Please Recommend me Good Music Download Sites.

Rackhir said:

Yes it is specifically legal, though the music companies clearly wish it wasn't.

Another advantage to CDs is that they will work with any of the software, players or copy protection schemes, iTunes, Zune, WMA, "Play for Sure" (which doesnt'), etc...

You can also pick your self what kind of trade off between compression and file size you want to make (which is often not the case with downloaded tracks). Also should you change your mind you can re-rip and compress. An option not typically the case with downloaded files.

You can also install the iTunes or Microsoft ware and use it to browse their stores (they all have previews of varying length) to find music you like and then just go buy the CD.

Click to expand...

All excellent points and great reasons to still buy CDs. That and sometimes you get some neat art (the new Tool CD for example) or a video or something. I love me some digital music but I still like holding that new CD in my hands.

Rackhir said:

Yes it is specifically legal, though the music companies clearly wish it wasn't.

Another advantage to CDs is that they will work with any of the software, players or copy protection schemes, iTunes, Zune, WMA, "Play for Sure" (which doesnt'), etc...

You can also pick your self what kind of trade off between compression and file size you want to make (which is often not the case with downloaded tracks). Also should you change your mind you can re-rip and compress. An option not typically the case with downloaded files.

You can also install the iTunes or Microsoft ware and use it to browse their stores (they all have previews of varying length) to find music you like and then just go buy the CD.

Click to expand...

Excellent! Thanks! And thanks to everyone for your suggestions. I have Nero 7 Ultra and I'll look forward to ripping, et. al.

Another site I've recently started using is eMusic. They offer completely DRM-free 192 rate MP3s that will play on any player out there. They offer a subscription that gives you 33 songs each month for 10 bucks (just recently lowered, it used to be 40, but still a far better deal than iTunes). Once you get tired of it you just quit; the songs don't go away or expire or anything.

The only downside is a more limited selection; even though they have over a million songs, it's mostly independent bands and such. They do have some gems, like the new Barenaked Ladies double CD set, and some other things I didn't expect to find there that I really liked, such as Big Kid and the Lemonheads.

In all honesty, I'm probably going to quit after another month, but with the free trial factored in, I'll end up with 105 songs for $20, not a bad deal in my book.