Legal Music Download Sites

Does anyone use any of these sites, recommended by the RIAA?

http://www.riaa.com/toolsforparents.php?content_selector=legal_music_sites

I had to delete my "newfound" collection from a Russian music site last week. Also, any opinions on those sites as well?

expand on why you would have to delete your music. mp3sparks is a fine bargain. however it is only legal in russia. fine by me because i buy alot of russian pop music. let me see the amazon store is drm free, but no warner music. itunes makes you use that crappy media player just to purchase from. soulseek is not legal but has lots of users. dimeadozen is great for live shows.

most of those crap stores are wrapped up in non compatable drm. it is such a pain to get the drm off so you can exercise your fair use rights. i mean the only format my car my tv my stereo my wifes car my computer my portable players my kids portable players can use is good old mp3. go for the 320 variable compressed ones.

use last.fm and record the playlists they build for ya ??

i wish i knew how to help but there just are not many good options.

I have a problem with the RIAA charging a fee for doing absolutely nothing and having the authority to label those that pay as legal and those that don't as breaking the law.

Regardless of that, in my experience, the music files offered by "legal" sources tend to be of deliberately low quality, perhaps to encourage buying physical media instead. It's also typically tainted with limitations coded into the file on how it can be copied (aka DRM).

Music files on community supported download sites tend to be much more useful. Unfortunately, they don't have RIAA blessing, so they're "illegal". Until "legal" sites get their act together and offer something competetive, however, I'm not going to lose much sleep over it.

I agree with disco. This whole legal / illegal crap is that, a bunch of crap. You know their whole arguement falls apart by their own definition.

They talk that the customer is buying the copyrights for listening/owning the music and that 'legal' purchases do this.

Now thinking about this, I had about 150 cds stolen from me (out of my truck) a couple years back. So by their own definition, I bought the rights to own/listen to that music, I should be able to redownload that music for free. However, if I were to do that I would still be considered a 'thief' if I got them off a torrent site. What about scratched cds? Same thing?

Their definition only works AGAINST the consumer, and makes them have the short end of the stick everytime. If they had fair rules that made logical sense, i would abide by them... but things as they are... well I think they can fuck right off.

Scentinal, I used legalsounds.com. It's a Russian based music site where you can get songs at 9 cents each. You deposit money into your legalsound account and when you download songs, the legalsounds search engine will find urls for you. The mp3 are compatible to any player, including iPods. I deleted the songs because of what I found through Yahoo! Answers-- if it's not legal in the states, then you will get caught. Although, most of the answers I read about legalsounds.com support it. . Plus, according to the FAQ section of legalsounds, it states that it doesn't have any limitations for use in other countries. I wonder if that's so? Still, better to be safe than sorry.

Only just discovered those Russian sites. They are, I think, legally dodgy but not quite proven illegal. But I can't use them because they don't take pay pal and I don't have a CC and wouldn't want to risk giving them my CC details even if I had one. I presume paypal has dropped them all because of those tricky legal issues. I got one 'free' download from one site just for registering (a promo vinyl rip I'd been looking for) and that was that.

The reason I'd like to use them is not cos of the low prices but because they have some vinyl rips that don't seem to be easy to find otherwise. Heck I just forked out £7 for a vinyl only promo and then had to spend ages digitising it (like being back in the old days of taping them), when those dodgy sites sell the thing on mp3 for 15p! Its all very well wanting to be 'legal' but it feels like there's a thin line between being 'legal' and being a mug! (And I think I just crossed it)

But its ridiculous that you either go 'outlaw' and buy from those Russkie sites that apparently don't pay royalties to the artists or the record companies (paying them to steal the music for you, someone called it), or you get royally ripped off buying DRM loaded crap for 10 times the price from sites with often pitiful catalogues. I'm never buying anything with DRM.

Why isn't there a legal site without stupid DRM crap, a DECENT sized catalogue, and prices, say, halfway between the £1 legal ripoff and the 15cents (7p!) implausibly cheap dodgy sites?

404 error wrote:

those Russkie sites that apparently don't pay royalties to the artists or the record companies

That's because the money goes directly to the Russian mafia to fund drugs, corruption and murder.

I don't have a great deal of experience with legal downloads, but I have used http://www.7digital.com/ and they have a good selection of DRM free high bitrate mp3's. (For instance, you can get The Electronic Special Edition for seven quid)

Jeffari-al-Texani wrote: Whatever happened to going to the store and shoplifting a disc or two?

Worked wonders back in my younger days..

It is the postman who does wonders nowadays. maybe it would be okay to work there.

Indeed!

Old Blue wrote:

404 error wrote:

those Russkie sites that apparently don't pay royalties to the artists or the record companies

That's because the money goes directly to the Russian mafia to fund drugs, corruption and murder.

I don't have a great deal of experience with legal downloads, but I have used http://www.7digital.com/ and they have a good selection of DRM free high bitrate mp3's. (For instance, you can get The Electronic Special Edition for seven quid)

Thanks for the info. That meets one requirement at least (no DRM), but their catalog is still a bit feeble (none of the rare stuff or vinyl rips I was looking for - alredy have all the tracks on that Electronic one on the original singles).

I mean my complaint is that the sort of commonly available stuff that that site has one can get cheaper on cd from amazon (for example just got Arthur Baker's Breakin', only known source of Confusion Rough Mix on cd! for £2 inc. postage from amazon, 2cds worth of tracks at £1 per mp3 would be way more expensive, likewise the Year Zero remix lp is cheaper bought from amazon than from one of those legal mp3 download sites). The only reason to buy mp3s is to get stuff that is not easily available on cd, and the legal sites don't stock that stuff anyway.

But yea, I'd be hesitant to give those Russkie sites money, its hard to know where its going.

Screw legal download sites. Cozzie, just go to your local record store and buy the album. You actually get cover art. Or ask someone to make you a mix tape, if they have the song.

Old Blue wrote:

404 error wrote:

those Russkie sites that apparently don't pay royalties to the artists or the record companies

That's because the money goes directly to the Russian mafia to fund drugs, corruption and murder.

I don't have a great deal of experience with legal downloads, but I have used http://www.7digital.com/ and they have a good selection of DRM free high bitrate mp3's. (For instance, you can get The Electronic Special Edition for seven quid)

Actually the money goes to the legally backed, official government approved licensing agency, just like this country.

However, that body doesn't A. Suck enough American cock, or B: do everything the yanks tell them (see A)

This blue-eyed boy that wants to be wrote: Screw legal download sites. Cozzie, just go to your local record store and buy the album. You actually get cover art. Or ask someone to make you a mix tape, if they have the song.

True. If only I have more money or know someone with an extensive collection to make a mix tape/CD.

you lot pay / or have paid?

or try here for individual songs

e music is alright if you're prepared to try different things