatever format you want - mp3/wma/ogg without pain or fuss. Look up Tunebite.

I cannot say if this is illegal or immoral though, despite the website's claims to the contrary, but it is out there...

I have to say burning to CD, then re-ripping from iTunes just doesn't work in quality terms - you really do lose a lot in that process. I know I've tried it having bought a few albums through iTunes before I realised the DRM meant that I was limited when using music I downloaded legally compared to music I might have downloaded illegally (honestly guys - not a good strategy for encouraging legal downloads!).

Nowadays, I just buy the CDs and rip from them direct. If I was being a slightly shady character, I might recommend, if you want a song instantly, download it illegally whilst you wait for the CD which has it to arrive through the post and then, once it does, delete the illegally downloaded track. Naturally, I could never endorse such a practise because of the illegal nature of circumventing such DRM which is only hurtful to the honest consumer as opposed to the mass piracy merchants. And of course because making a copy of the CD in your iTunes once it has arrived is illegal for very obvious reasons known only to those who make the law and can't keep up with modern (and I mean modern only in terms of the last 30 years or so since the invention of the cassette tape!) practises.

Sorry, slightly drink inspired rant over!

professorhat:

I have to say burning to CD, then re-ripping from iTunes just doesn't work in quality terms - you really do lose a lot in that process. I know I've tried it having bought a few albums through iTunes before I realised the DRM meant that I was limited when using music I downloaded legally compared to music I might have downloaded illegally (honestly guys - not a good strategy for encouraging legal downloads!).

Nowadays, I just buy the CDs and rip from them direct. If I was being a slightly shady character, I might recommend, if you want a song instantly, download it illegally whilst you wait for the CD which has it to arrive through the post and then, once it does, delete the illegally downloaded track. Naturally, I could never endorse such a practise because of the illegal nature of circumventing such DRM which is only hurtful to the honest consumer as opposed to the mass piracy merchants. And of course because making a copy of the CD in your iTunes once it has arrived is illegal for very obvious reasons known only to those who make the law and can't keep up with modern (and I mean modern only in terms of the last 30 years or so since the invention of the cassette tape!) practises.

Sorry, slightly drink inspired rant over!

Bravo!

Thanks for the feedback. I did know about the burn to CD and back - but it does seem a hassle.

Ditto to all the thoughts about the absurdity of DRM. It does only encourage sensible law abiding people to look to pirate instead of purchasing a tune to keep a lifetime.

So keep me right - on iTunes, is it a copy to 5 PCs maximum ? Does that mean that if I upgrade my PC every 2/3 years then my whole iTune music collection will cease to migrate forward in 10-15years ? If so, does every punter realise that (yes, burning at this point could be an option) ?

Is there a way on iTunes to tell what is DRM free or not ?

Galileo:

Is there a way on iTunes to tell what is DRM free or not ?

Yes - all the iTunes Plus tracks are DRM-free (plus higher bit-rate than the standard downloads). More in our iTunes How To here

PS nice tip on Tunebite - looks the part.........

Thanks Clare for the iTunes plus pointer. Either I am asleep at the wheel or that is one of the most underadvertised features ever. I still struggled to undertsand how I could tell them apart in the listings (DRM free/plus or not) until the big plus sign staring me in the face in the price column gave me a clue (I assume).