I kinda like ITunes, no more DRM on their music and if you dont want to pay for a whole album, just download the songs you want. And I dont really think they ask too much for their music either.

EDIT: btw, I only use it to get the music, then I convert them to MP3's (possibe within ITunes) and just use mediaplayer and its library. So far has the best performance for me. ITunes as a music playing program pisses me off.. especially when in game, it always causes lagspikes there whenever a song is loaded.

OHH YOU ARE WATCHING THE POTATO OH YOU ARE WATCHING THE POTATO POTATOS ARE MOVEING ACCORSS THE SCREEN  DONT MAKE EM ANGRY POTATOS ARE MEAN PAUL LIKE POTATOS AND SO DOES MAGNASENE OH YOU ARE WATCHING THE POTATO BRITNAY LIKE POTATOS AND SO DOES GEORGEAZENIE OH YOU ARE WATCHING THE POTATO (sorry bout that i just have the song stuck in my head and NOW ITS NOT)

are you saying that if i bought the song forim itunes, i can get it in an mp3 format so i can put it on my non-ipod mp3 player and not have to worry about problems with playing the song? basically can i just get an mp3 and use it when and wherever?

Buy CDs.

Dr.Gonzo

yes. 100 bucks a ticket for their show is more than 20 bucks for a cd

it's $30

Not exactly...

If you do not buy anything from them, they aren't "punished" or should feel deprived of your financial support (one may even call that an investment & a way to say thank you for the musical ride!)... but if they were soooooo good in recording a **specific** song that you like so much for having listened to it on the radio or through sampling by web or otherwise (that you CAN afford -- be it on a CD, or as a lower quality MP3 widely available through services), then -- they certainly deserve your money.

It's the artist responsability to CONVINCE fans into purchasing.

Greatest Hits collection(s), popular hits, sellout crowds to concert are all simple indications of relative success.

Nevertheless, you can't go broke on such stuff; you either put value into the songs you buy or you don't.

Record Companies made bazillions with tons of people according to contracted "limitations".

We, as in the public, send pie slices to artists & the entire industry by purchasing.

Luciano Pavarotti sang, Van Gogh painted, Jimi Hendrix played a guitar and Metallica still rocks - heavily.

Never could get my hands on some AC/DC tickets to witness Angus Young acrobatics with THE 6 strings... doesn't mean Razor's Edge (and other albums!) can't spin on a turntable when i want to, though.

Morally reasonable solution(s) as you see fit or -- affordable.

preferably both

i personally think muscians and actors get paid too much, at least the superstars, and thats not to mention the record companies and even the goddamn papparazzi that get paid 1000's of dollars for stupid pics

hell, even sports players get paid too much, if countries used the money that goes into sport for ONE year for economy stimulus, thats the crisis gone before it starts

anyway, (sorta) back on topic, i have no qualms downloading music. its partially because i like the amount of control. i find it hard to get movie soundtracks or single songs from HMV or Insanity. why should i buy a whole CD when i only want 3 of the songs. another point is its also easier to search for song X then find 5 (hopefully good) remixes of the song, useful if you really like the song.

idn, im just a bastard. i pay for video games and movies, just its so much easier and convienient to hear a song on the radio and go home and download it straight away.

but, back to your question, no, i dont know a good program for paying for downloading music, that said, if you really have moral issues with downloading music and not padding the already lined pockets of the record companies, then download the music and make donations straight to the bands themselves of the record company if you really feel obligated =P

Yup, thats exactly what I'm saying.

Its a little bit of a trick to know how to transfer it from the Itunes format to MP3 though.

But basically you purchase a song there, it downloads. When its downloaded you can right click the song and convert to another format. The choice you have there depends on the setting you set elsewhere in Itunes, under the record settings used when you would use Itunes to rip a CD. The format you set there is used in that menu. Its not really straightforward, but once you have that setting set to mp3 and the quality you want from it as well, its very easy to use.

Just buy the music and when its downloaded, right click to convert to MP3's

I used to do this, but found it to be a bit of a hassle myself.

seems kinda a pain, and i hate apple

I have an MP3 player that's got 2 gigs of memory and put me back 30 bucks a couple years ago, and I can attest to the fact that if you aren't using an iPod, you shouldn't use iTunes.

Meh, its only a hassle the first time, after that its easy