Paying for Music

niobleoum

brent You can download the files and do whatever you want with them or you can use their streaming app (never used it myself though). So yes - once you purchase it, it's all yours. Think of it in the same manner as how games on GOG are - you can play them via client or download stand alone installation scripts and they are yours to keep. In terms of business model GOG got it better, since if I recall correctly even if a game is retracted from the shop, you keep your purchased copy on your account.

SOLUSfiddler

brent
"Spotify at .0004 this is probably the most depressing number I've seen."

It's .004 but still depressing.

inkbug

brent
While I dual-booted with Windows I used to buy music through iTunes (they were the first online vendors to sell digital music where I live).

I have a paid subscription to Deezer (a European streaming service similar to Spotify), but since streaming royalties are so low, especially for the smaller, more independent artists, I buy their albums on Bandcamp - preferably on Bandcamp Fridays, but not always.

Last but not least, being a Kristin Hersh (Throwing Muses, 50ft Wave) fan, I've signed up to support her a couple of years ago (she was the second musician to sell music online after David Bowie, and has a Patreon-like subscription service called "Strange Angels", which predates Patreon by quite a few years).

brent

inkbug I know who Kristin Hersh is, she's fantastic! I remember Bowie getting out in front of that trend. Her too? Wow. You ought to post her at Song of the Day thread! I'm looking at another established artist like her. who recently died. His name was Mark Lanegan. I find his work immensely good. I'm exploring his back catalog. Bandcamp is holding firm at $10USD each for every record he made. I'm hesitant at that price.
Thanks for your thoughtful reply.

infinitymdm

I almost always try to get FLAC files. Thankfully most artists are willing to provide those these days.

When buying music I usually start at the artist's website and look at where they tell you to go. I figure this way I'm more likely to actually support the artist. A lot of the time I end up at Bandcamp, which is fine by me. That said, there are occasionally special performances - especially for jazzier music - that simply aren't available to purchase anywhere, and I'm not above ripping the audio from youtube etc. in those cases.

For listening, I use AIMP on my phone or Museeks on my desktop.

brent

RE: FLAC or MP3
**graphic from https://www.soundmaximum.com/mp3-vs-flac/

@BuzzPCSOS your 320 is the rec'd rate I see when burning to mp3. You do your research!

I read about 4 articles about this. Lot of FLAC advocates on this thread. I'd prefer that kind of quality for digital music but at "6X' bigger than an mp3, it will make short work of my 1TB external. Also agree much mp3 can be harsh on the ears.

Rookie questions: is there a format in between these two extremes?
thanks

infinitymdm

brent If I'm honest, with a good quality MP3 (i.e. one with decent sampling rate and whatnot) I don't usually notice a significant difference in sound quality vs. FLAC. That's either a limitation of my current audio equipment or my ears. For the time being I'd prefer to believe it's my audio equipment.

If switching to FLAC would require a significant investment in storage upgrades, you might just want to stick with high-bitrate MP3. YMMV of course; I'd suggest finding a FLAC and MP3 copy of a song you know well, and compare them back-to-back before making the leap.

brent

infinitymdm If switching to FLAC would require a significant investment in storage upgrades, you might just want to stick with high-bitrate MP3. YMMV of course; I'd suggest finding a FLAC and MP3 copy of a song you know well, and compare them back-to-back before making the leap.

thanks. It's a high-end thrift store Logitech set which is still mediocre so I hear you re: ears and hardware. may take your high bitrate advice. Like you I'm just using Museeks. EDIT--I have downloaded the odd bandcamp song when a band give them away but the quality is hit and miss. or just my setup. I am an audiophile but if it's on AM radio on a pair of cracked and kicked truck speakers I'd still be happy..

BuzzPCSOS

brent Without doubt FLAC is a very high quality recording medium.
BUT if you are not running a record company it is probably a bit overkill for most of our ears.
MP3 offers almost universal playback options. My phone, TV, computer, DVD player, radio, Hi-Fi, car radio and just about everything else with a speaker plays MP3 whereas FLAC is much more choosy about what can play it.
When I go on holiday I can take a cheap music player with headphones and load it full of my favourite albums, if I tried to do the same with FLAC only one album would fit. Great for the first hour I suppose. Or I could put a compilation of my favourite songs on it but if I do this in FLAC I can't use MP3 Gain to set the volumes to the same level. Quite sure there is another program for changing FLAC music levels but really, my ears are old and I just can't hear the difference. They are still good enough to tell the difference between 128Kbps and 320Kbps MP3s and so that will be my happy place.
Oh, also use noise cancelling headphones because you can run them at lower volumes and still hear what is being played over the noise around you. Low headphone volume will preserve your hearing for a few more precious years. Take my advice on this one, you only regret not preserving your hearing when it's already too late.

Axios

I store my music and videos in 1to1 copy on a backup drive then I rip to another format or
whatever I want to do with it.
Mine are stored in Flac usually ripped to something smaller and put on media server.
I dont worry about storage nowdays since its more cost effective back in the days ya it
would have been different.

brent

Axios I store my music and videos in 1to1 copy on a backup drive then I rip to another format or
whatever I want to do with it.

That is organized. You have something with at least 50TB of space or more?

Axios Mine are stored in Flac usually ripped to something smaller and put on media server.

I like the idea of a high quality master backup and downsizing to actually watch or hear things on a smaller scale.

Axios I dont worry about storage nowdays since its more cost effective back in the days ya it
would have been different.

That's a fair point. Pricey becuase I've seen it much worse (double? tripled priced?) 10 years ago. Can you believe I'm stubbornly hanging on to 3 VHS tapes? They are one DVD but so expensive because hard to find...ever heard of a vhs analog to digital dealio converter?

Axios

brent Not really up on those convertors much you got watch what formats they save in
I think thats the biggest thing I would watch out for. (I save vhs in AVI (Files are big) as I can go back and edit them save to a different format without degrading it but if thats not issue it really doesnt matter on what format just something you can use
I use a sony tapedeck (I had when we made videos it went with the sony cam) with a passthrough and a Panasonic vhs/cd unit (If you use the higher end newer panasonic decks when you rip vhs it gets rid those annoying lines most vhs decks dont and you see them in the video)

No because I got a box of vhs but they get degraded with time something to think about.
(They just take so long to get to digital)

I use fre:ac to rip music cd to flac.

brent

Axios thanks for the info. It's only 4 VHS. If I could justify the cost (software and/or hardware) to take them from .avi then store them vs. buying them hugely over-priced on Ebay (some of these have 'cult movie' status)...then draw up a plan.
AVI was really popular in the 90's I remember. I imagine it's still great.

Axios

brent Yup its 1 to 1 copy
If I had not already had stuff I wouldnt have messed with it

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