Is there no "CheapAss mp3" thread yet?

bjkrautk

bjkrautk

CAGiversary!
I just did a quick search of the message boards for free mp3....and didn't find much, so I'm starting a thread on the topic.

[Disclaimer: This thread is not about music downloads of questional legality, or the morals and merits of intellectual property law. It is about stopping your fellow cheap-asses from paying for something they could legally get for free. The more professional the website, the better.]

I'm looking to fill my mp3 player with as much free, yet legal music from well-known artists as I can. I'm looking for:

1) Recordings in the public domain, that have been released for download.
2) Major-label artists who offer some of their music for free download.
3) Major retailers, like Amazon.com's Free Music Dowloads (link)

Personally, I'd prefer WMA or mp3 files, but if you know of any AAC files, I suppose it would be wrong to discriminate against iPod owners.

I've already listed the one site I know that has meets the criteria....Amazon.com has free mp3s from artists like 50 Cent, Modest Mouse, Jimmy Eat World, the Hives.....people you've actually heard of. That said, I have to believe there are more sites like this one out there.

EDIT: Despite having the discussion that I had hoped to avoid about the legality of p-2-p file swapping, it ocurred to me that this thread may also be used to share promotional codes for otherwise "pay" sites like Napster and Wal-Mart. For instance, anyone who bought MP2: Echoes from Target likely got a code for 2 free Napster downloads (I'd post a code....but I actually plan on using mine :wink: ). Anyone who doesn't care whether their music is legal or not can just post promotional codes....since they won't be using them.
 
[quote name='punqsux']who needs a thread? mp3s are free[/quote]

The OP means legal mp3s, not illegal ones.

As far as legal ones for the OP, I tried the free trial emusic.com had. I found some good stuff, but it all depends on what you are into and such. Worth a shot, never know what you might find. :D
 
[quote name='punqsux']who needs a thread? mp3s are free[/quote]

see how is file sharing illegal? I mean its like giving a copy of a CD to your friends, is that illegal?
 
if file sharing was illegal, file sharing programs would all be shut down as napster was. its not illegal, despite what the government and record companies would like you to believe.

record companies are just angry because they havent figured out an effective way to cash in on digital music.

music should be free. bands make little to no money off cd sales anyways, if you like a band, download their music and go see them live. buy a shirt or a hoodie if you want to support them even more than a ticket to a show would. if you MUST have a cd, buy it from them at the show, thats the most money the band will make off an album.
 
[quote name='punqsux']if file sharing was illegal, file sharing programs would all be shut down as napster was. its not illegal, despite what the government and record companies would like you to believe.

record companies are just angry because they havent figured out an effective way to cash in on digital music.

music should be free. bands make little to no money off cd sales anyways, if you like a band, download their music and go see them live. buy a shirt or a hoodie if you want to support them even more than a ticket to a show would. if you MUST have a cd, buy it from them at the show, thats the most money the band will make off an album.[/quote]

EXACTLY! Artists make infinitely more money off of performances and merchandising than record sales. Just ask Justin Timberlake:

justin.jpg


He's saying, "Buy my T-Lake shower curtains, yo!"
 
[quote name='punqsux']if file sharing was illegal, file sharing programs would all be shut down as napster was. its not illegal, despite what the government and record companies would like you to believe.

record companies are just angry because they havent figured out an effective way to cash in on digital music.

music should be free. bands make little to no money off cd sales anyways, if you like a band, download their music and go see them live. buy a shirt or a hoodie if you want to support them even more than a ticket to a show would. if you MUST have a cd, buy it from them at the show, thats the most money the band will make off an album.[/quote]

Wrong.

Unauthorized transmission and re-broadcast of copyrighted material is a violation of intellectual property law. End of story.

Napster was shut down because it promoted this sort of illegality, and because it had a centralized infrastructure facilitating the illegal activity. Other P-2-P file sharing is just as illegal when it deals in copyrighted material, only it requires targeting the individual defenedants, since there is no "network" to shut down....just an audience of nonconforming (ie., law-breaking) users.....who can still be prosecuted.

Dress it up any way that you'd like, downloading and using illegal mp3s is stealing money from the record companies, who re-invest the profits in successful artists they've signed to offset the artists they sign that don't succeed. If you want their product on-demand, the only legal way to obtain it is by paying the market rate. You do have the right to own mp3s for songs you've already purchased via-CD, or from musical performances in the public domain.

As has been suggested, the reason that I started this thread was to help people who wanted to find legal places to download music that artists have made available for free. If you want to continue to risk prosecution, have at it. But I have to believe that there are a number of sources to find some of the music that I'd otherwise pay for that are both free and legal. If you don't know of any places like that....then why even post here (other than to show what you don't know about IP law)?
 
[quote name='bjkrautk']



....just an audience of nonconforming (ie., law-breaking) users.....who can still be prosecuted.

[/quote]

Viva la non-conformists!!

I hate whipped conformists like yourself, why not go give some more head to your precious record company execs so maybe, just maybe they will spare your pathetic existance.

If everyone just gave the finger to the record companies then public opinion would be so great that the fat cats in Washington would have no choice but to re-write the laws and let everyone swap music as much as they wanted. Too bad people like you exist to try and throw a monkey wrench into the whole plan.

Please kindly. F.O.D.
 
[quote name='murcielago77'][quote name='punqsux']who needs a thread? mp3s are free[/quote]

see how is file sharing illegal? I mean its like giving a copy of a CD to your friends, is that illegal?[/quote]

Yes, that is illegal.
 
[quote name='bjkrautk']
I'm looking to fill my mp3 player with as much free, yet legal music from well-known artists as I can.
[/quote]

Your joking right?


WORST MUGAMA THREAD EVER!!!!
 
[quote name='jimbodan'][quote name='bjkrautk']



....just an audience of nonconforming (ie., law-breaking) users.....who can still be prosecuted.

[/quote]

Viva la non-conformists!!

I hate whipped conformists like yourself, why not go give some more head to your precious record company execs so maybe, just maybe they will spare your pathetic existance.

If everyone just gave the finger to the record companies then public opinion would be so great that the fat cats in Washington would have no choice but to re-write the laws and let everyone swap music as much as they wanted. Too bad people like you exist to try and throw a monkey wrench into the whole plan.

Please kindly. F.O.D.[/quote]

:applause:

Yes, and even legally it's not "stealing", it's "music copyright infringement" (music copyright being Latin for "an imaginary concept of ownership created by the US government around 1900 to compensate the authors of songs played on automated pianos that is now woefully archaic")

Don't hate on the music pirates (Arrrr!). Without civil disobedience, America would still be flying the Union Jack and I wouldn't be enjoying this budweiser.
 
I found a great mp3 site a few months ago. I learned about it whilst reading Popular Science, so it is not some obscure thing. The site is www.AllOfMp3.com It is based out of Russia, so they charge in Rubbles! They charge the equivalent of one U.S. penny per megabyte - prepaid with a credit card like Visa/Mastercard. So each full ALBUM costs about a dollar in MP3 format. They have a huge selection and a very slick itunes-esque download program. I've been using it for months with no problems. It sounds too good to be true, but I can assure you it is not. When you vist the site, it will come up in Russian by default, but in the top left hand corner, you can select the english verstion. The only problem I've encountered with it is that the my credit card company will not authorize the charge unless I call them first- because Russia is shady. If you use a Visa/Mastercard DEBIT card instead, however, the charge will go right through.

Hope this helps some cheapass music listener out there!
 
[quote name='bjkrautk'][quote name='punqsux']if file sharing was illegal, file sharing programs would all be shut down as napster was. its not illegal, despite what the government and record companies would like you to believe.

record companies are just angry because they havent figured out an effective way to cash in on digital music.

music should be free. bands make little to no money off cd sales anyways, if you like a band, download their music and go see them live. buy a shirt or a hoodie if you want to support them even more than a ticket to a show would. if you MUST have a cd, buy it from them at the show, thats the most money the band will make off an album.[/quote]

Wrong.

Unauthorized transmission and re-broadcast of copyrighted material is a violation of intellectual property law. End of story.

Napster was shut down because it promoted this sort of illegality, and because it had a centralized infrastructure facilitating the illegal activity. Other P-2-P file sharing is just as illegal when it deals in copyrighted material, only it requires targeting the individual defenedants, since there is no "network" to shut down....just an audience of nonconforming (ie., law-breaking) users.....who can still be prosecuted.

Dress it up any way that you'd like, downloading and using illegal mp3s is stealing money from the record companies, who re-invest the profits in successful artists they've signed to offset the artists they sign that don't succeed. If you want their product on-demand, the only legal way to obtain it is by paying the market rate. You do have the right to own mp3s for songs you've already purchased via-CD, or from musical performances in the public domain.

As has been suggested, the reason that I started this thread was to help people who wanted to find legal places to download music that artists have made available for free. If you want to continue to risk prosecution, have at it. But I have to believe that there are a number of sources to find some of the music that I'd otherwise pay for that are both free and legal. If you don't know of any places like that....then why even post here (other than to show what you don't know about IP law)?[/quote]

Ha! You're a fucking tool! Grow a spine
 
[quote name='mikefust']...The site is www.AllOfMp3.com It is based out of Russia, so they charge in Rubbles! They charge the equivalent of one U.S. penny per megabyte - prepaid with a credit card like Visa/Mastercard. So each full ALBUM costs about a dollar in MP3 format.[/quote]

Now that's a fair price. Funny that a Russian company is beating the world's biggest "capitalists" at their own game. :)
 
[quote name='camoor']Now that's a fair price. Funny that a Russian company is beating the world's biggest "capitalists" at their own game. :)[/quote]
Yep, except for the minor detail that they're stealing everything and profiting off of other people's work.
 
[quote name='Drocket'][quote name='camoor']Now that's a fair price. Funny that a Russian company is beating the world's biggest "capitalists" at their own game. :)[/quote]
Yep, except for the minor detail that they're stealing everything and profiting off of other people's work.[/quote]
Since when has capitalism been about playing fair?
 
[quote name='Drocket'][quote name='camoor']Now that's a fair price. Funny that a Russian company is beating the world's biggest "capitalists" at their own game. :)[/quote]
Yep, except for the minor detail that they're stealing everything and profiting off of other people's work.[/quote]
and the funny part that americans are buying into it as "authorized" music downloading

"i paid for it, so it MUST be legal!"
:rofl:

tall that to the security scanner about that kilo youre bringing back from panama.
 
[quote name='bjkrautk']
Unauthorized transmission and re-broadcast of copyrighted material is a violation of intellectual property law. End of story. [/quote]
laws are only as valid as they are enforced. this one is enforced very randomly and only to scare people when the riaa gets angry. if the penelty for speeding was death, no one would speed...the penelty for file sharing is nothing (in 99.9% of cases) but then again, file sharing is not limited to programs, you better start hunting down every single person thats ever made a mix cd for someone they know.

Napster was shut down because it promoted this sort of illegality, and because it had a centralized infrastructure facilitating the illegal activity. Other P-2-P file sharing is just as illegal when it deals in copyrighted material
Click to expand...
napster was shut down because it pissed off a whiney drummer from a washed up rock band. end of that story. there are plenty of other centralized file sharing programs that are running now and have been running for years (kazaa, morpheus, soulseek)


Dress it up any way that you'd like, downloading and using illegal mp3s is stealing money from the record companies
Click to expand...
oh god...are you going to accuse me of stealing food from the mouths of dr. dre's kids? there is actully a diffrence in downloading songs and extorting money from a record company.
 
[quote name='mikefust']I found a great mp3 site a few months ago. I learned about it whilst reading Popular Science, so it is not some obscure thing. The site is www.AllOfMp3.com It is based out of Russia, so they charge in Rubbles! They charge the equivalent of one U.S. penny per megabyte - prepaid with a credit card like Visa/Mastercard. So each full ALBUM costs about a dollar in MP3 format. They have a huge selection and a very slick itunes-esque download program. I've been using it for months with no problems. It sounds too good to be true, but I can assure you it is not. When you vist the site, it will come up in Russian by default, but in the top left hand corner, you can select the english verstion. The only problem I've encountered with it is that the my credit card company will not authorize the charge unless I call them first- because Russia is shady. If you use a Visa/Mastercard DEBIT card instead, however, the charge will go right through.

Hope this helps some cheapass music listener out there![/quote]

In Mother Russia, all music should be free!!!
 
[quote name='punqsux'][quote name='Drocket'][quote name='camoor']Now that's a fair price. Funny that a Russian company is beating the world's biggest "capitalists" at their own game. :)[/quote]
Yep, except for the minor detail that they're stealing everything and profiting off of other people's work.[/quote]
and the funny part that americans are buying into it as "authorized" music downloading

"i paid for it, so it MUST be legal!"
:rofl:

tall that to the security scanner about that kilo youre bringing back from panama.[/quote]

It's legal in Russia, otherwise the company would have been shut down. There's some kind of legal loophole that this company is taking advantage of.

And your drug example is invalid, because purchasing a kilo of anything in Panama is illegal there and here. Next time, pick a place that it is legal to buy something that's illegal here, such as buying hash in the Netherlands and trying to bring it home. :D

Also, I'd like to note here that the prosecutable action is serving up mp3 files to other users, not having them yourself. The reason why individuals get prosecuted for using Kazaa or Napster or whatever is because they keep file sharing on.
 
FurthurNet is a P2P network only for bands that are verified to be "taper friendly"; in other words bands that are happy to have their fans trade show bootlegs. Check http://furthurnet.org/bandlist/ for a list of bands that allow p2p trading of live shows. Major label acts like Beastie Boys, Beck, Ben Folds, Jimmy Eat World, Modest Mouse, Incubus, and if your into "Jam Bands" you will find an utterly unholy amount of Dave Matthews, Phish & Grateful Dead as well as every other band that enjoys stretching songs past the 20 minute mark.

One thing to note is that while you can find mp3 bootlegs on there alot of the albums are in .flac or .shn(both lossless codecs so you can burn perfect duplicate CDs) as bootleggers tend to be very anal about quality. However if you view the "Download - Other Tools" area at http://furthurnet.org/ they have all the stuff the convert those to mp3, wma, ogg, aac or whatever else your little mp3 player. Anyway FurthurNet is worth a shot if you are after legal mp3s.
 
It's legal in Russia, otherwise the company would have been shut down. There's some kind of legal loophole that this company is taking advantage of.
Click to expand...
i understand that its legal in russia, im sure its legal in hong kong too :wink:

And your drug example is invalid, because purchasing a kilo of anything in Panama is illegal there and here. Next time, pick a place that it is legal to buy something that's illegal here, such as buying hash in the Netherlands and trying to bring it home. :D
Click to expand...
yeah i was just tryin to be a jerk, way to ruin my fun Xop
 
Why not stick to the topic and respect the OP's wishes rather than be a troll in a thread.

My opinion on the legality of MP3's doesn't matter because that's not what the OP is asking for. Since when did cheapassgamer.com turn into a community that just bashes people based on their own beliefs. I've enjoyed this board because of how we've been helping each other out.

Seriously, you all need to grow up.

Yo OP, I heard paypal gives like five free songs if you use paypal. But too bad apple doesn't want to release the code for their ac3 encoding. =P
 
[quote name='nikkai']Why not stick to the topic and respect the OP's wishes rather than be a troll in a thread.

My opinion on the legality of MP3's doesn't matter because that's not what the OP is asking for.

...But too bad apple doesn't want to release the code for their ac3 encoding. =P[/quote]

Wow. Did you just chastise everyone on this thread for talking about how screwed up the music business is, and then chime in with your own comment about how screwed up the music business is?

Message from pot to kettle received.
 
[quote name='camoor']Wow. Did you just chastise everyone on this thread for talking about how screwed up the music business is, and then chime in with your own comment about how screwed up the music business is?

Message from pot to kettle received.[/quote]

Um. No sir, I didn't.

I'm not talking about people bashing the music industry. I"m saying that people are just insulting the OP's desire to look for industry authorized mp3's and that's not what this board is about.

And the comment regarding apple is not "chastising the music industry." It's my own comment that I wish I could play an ac3 file on my iriver.

The reason why I think these posts are pointless is that it just turns into an argument and everybody gets all emotional.
 
[quote name='alongx']It's legal in Russia, otherwise the company would have been shut down. There's some kind of legal loophole that this company is taking advantage of.[/quote]

Yes, and the name of the loophole is 'bribing local officials'. As punqsux sorta said/implied, shutting down pirate websites in Russia is roughly equal to shutting down bootleggers in Hong Kong. They have the local law enforcement on their side because local law enforcement tends to get a large cut of the profits. Shutting down Russian pirate sites is pretty much a doomed effort - You have to bribe god knows how many people to get anything done, and the pirates simply set up shop elsewhere in Russia the next day anyway.
 
[quote name='Drocket'][quote name='alongx']It's legal in Russia, otherwise the company would have been shut down. There's some kind of legal loophole that this company is taking advantage of.[/quote]

Yes, and the name of the loophole is 'bribing local officials'.[/quote]

Russia isn't the only place that bribing occurs.

"Souls Along the Way," the love song Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch wrote for political rival Sen. Ted Kennedy and his wife a few years ago, has found its way to Hollywood in the box office hit "Ocean's 12."

...Hatch's moonlighting as a songwriter has made him a bigger star in one of his pet political crusades: to enhance digital copyright protection of artists by cracking down on illegal sharing of music files over the Internet.

...Hatch joined with Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., to sponsor the "Induce Act." Their bill would have made it illegal for any company to create technology that "intentionally induces" a computer user to violate copy protections.

Although championed by the music, record and film industry, the measure died after a storm of opposition from the consumer electronics, e-commerce and technology lobbies

...he is increasingly attracting popular artists to perform his songs, which tend to focus on themes of religion, patriotism and love.
Click to expand...

http://news.dmusic.com/article/15275
 
Check out emusic.com. There is a free trial that allows you to get 50 free songs. A credit card is required, but I signed up, downloaded 50 songs, and cancelled with no problem. They sell monthly plans to download music, and it averages out to about 30-50 cents per song. Completely legit.
 
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