Heartland

Free and legal music, supported by the big labels, some adds mixed in the music or player though I believe. Doesn't run on Mac so I haven't tried it yet. Anyone did?

Is stuff like this the future or is it just another sad attempt of the 'industry' to get back to where they'll never get again (or will they)?

http://www.qtrax.com/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7213112.stm

May not be a legal as they would like you to think.

Yeah, but again we are going to fed MP3s & "windows media format" files.
Lossy crud for which we need to pay.

Add to that the "mpq" format which is qtrax' own file format & the fact that it's not available for Mac users yet & what have you got?
Itunes with a different name?

I like the p2p aspect of the system, but while they rip us off with sub-standard audio quality, I really can't get too excited about it.

I really can't get that excited about digital music full stop.

it's true that is the beginning of the end.
few years ago i said that cd's will be released in few number, but i suspected it's gonna takes at least 5-8 years, so Iwas wrong ...

I wouldn't say beiginning of the end.
It's high time the music industry woke up & smelt the coffeee.
They have had enough time to catch up with technology, yet have chosen to sit on their fat erses & whinge about downloading killing music.
Then, when someone does somethink like itunes or qtrax, they expect us to accept the sub-standard dross available for download & charge money for it.
They really need to get into p2p systems & then they would be alright.
I don't mind paying for digital downloads. I'm all for supporting the band, but I am stunned at the "crumbs" that these record companies throw for us.
There are places where you can legally buy flacs for example
http://magnatune.com/

http://www.musiczeit.com/

http://musicishere.com/
The catalogues not terribly extensive, but at least someone is trying.
+ the porcupine tree online shop offers both flac & mp3 & different prices.

& if you want to pay for Radioheads last effort in flac, look no further than here http://www.7digital.com/artists/radiohead/in-rainbows/


There is even 1 site that offers studio masters & SACD/DVDA format downloads for sale (you'd need to spend a small fortune on a burner for those though)
http://www.linnrecords.com/

So hopefully it's just the beginning, but some folks will still want to have shiny things to cherish.

Nice list Pista

May I add that the "Warp" music download site BLEEP offers really high quality MP3 and now they are begining to introduce Flac , including the new "Autchre" album.

Pista wrote:I wouldn't say beiginning of the end.
It's high time the music industry woke up & smelt the coffeee.

by "beginning of the end" i meant end of Audio Format, now industries have to- and as we see they already did- change(d) their mind about mp3 and all that. i am a supporter of new technologies but i also hate mp3 and other dodgytal format, something i couldn't touch,smell and see doesn't exist for me (well only music). i take mp3 as, and only, a demo/trial version of something that i could hear if i buy a cd.
and of course i see a big chance for band for be at last really independent of a taste of rec.comp. specialists of marketing. buying music via www give a chance for customer to buy song(s) that they really liked, it is a " + " but also a " - " ... blah,blah,blah.

It seems a bit shoddy to me. A nice idea in principle, but screwed up in the implementation. If I wanted adverts mixed in with music, I'd listen to the radio.

Pat wrote:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7213112.stm

May not be a legal as they would like you to think.

How very typical

Luckily (?) the European Court of Justice decided providers have the right to withhold downloader's private data when asked to give it out the other day.

Pista wrote:while they rip us off with sub-standard audio quality, I really can't get too excited about it.

No way to disagree about that, me neither as the matter of fact, why go for bad quality when you can get proper quality. On top of that I'd never pay for things I cannot hold, I need a booklet with my albums and all that…

Still, more and more players are emerging onto the free music market, last.fm started to spread music more widely too recently. Not too much a fan of all the P2P-systems though, blame crappy download limits for that though

mh wrote:If I wanted adverts mixed in with music

"The US bombs cruisin' overhead..."

James Blast wrote:

mh wrote:If I wanted adverts mixed in with music

"The US bombs cruisin' overhead..."

Another site doing lossless dloads.
Featuring the likes of Skinny Puppy, Godspeed you black emperor, Broken social scene, the new pornographers
http://www.zunior.com/

They even chuck in the artwork.