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Music Downloading

oh, the vinyl/cassette isn't really that big a deal. i can see why people still devote themselves to it - i plan to buy more music on vinyl, myself - but some music sounds bad on vinyl just because of the type of music it is. i was heartbroken when i listened to deerhunter on vinyl; the best song on microcastle skipped and its sound quality fizzed out greatly in comparison to the rest of the album. shoegaze-esque music does not work on vinyl, plain and simple.

otherwise, i'm the same. i have yet to download an album i haven't liked.
 
i have downloaded albums I have disliked and they keep floating around but most of the albums I like I own anyhow. not all. there are a few I have to track down still. which I am lazy with as I have the .mp3 files.
 
None of my favorite bands release anything in the States, anyway. Importing is so expensive that I can only afford to get my absolute favorite releases.
 
I download music via an extremely unorthodox method:

step 1: download the firefox add-on "download helper".

step 2: go to rhapsody.com

step 3: rhapsody.com is a site that lets you listen to any song you want, whenever, for a one time fee. however, it has a free trial that lets you listen to any 25 songs you want. it only counts as listening to a song if you listen to the first twenty seconds.

step 4: find the song you want to download using the search function, then click on it. the "rhapsody player" should launch, and start playing your song. quickly pause it so that your free trial doesn't run out.

step 5: the little "download helper" logo in the toolbar should start spinning. click on the arrow next to (below? can't remember) it, and an mp3 file named [a nine digit or so number].mp3 will appear. click on it, and it will download.


it's a really odd method, but I can't think of any downside to it. it's quicker than using torrents, totally safe, has a huge selection, is probably less traceable than torrent sites (because paying users are downloading these mp3 files too), and I dunno about quality stuff, but these tracks aren't noticeably worse than CD quality, so unless you're a huge audiophile you probably won't care.

if there are downsides, I'd appreciate you telling me!
 
Zeta Reticuli said:
it's a really odd method, but I can't think of any downside to it. it's quicker than using torrents, totally safe, has a huge selection, is probably less traceable than torrent sites (because paying users are downloading these mp3 files too), and I dunno about quality stuff, but these tracks aren't noticeably worse than CD quality, so unless you're a huge audiophile you probably won't care.
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Streaming quality is always infinitely worse than CD rips, even for lossy formats like mp3 and ogg.

Another suggestion: mp3_share. Just join (you'll need to make an LJ account if you don't have one), check the tags to see if someone uploaded what you want, and if they didn't, post a request and you'll usually have it shortly. It's what I used before I discovered torrents.
 
Departure Song said:
Streaming quality is always infinitely worse than CD rips, even for lossy formats like mp3 and ogg.
Click to expand...
I said noticeably worse, because I can't tell the difference. I mean, maybe if I listened really really closely I could, but regardless, it wouldn't be enough to prevent me from enjoying the music.
 
Departure Song said:
Another suggestion: mp3_share. Just join (you'll need to make an LJ account if you don't have one), check the tags to see if someone uploaded what you want, and if they didn't, post a request and you'll usually have it shortly. It's what I used before I discovered torrents.
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damn, I totally forgot about LJ. I remember someone mentioning it before, but I lost the link. cheers.
 
really? because I don't think I have a hearing problem, and I went and downloaded "Goodbye Blue Sky" off of rhapsody, and switched back and forth between that and a version burned from a CD, and I really couldn't tell the difference...

I mean, I can definitely tell the difference between CD quality, and say... a youtube video, but... not this
 
Zeta Reticuli said:
and switched back and forth between that and a version burned from a CD
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It really depends on how you ripped it, with what codec and program, and if the CD you ripped it from is the original. I'd imagine that any streaming site wouldn't dare go above 128kb/s, which is pretty shitty all around.
 
Departure Song said:
It really depends on how you ripped it, with what codec and program, and if the CD you ripped it from is the original. I'd imagine that any streaming site wouldn't dare go above 128kb/s, which is pretty shitty all around.
Click to expand...

I generally rip to 192 kb/s because I listen to a lot on my mp3 player with earphones and any more on that is fucking overkill. There is storage to consider too.
 
192 kb/s is pretty good, because most people can't actually hear the parts that are cut off with that encoding. If you really want to save space, though, VBR is much better - V2 if you're aiming for a 192 kb/s average - as CBR is pretty outdated and takes up a significantly larger amount of space.
 
Departure Song said:
192 kb/s is pretty good, because most people can't actually hear the parts that are cut off with that encoding. If you really want to save space, though, VBR is much better - V2 if you're aiming for a 192 kb/s average - as CBR is pretty outdated and takes up a significantly larger amount of space.
Click to expand...
192?

With torrents I usually get 320 at least. Hence why I use them now.
 
320 is overkill. You don't need that much on a stereo mp3-player, takes up too much space.
 
surskitty said:
Oh no, another fluke double post. I must complain about it rather than reporting one of the two posts and saying that it's yet another server bleep.
Click to expand...

Considered it, but was unsure if "report" served for that function.
So I figured i'd just write a totally pointless comment. <3
 
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