buying music

Is itunes the best way to purchase music on line?

I generally prefer Amazon. There are no limitations on what you can do with it, ie only have it on 5 authorized computers, make ringtones etc..
Also, its MP3 format so it more easily converts to other players.
Also, I find that proces on Amazon are usually cheaper by a buck or so

Weiser878 said:

I generally prefer Amazon. There are no limitations on what you can do with it, ie only have it on 5 authorized computers, make ringtones etc..

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Music sold on iTunes is likewise DRM-free and has been for at least a year now. It made the news and everything.

Also, its MP3 format so it more easily converts to other players.
Also, I find that proces on Amazon are usually cheaper by a buck or so

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Varies in both cases.

PS. What is this "other players" you speak of?

Amazon, Play.com, HMV, they all have good services and I often look on each, because prices vary a lot. Amazon often reduce the prices of new albums after a relatively short period of time, so always worth looking at. I haven't ever bought from iTunes.

chas_m said:

Music sold on iTunes is likewise DRM-free and has been for at least a year now. It made the news and everything.



Varies in both cases.

PS. What is this "other players" you speak of?

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It may be "DRM FREE" but the 2 albums I downloaded 1 month ago from iTunes I put on my iPod. I went to a friend's house and transferred them onto his PC and when opened in his iTunes, threw up a "This Computer is not Authorized to play this Content. Would you like to authorize this computer?" dialogue, so, there's still something there; something that stops me from transferring a song into another iTunes library that's not one of my authorized computers. {EDIT to comply with Legality; I did authorize this computer with my account}
I only downloaded from iTunes because I got them on my iPhone while I was out and about, then later transferred my purchases to iTunes. It may be that the authorization protocol only comes up for songs purchased over a mobile device, but it was still enough to reinforce to me that I should generally skip iTunes for my music.


As for other players, I'm a musician by trade, I deal with lots of computers, Mac and PC, different brands of MP3 players, and lots of music. When I use a PC, I don't use iTunes. It works great on a Mac, but its a dog and resource hog in Windows. For this reason, I prefer MP3 files to M4A.

And stil, there's price. Take the album Nightmare by Avenged Sevenfold for example, one that I bought from Amazon.

Amazon- $8.99
Amazon.com: Nightmare [Explicit]: Avenged Sevenfold: MP3 Downloads

iTunes- $10.99
iTunes Store

Weiser878 said:

It may be "DRM FREE" but the 2 albums I downloaded 1 month ago from iTunes I put on my iPod. I went to a friend's house and transferred them onto his PC and when opened in his iTunes,

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First off that's illegal, it's theft and as a "musician" I would hope you would understand how it feels to have your work stolen. You might want to read the Mac-Forums Community Guidelines

It works great on a Mac, but its a dog and resource hog in Windows. For this reason, I prefer MP3 files to M4A.

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There are other players for Windows that will play AAC files. Not to mention AAC is a better codec than MP3 anyway.

Weiser878 said:

When I use a PC, I don't use iTunes. It works great on a Mac, but its a dog and resource hog in Windows. For this reason, I prefer MP3 files to M4A.

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File format has nothing to do with the player. You can play MP3s in iTunes just as you can play M4As in players other than iTunes.

schweb said:

First off that's illegal, it's theft and as a "musician" I would hope you would understand how it feels to have your work stolen...

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We (that includes me) use his PC to run the PA (sound check music, break music, warm up music, samples and loops). I use it. I bought it. Seems like that falls under fair use to me. And since I did authorize the computer as one of my 5, is that still illegal?

I'm not being argumentative, I'm serious.

Also, is this an admission that there is still some sort of DRM on iTunes music, even though "it was on the news and everything"?

vansmith said:

File format has nothing to do with the player. You can play MP3s in iTunes just as you can play M4As in players other than iTunes.

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You can, usually with some modification or additional plugin.
But if you have an MP3, you don't have to worry about it.



This all started because jerryf asked if iTunes was "the best way to purchase music online."
I was simply trying to point out reasons why he may prefer other avenues, since it appeared he didn't know of other options.

Weiser878 said:

We (that includes me) use his PC to run the PA (sound check music, break music, warm up music, samples and loops). I use it. I bought it. Seems like that falls under fair use to me.

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Don't really think it does fall under fair use actually since it is not being used for educational or critical purposes and I'm pretty sure that you're using more than sections of each song?

And since I did authorize the computer as one of my 5, is that still illegal?

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Yes since it's not your personal machine in your own household.

Also, is this an admission that there is still some sort of DRM on iTunes music, even though "it was on the news and everything"?

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No, it wouldn't matter if there was DRM or not, what you're doing is illegal.

Following the RIAA guidelines then means that its illegal to:

Play a CD that you purchased in your car if anyone other than you is present
Play any music in a public venue, ie bars, clubs, background music in a restaurant
Rip any CD onto your computer, even though you bought it
Burn a CD anthology (mix tape) from music you purchased online.

I could go on and on...

The fact is, we cannot follow the guidelines because they are unrealistic.
Illegality must consist of the proper mens rea, which, in my case, and the examples I just posted above should withstand scrutiny because of the lack of intent to infringe copyright or misunderstanding of applicable laws.

Weiser878 said:

Following the RIAA guidelines then means that its illegal to:

Play a CD that you purchased in your car if anyone other than you is present
Play any music in a public venue, ie bars, clubs, background music in a restaurant
Rip any CD onto your computer, even though you bought it
Burn a CD anthology (mix tape) from music you purchased online.

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First none of your examples have any similarity at all to the situation of pirating your music onto someone else's computer.

And of your examples, 3 of the 4 are legal, the second is not legal without proper licensing. You may not publicly use music in a commercial setting without properly paying for a license to use it in that space.

The fact is, we cannot follow the guidelines because they are unrealistic.

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It's actually pretty easy to stay legal, not sure why you're having difficulty with that.

Illegality must consist of the proper mens rea, which, in my case, and the examples I just posted above should withstand scrutiny because of the lack of intent to infringe copyright or misunderstanding of applicable laws.

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Unfortunately, despite what your own opinion is, it is not legal under fair use or US law which we follow in these forums. Arguing about it is pointless as it won't change the fact here.

If you truly feel strongly about it, I suggest you talk to your Congressman and hope they sponsor a bill to change the law.

I think as long as your friend is not putting your library onto his own iphone or ipod, then it's okay. If the music shows up on his computer when you plug your device in it, then it's basically like taking a CD and putting it into your friend's stereo.

But if he's syncing the songs into his own MP3 player, then it's basically like you gave him a CD and he burned himself a copy of it for free.

justswitched2 said:

I think as long as your friend is not putting your library onto his own iphone or ipod, then it's okay. If the music only plays on his computer when you plug your own stuff in it, then it's basically like taking a CD and putting it into your friend's stereo.

But if he's putting the songs into his own MP3 player, then it's basically like you gave him a CD and he burned himself a copy of it for free.

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Or if it is on his PC which is not owned by the person who owns the music...let's not post inaccuracies when it comes to the legality of pirating music.

schweb said:

First none of your examples have any similarity at all to the situation of pirating your music onto someone else's computer.

And of your examples, 3 of the 4 are legal, the second is not legal without proper licensing. You may not publicly use music in a commercial setting without properly paying for a license to use it in that space.

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#1 is the same as #2, public broadcast...still looking for that source

#3 illegal to burn a CD RIAA: Ripping CDs Not Fair Use - The Digital Music Weblog

#4 illegal to make compilation Basic Rules of Fair Use
"Individuals cannot make copies in order to make their own anthologies, compilations or other types of collaborative works."

Dude, I'm done arguing with you.

All of this information is freely available from the US Copyright office and it's a much better source than the random sites you're linking to.

Discussion is closed, and I'm lockin the thread as further argument is pointless. See our Mac-Forums Community Guidelines and move on.