Topic: Anyone ever paid to download music before?

[W7RE]

There's a new CD out that I want to get, and I think I may be too impatient to wait for it to ship. (I'm way too far from any store that would actually have it to drive and pick it up)

Amazon says it's mp3 files are VBR and aimed at an average bitrate of 256, though some of their stuff may be a flat 256. They also have this on their FAQ about purchasing mp3 files from them:

When you make a purchase from the Amazon MP3 Music Downloads store, you are also accepting and bound by the Amazon MP3 Music Downloads Terms of Use. The albums and songs you purchase from AmazonMP3 Music Downloads are free of Digital Rights Management software so that you have the flexibility to play them on any of your media players, PC or burn them to CD.

I would just download the files from a torrent site, but a quick search turned up no results. Plus, I actually have the money and think this CD is worth paying money for. $9.49 if I download it from Amazon, $9.99 with free shipping if I order the actuall CD. (but then I have to wait for it, install EAC + LAME and configure them, and rip it.)

[Cobra951]

My mother wanted an old Spanish singer's CD that was only available like this.  Got it from Amazon without a hitch.  Their client is only for secure transactions/downloading.  No DRM or funny business.  So it works well.  VBR MP3s, very good quality.

[WindAndConfusion]

Physical goods are overrated. Whenever I buy a new CD, I rip it to my computer and then never see the original disc again.

[W7RE]

Physical goods are overrated. Whenever I buy a new CD, I rip it to my computer and then never see the original disc again.

I feel the same way, mostly. But if my hard drive dies or something and I lose all my data, I've got a bunch of CDs packed away in a box if I ever felt I needed to rip something again. The Amazon FAQ says you can only download the files once. I'll probably just buy it for download. I could be listening to it in 30 seconds probably.

[Cobra951]

Everything you care about in two places.  I will never forget this rule again, after the several failures I've had over the past year.  I now have a complete duplicate of my music folder on a separate external drive.

[W7RE]

Thansk for the input guys. I did the Amazon download thing.

I guess I shoudl backup all my music. I mean, we DO have a 1 terabyte network drive I could use a bunch of space on.

[gpw11]

Nooooo we just lost another one to the dark side.

[Ghandi]

Physical goods are overrated.

Totally. I've always said that we should shift to an entirely fantasy-based economy.

Physical goods are so 20th century.

[W7RE]

Nooooo we just lost another one to the dark side.

Normally I'd agree, but I had to have this CD, and I couldn't find it online. I probably just didn't look hard enough, but I'm lazy like that.

[Quemaqua]

I would never pay money for something that had no physical media unless forced (PSN, XBLA), and even then I do so infrequently, and it helps knowing I can re-downloaded something (in theory) if there's ever a big problem.  But generally speaking, I thoroughly embody the essence of Ghandi's sarcastic statement.

[scottws]

I've bought online music before.  I think I own like 3 songs from iTunes.  I use QTFairUse to strip the DRM off (I had to revert to an older version of iTunes to continue doing this).

I do prefer owning the CDs though.  I'd rather have access to the Red Book audio off the CDs and make my own MP3s or AACs or whatever instead of getting just an MP3.

I've bought many things that have no physical media.  Tons of stuff off XBLA.  HL2 (well that was "free" with my Radeon 9800 XT), Valve's Orange Box, Everyday Shooter, Day of Defeat: Source, Fallout, and Fallout 2.

[KontrollerX]

I bought a song and a movie soundtrack from the Itunes store because they obviously were not available on my program of choice. 

[MysterD]

For all of you that bought MP3 Albums to download from Amazon before...
...Do you get a PDF file or some sort of file that has all the liner notes and whatnot?

Obviously, If I bought something to DL from Amazon since you can only DL it once, I'd throw it on CD like...ASAP.

[W7RE]

For all of you that bought MP3 Albums to download from Amazon before...
...Do you get a PDF file or some sort of file that has all the liner notes and whatnot?

Nope, just the 11 mp3 files.