Spook

I know people who own a handful of CDs but have gigs worth of downloaded material at Uni. I think it's just down to people. I have around 500 CDs; perhaps a few more... and I also download. The most times I download are before a festival to listen to bands on other stages to make sure I'm going to like them (and have half an idea of a few of their songs).

Of course if you're reading this and work for a record company, everything I've said is a lie.

GrownUp

Nice disclaimer .

I think of p2p as being like libraries, so many options at my fingertips, to try before I buy.

Spook

I think there's a lot of truth to that comparison. I've put cash in the pockets of record labels as a result of downloading music. I doubt I would have bought some 'artists' CDs unless I'd had access to some of it first via downloading.

The thing that irritates me the most is how these people can sue a kid from Arkansas for $1500 for downloading a few Pink tracks. It's like these vehicle clampers who want a release fee of £500. Just an absolute disgrace.

kaneda

Thats fine! But its people who p2p and never buy who do my nut in.

Happens too much now. Most of my friends are like that. One of my mates hasn't bought a CD since he got broadband, because he downloads everything. He won't let me go near his computer because he's scared I'm going to delete all his albums out of pure anger....and i most probs would as well

You know what.. I MISS THOSE DAYS!!! haha. used to do the exact same thing. Was great when I used to do that and I loved an album.. but horrible when I ONLY liked the one song I bought the album for hehe. I do that a bit in the HMV january sale, but only if the album is cheap!

weaveworld

I just go and buy a cd, then add it to my mp3 player

GrownUp

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/47468

It's funny because it could be true.

Green

Yeah this is true for me, too. There's a few bands and whatnot that I've come across like this.

But the opposite is also true - I've no doubts I've spent much, much less on CDs than I would have done over the past few years. I have no moral qualms about that, though - I don't really care about the record labels. They're doing a good job of looking after their own interests, and it's not like they care about mine.

Brown Rat

I have iTunes on my Mac laptop. I don't use it to download music, because I prefer to buy CDs, but I do use it transfer select songs from my CDs into my laptop, and I use it to download podcasts that I subscribe to (like the Battlestar Galactica podcasts and The Signal and other Firefly/Serenity-related 'casts).

It works fine for those purposes.

jenna

i think mp3 download is a godsend! when i think of all the money i used to waste buying CDs for one song that i wanted, or buying an album that i thought would be good but ended up being crap... aargh! hundreds and hundreds of dollars wasted! i rarely buy CD's anymore, unless it's something i want to collect, like the last Robbie album. i don't see the point in buying the CD when it's just going to be copied onto my computer to go onto my iPod anyway. BUT i don't download my music for free, i use a paid site. so there!

Gope

Damn that iTunes. I hav an iPod nano and it sucks. Everything you get in, you cannot get out...apple programists - sons of a.... And iTune music store is very expensive, and most of the versions of the songs are *clean*. But my all CD collection is pirate so I don't give a damn.

jenna

iTunes music store is way too expensive for me, AUD $2 a song! i only use it as a last resort if i can't find what i want at my usual haunts. and i agree it sucks that you can't get your songs out of your iPod and back onto your computer. you can buy software that does it, but it's pretty expensive... i have all of mine backed up anyway, because i'm paranoid about losing all those songs i've spent so long collecting!

kaneda

You serious? so what happens if you get a new MP3 player and want to put your mp3s on to it????

Green

Either you're screwed, or you'd have to pay for them to do a "data transfer service", which would cost them nothing, and cost you an arm and a leg.

I don't know this from experience, I'm just guessing

As for not being able to get stuff off your iPod without expensive software... I had this problem with my mobile phone. The-Evil-That-Is-Orange were "kind" enough to "protect" my phone by not allowing me to copy stuff off it or modify the files on there.

An hour of google later, and I had a cool little app that modified the registry and allowed me to do whatever the hell I wanted with my own bloody phone. I would have thought there'd be stuff like this out there for iPods, too (at the end of the day, iPods are just expensive mp3 players - very simple devices).

Don't expect your warranty to still be valid afterwards, though

Gope

...you just must to have them on other data...cds, or harddisc.

jenna

yeah, just don't delete them after you put them onto your iPod and you'll be fine (as long as you have them backed up of course!)