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Downloading mp3s
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Subject: Downloading mp3s From: Shalini Date: 23 Apr 09 - 09:09 AM I'd like to pay for and download mp3s. I was wondering what the best online source for folk music would be? Perhaps some stores, more than others, stock rarer songs? Are there services which allow you to listen to a bit of a song before buying? I've heard of emusic. Is there anything better? |
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Subject: RE: Downloading mp3s From: Shalini Date: 23 Apr 09 - 09:15 AM Also, how is efolkmusic.org? I am looking for a service with a wide range of music, folk in particular. |
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Subject: RE: Downloading mp3s From: Maryrrf Date: 23 Apr 09 - 09:33 AM If you're looking for source recordings try Smithsonian Folkways |
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Subject: RE: Downloading mp3s From: Joe Offer Date: 23 Apr 09 - 10:53 AM I gave up on efolkmusic.org - mostly singer-songwriter stuff, and I like music that's more in the traditional style. HOWEVER, I have have very good luck with emusic.com, which has most of the Smithsonian/Folkways, Topic, Fellside, and other folk label catalogues. I got a 2-year membership that allows me to download 75 cuts a month, at a price of about 20 cents a track. -Joe- |
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Subject: RE: Downloading mp3s From: Amos Date: 23 Apr 09 - 11:07 AM You can survey the iTunes store any time; they have some FOlkways recordings, a good deal of more modern folkie-styledmaterial. A |
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Subject: RE: Downloading mp3s From: SINSULL Date: 23 Apr 09 - 11:09 AM How about free downloads? |
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Subject: RE: Downloading mp3s From: WFDU - Ron Olesko Date: 23 Apr 09 - 11:12 AM Free downloads can be found - but make sure it is not a site that is ripping off the original artist. Don't forget, artists are trying to make some sort of income so most MP3's are available at a nominal fee - usually $1.00 or less per song and greater discount for an entire CD. |
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Subject: RE: Downloading mp3s From: Joe Offer Date: 23 Apr 09 - 11:41 AM In days gone by, I cleverly developed this list of [free] online recordings:
-Joe Offer- |
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Subject: RE: Downloading mp3s From: Shalini Date: 23 Apr 09 - 11:54 AM Thank you Joe, that is very helpful. emusic.com looks good. More expensive if you download less though, looks like -- about 40 cents. |
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Subject: RE: Downloading mp3s From: Rog Peek Date: 23 Apr 09 - 12:43 PM With Smithsonian/Folkways, you can download the liner notes free before you buy the music. Rog |
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Subject: RE: Downloading mp3s From: Nick Date: 23 Apr 09 - 01:14 PM I use Napster. Not huge amounts of folk (what is folk for you?)of the traditional sort and it does not have a dedicated folk section (Americana if I remember) but there is a lot of music on it. Spotify might well be worth a look as well - you can at least listen to lots of stuff before buying from somewhere |
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Subject: RE: Downloading mp3s From: Shalini Date: 23 Apr 09 - 01:18 PM I would be looking for the more traditional sort of folk. More British, Irish, not American quite as much. I don't enjoy much of the jazzed up, modernised sort of folk I've heard. |
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Subject: RE: Downloading mp3s From: Shalini Date: 23 Apr 09 - 01:22 PM I must correct that - I think it's a certain kind of modernising I don't like. I shouldn't generalise. |
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Subject: RE: Downloading mp3s From: Zhenya Date: 23 Apr 09 - 02:23 PM I'm another very happy eMusic subscriber. I've been using eMu for 3 years now. I was grandfathered in to an old subscription rate about 2 years ago, so I pay 22 cents a track, but the current equivalent subscription rate is 25 cents a track. That's still very low, and I don't know of any other legal download site that has such a low price. (Or even lower than 40 cents a track, for that matter.) One thing to consider is that while many people start out with a basic eMu plan, which is more expensive per track, once they've been on the service a while and found they like it, they often upgrade to a plan with a lower per track rate. There is a huge amount of Irish, Scottish, and English music on eMusic. There's also music from Wales and Brittany and more if you're willing to give other things a try. There's plenty of the traditional folk music you seem to be describing. It is subscription only though, which might not work for people who just want to download on an occasional basis. However, they've recently added quarterly plans along with the monthly and annual plans, and that may appeal more to some people. (I think the deal is you pay once during the quarter, and then get 90 days to download your tracks.) You can lisen to 30 second samples on eMu. When eMu doesn't have a recording, other sources I've used for downloading are Amazon.com and cdbaby.com. You can also hear samples on these sites. And Compass records, which has a lot of Celtic recordings, has just started making downloads available. |
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Subject: RE: Downloading mp3s From: Shalini Date: 23 Apr 09 - 02:58 PM I asked this question on the recent emusic thread, but I will ask it again here. Do you think I could subscribe just for a month, stop my subscription, and then restart when necessary? I don't think I'll be downloading so many songs EVERY month (and I can't afford to). The download rate is much cheaper with the larger plans, and it would be far easier for me to do one large lot of downloads than remember to use the right number every month. Any idea? |
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Subject: RE: Downloading mp3s From: GUEST Date: 23 Apr 09 - 04:00 PM Shalini - Post some examples of the types of music you are seeking...it would then be easier to steer you in the right direction. Joe Offer's sites are excellent....but do not appear to fill your need. |
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Subject: RE: Downloading mp3s From: wysiwyg Date: 23 Apr 09 - 04:38 PM Check Mudcatter CDs thread and there will be links to MP3s, I bet. A link, someone, please? ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: Downloading mp3s From: Zhenya Date: 24 Apr 09 - 12:20 AM Shalini - Well, eMusic really relies on the use of subscriptions to keep the prices down, so I'm sure what you're suggesting isn't exactly encouraged there! You coud probably do this the first time around - sign up for one of the larger size plans, get your downloads and then cancel. I'm not sure what would happen when you want to do that again. If it's been several months, you could probably get away with it a second time. But if you kept starting and stopping, I'm not sure what the eMu folks would do - whether they wouldn't let you do it, or they'd just be happy to get the money and look the other way. I understand why you want to do this, but I'm not really sure what to advise you. Maybe take a look at all the current eMu plans (there are some recent new ones) and see if any of them would suit your needs. |
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Subject: RE: Downloading mp3s From: Zhenya Date: 24 Apr 09 - 12:40 AM I just checked the eMusic quarterly plans: For 19.99 a quarter, you get 60 tracks (33 cents a track). For 24.99 a quarter, you get 100 tracks (25 cents a track.) You would get billed every 90 days, and you'd have 90 days to download the tracks. There's also something called account hold I just found. Here's the eMu explanation - it looks like you can place the account on hold for up to 90 days at a time: "Take a break without losing your eMusic membership benefits. Putting your account on hold will suspend but preserve your Save for Later lists and other account info. You can place up to two holds per 12-month period. Your account will reactivate automatically at the end of the hold period you choose. You can reactivate anytime just by logging in. Remember: any unused downloads will not roll over so don't forget to use them up before your account hold becomes effective." |
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Subject: RE: Downloading mp3s From: Joe Offer Date: 24 Apr 09 - 01:07 AM I want to download as much of the folk catalogue from Smithsonian/Folkways as I can, so 75 downloads a month wasn't enough for me. I have a 2-year emusic membership for myself, and one for my wife - so a total of 150 downloads a month at 20 cents a track. For me, the biggest hassle is making sure my downloads come out exactly at 75 twice a month. I hate wasting tracks. -Joe- |
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Subject: RE: Downloading mp3s From: Shalini Date: 24 Apr 09 - 01:11 AM Zhenya, thanks for taking the trouble to look all this up. The quarterly plans sound good. I will look at all the plans carefully - I didn't see those when I looked! It doesn't seem right to do this cancelling thing if it defeats eMusic's purpose. |
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Subject: RE: Downloading mp3s From: Shalini Date: 24 Apr 09 - 01:32 AM To explain why I sound so stingy - I am a young teacher in India, and converted to USD, I earn just about $180/month in the months I work full-time. Towards the end of the year I work half-time to study for my undergraduate degree, and then earn half that amount. Rent and other necessities eat up a large chunk of my earnings. I have, I must admit, downloaded or copied a fair amount of music without paying the artists their dues. Otherwise, I find music on youtube, or look for very low-priced second-hand CDs on Amazon. I just got hold of Niamh Parson's 'Heart's Desire' that way and was thrilled. I don't feel right about enjoying all this music without paying the artists, and that's why I'd like to find an affordable way to pay per track. It's a bit of a tough spot though -- to earn in Indian rupees but pay US / British prices. |
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Subject: RE: Downloading mp3s From: Shalini Date: 24 Apr 09 - 01:36 AM Zhenya, where did you see all those plans? I can't seem to find a page which has all those details. All I see is the monthly plans when I begin to sign up. |
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Subject: RE: Downloading mp3s From: Shalini Date: 24 Apr 09 - 02:04 AM I just found this for free online downloads: http://yorkshirefolksong.net |
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Subject: RE: Downloading mp3s From: Zhenya Date: 24 Apr 09 - 02:40 AM Shalini - Thanks for the Yorkshire site, which I'll explore this weekend. Thanks also for explaining a bit of your background, and why you're looking for the best rate. That certainly makes sense to me now. I just checked and the quarterly plans are listed on my eMusic account page. I guess you have to become a member first before you can see that page. I don't know if you have the quarterly plans as an option when you first sign up. Perhaps you could take the cheapest plan for one month, and then immediately switch to a better one from your account page. Once you sign up, you should be able to see all the plans on that page. Or maybe you could try contacting eMu customer service before signing up to see if you could go to a quarterly plan directly. Joe Offer - you haven't been tempted to buy an eMu booster pack to get a few extra tracks to round out your last album every month?! (You still have to be careful to use that within 90 days, but then it's only once a quarter that you have to do that.) |
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Subject: RE: Downloading mp3s From: matt milton Date: 24 Apr 09 - 05:58 AM Shalini: do you use Spotify? If you don't have much cash money but you do have unmetered broadband, then you can listen to plenty of full albums in their entirety online whenever you want to using Spotify. Obviously that's not the same thing as actually owning an album. But it's free listening. |
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Subject: RE: Downloading mp3s From: Shalini Date: 24 Apr 09 - 06:24 AM Thanks Matt. I asked about pay-per-track websites because I'd like to pay for the music I enjoy. Also, the service Spotify provides doesn't seem available in my country - that's what it says on the website. |
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Subject: RE: Downloading mp3s From: matt milton Date: 24 Apr 09 - 06:46 AM OK. But just for the record, Spotify do apparently pay broadcast royalties to the Performing Rights Society - so in theory at least musicians are being paid by Spotify. |
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Subject: RE: Downloading mp3s From: Shalini Date: 24 Apr 09 - 07:14 AM That's interesting, Matt. I wish it worked here. |
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Subject: RE: Downloading mp3s From: GUEST,.gargoyle Date: 24 Apr 09 - 07:15 AM Shalini - welcome to the Mudcat.
Thank you for sharing your musical interests.
Before you beginning paying for downloads - I suggest you exhaust the free resources available. And a very good place to start is through the Mudcat links:
http://mudcat.org/links/LinksByCat.cfm
1. Go to the Links There are some deadlinks - so don't get discouraged - you will find such great places as:
Dan's Free Irsh Music, Song Lyrics, Chords, mp3s ....www.itroubador.com
Or the two links out of the ....www.songaweek.com
If you need to record streaming that comes through your speakers use ....www.davee.com
HAVE FUN.
Sincerely, |
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Subject: RE: Downloading mp3s From: Shalini Date: 24 Apr 09 - 07:21 AM Gargoyle, thanks for the official welcome :). I've been posting occasionally and lurking frequently for a few years now. BUT I didn't notice the Mudcat links. I will spend some time browsing. |
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Subject: RE: Downloading mp3s From: Maryrrf Date: 24 Apr 09 - 07:45 AM And if you want to share any information and links about Indian folk music I would be very interested! |
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Subject: RE: Downloading mp3s From: Shalini Date: 24 Apr 09 - 08:16 AM Mary, I will share the little I know about Indian folk music now that I know it will be of interest. I posted some clips here |
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