Help a digitally impaired sister out - music downloading

[janey99]

I hope someone out there has more knowledge than I do.

I'm an old fashioned girl. I love music, but I have no ipod. Probably won't get one either. I like burning my own mix CDs and listening to them in my car, or in my house stereo. I have a pretty extensive music collection, collected over the years and downloaded from my CDs into my computer. Of course there are holes in my collection, and I would like to plug these holes by finding a website where I can buy individual songs (or perhaps albums), download them to my computer and then make CDs with them. I don't want these songs to expire or disappear after some period of time, and I want to be able to make more than one mix containing the same song if I so desire. The greater the musical depth of the site, the better.

Is there a website that sells songs in this way? Please enlighten me!

TIA,

Jane

 

[janey99]

Anyone

 

[Jrsy Boy]

Is there a website that sells songs in this way? Please enlighten me!

I understand that the new version of iTunes has the option of buying songs without the limitations that you have indicated, but I don't know all of the details. I also don't know all of the details on the 99 cent iTunes songs, but I know that you can rip them to a CD right from the iTunes software. So my first suggestion would be to read up on iTunes and, in the meantime, hope that someone much more knowlegeable than me will post.

 

[MHopkins2]

a website where I can buy individual songs (or perhaps albums), download them to my computer and then make CDs with them. I don't want these songs to expire or disappear after some period of time, and I want to be able to make more than one mix containing the same song if I so desire. The greater the musical depth of the site, the better.

iTunes is the way to go IMO. It has all the flexibility you mentioned above. AFAIK, the only mix limit is no more than 10 copies burnt of the same mix. (Which is silly anyway, because you can create unlimited identical mixes with different titles, but I digress.) Depth is very good, there are just some random and perplexing exclusions due to continuing licensing struggles with holdouts, but that gets better all the time.

The software is easy to install and use, and does not require an iPod.

 

[janey99]

thanks Jrsy and Mhopkins - I will check out Itunes!

Jane

 

[flying_babyb]

people talk about limewire alot but im not so sure that ones legal. IS it?

 

[U2_rocks!]

I can't use iTunes or Napster or any of the downloading sites that you have to pay for - I would guess it's due to licensing issues with my location. So I use Limewire - it's "music sharing". Not sure if that means it's legal or not. It's similar to my getting the songs from friends' CDs (which I also do), except that I have access to thousands of songs - way more than I would just through my network of friends.

I wish I knew whether Limewire was legal - I'd feel better if I knew it was. I use it because I don't really have much choice for getting the songs I want.

 

[disneychrista]

File Sharing of copy righted material is illegeal, so limewire, grokster bearshare or any of the other file sharing softwares are illegal. But so is copying your friends CD.

 

[janey99]

Update - I have found itunes, and now I need a 12 step program! I've already bought 20$ worth of songs, and I'm having a trip down memory lane listening to all the songs from my (80s) youth!

How do you stop yourself once you start?!

 

[Papa Deuce]

people talk about limewire alot but im not so sure that ones legal. IS it?

Loaded with viruses and lots of other creepy stuff..... best to avoid.

 

[Papa Deuce]

I can't use iTunes or Napster or any of the downloading sites that you have to pay for - I would guess it's due to licensing issues with my location. So I use Limewire - it's "music sharing". Not sure if that means it's legal or not. It's similar to my getting the songs from friends' CDs (which I also do), except that I have access to thousands of songs - way more than I would just through my network of friends.

I wish I knew whether Limewire was legal - I'd feel better if I knew it was. I use it because I don't really have much choice for getting the songs I want.

It wasn't before, but look at it this way... if you aren't paying for the songs, it isn't. Are you paying?

 

[flying_babyb]

limewires is legal according to associated press cause its P2P sharing. Just like a bunch of people swaping cds.

 

[OK!]

Loaded with viruses and lots of other creepy stuff..... best to avoid.

Ditto that. My ex-boyfriend accidentally downloaded all kinds of crap onto my old computer via either Limewire or eDonkey; I don't remember which. It was not a lot of fun trying to undo all of the damage it did.

 

[Papa Deuce]

limewires is legal according to associated press cause its P2P sharing. Just like a bunch of people swaping cds.

That makes no sense to me... Napster was the same thing and they got shut down...

 

[OK!]

The Limewire software itself is legal, but peer-to-peer filesharing of copyrighted material is illegal.

http://www.askdavetaylor.com/is_limewire_illegal.html

 

[MHopkins2]

Update - I have found itunes, and now I need a 12 step program! I've already bought 20$ worth of songs, and I'm having a trip down memory lane listening to all the songs from my (80s) youth!

How do you stop yourself once you start?!

Heh. If I ever figure that out, I'll let you know. I'm glad it's working for you!

 

[disneynutt1225]

Ditto that. My ex-boyfriend accidentally downloaded all kinds of crap onto my old computer via either Limewire or eDonkey; I don't remember which. It was not a lot of fun trying to undo all of the damage it did.

My brother did a lot of damage to 3 computers in the house because of programs like this. Kazaa, limewire, etc - they're all bad. You never know what you're going to get when you download "songs" from these sites. I'll stick with iTunes - at least I'm getting what I pay for that way.

 

[OK!]

My brother did a lot of damage to 3 computers in the house because of programs like this. Kazaa, limewire, etc - they're all bad. You never know what you're going to get when you download "songs" from these sites. I'll stick with iTunes - at least I'm getting what I pay for that way.

Oof, I forgot about Kazaa...I think that one was the worst of them all in terms of being laden with viruses. I've heard SO many horror stories about the horrible problems people ran into after downloading anything through it. Very scary.

Yay iTunes! I actually use it more now to d/l TV shows and movies rather than music, esp. since I got an iPod video. iTunes came in SO handy when I'd accidentally miss an episode of The Office during the season!

 

[disneynutt1225]

Oof, I forgot about Kazaa...I think that one was the worst of them all in terms of being laden with viruses.

Oh yeah. And sometimes, when you went to download a song, you inadvertently downloaded some porn masquerading as the song you wanted. Imagine his surpise when he went to play a song while my parents were sitting on the couch and "sound effects" were playing through the speakers on the computer! We can laugh about it now, but the kind of trouble you can get into by using these sites is not worth it IMO.

 

[U2_rocks!]

So what's the alternative for people who are not allowed to use iTunes? Believe me, I tried - I was more than happy to buy the songs I wanted from a legal and reliable site, but I couldn't. I'm assuming it's licensing issues that prevents them from selling to people outside of their designated countries. If they want to stop piracy, they need to make the paid songs easily accessible to ALL! My only other option seems to be to buy the physical CDs, and in my country there's mostly calypso, reggae, rap and R & B - not much rock, which is my thing. I have to order in CDs from Amazon, and with the shipping it gets pretty expensive when I only want 1 or 2 songs off the CD!!!!

Limewire scares me a bit too, though I have a friend who swears by it (I guess it hasn't messed up his computer yet). We have anti-virus and a firewall , but I'm sure they're not foolproof. I used it to get some of my all time favourite songs, but I think I'll use it very carefully and infrequently from now on, and try to buy physical CDs when I can. I don't like that I'm doing anything illegal, but the cost of getting those songs via CD was just prohibitive, and my friend made Limewire sound like the best thing around!

Sigh.