I purchase the vast majority of my music online, usually though http://www.middlepillar.com or http://www.strangefortune.com. Their prices are good and they cater to the music I enjoy. If it is a more mainstream purchase, I'll order from Amazon.com or deepdiscountcd.com. If I am buying locally, disc exchange or bestbuy, but the selection at both is less than stellar.

I normally buy about 3 cds a month. Used to buy more until my dvd addiction took over.

I download music all the time, i am a musician and it does'nt bother me in the least...I am not into music to make a profit, I am in it because thats how I live my life. When I download something and I like it I usually buy it on vinyl or cassette. I dont see buying cd's anymore because to me music is something I hold dear to my heart so when I buy on vinyl I know it cant be replicated. Music on vinyl just seems more personal to me.
Usually when I download it's something I've never heard to start with so if it sucks I don't buy it and usually delete it off my hard-drive. If it's a keeper i will eventually buy it.

power-electronics wrote:I dont see buying cd's anymore because to me music is something I hold dear to my heart so when I buy on vinyl I know it cant be replicated. Music on vinyl just seems more personal to me..

I've ripped music from vinyl before. You just have to be a bit more erm.. "creative" in accomplishing it. It's pretty useful though, especially if you'd like to carry your old albums around on a Discman, or simply don't want to keep taking that limited edition Pink Floyd album out of its display case.

RCA inputs and alot of stop/starting == vinyl rips.
how i got my samhain bootlegs on kazaa.........

junkie christ wrote:RCA inputs and alot of stop/starting == vinyl rips.
how i got my samhain bootlegs on kazaa.........

Yeah. Works with tapes, too.

I wasn't saying that vinyl couldn't be ripped, i was just saying its not the same as watching it spin on the turntable! I think vinyl carries the best sound, even better then cd...unfortunatley the more you listen the worse the record becomes. When listening to power electronics, noise, and death industrial it cant get any better. The packaging is always better as well.

Logic wrote:There's a difference between hurting and not helping. It would be impossible for me to hurt any band by downloading their music.

And if those bands stop playing because they aren't earning money then fuck 'em. They probably suck anyway.

Gotta disagree here. If I were making money as an artist (be it as a writer, artist, musician, whatever) I would be quite incensed if someone were stealing what I published, distributed, whatever.
I'd definitely consider stealing from someone to be a "hurt," not just a "not helping" -- just like if someone stole my paycheck.
It seems to hurt established acts more than new ones. Bands often need the exposure more than the royalties in the beginning, but the reverse is true once they make it big.
I don't see the point of saying that they probably suck if they want to get paid -- even artists need to eat, pay rent, have health care, etc.

Wow. You completely missed all of that.

junkie christ wrote:fuck the RIAA.

and the MPAA.

Caustic wrote:Thieves.

Liars. Hypocrites. Bastards.

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As far as dloading music goes, I see no problem with it when done responsibly.

It's the unwashed masses with 100gb's of mp3's on their hdd's and 10 retail CD's in their CD collections that's the problem.

It's people (RIAA) trying to sue other people to reclaim 'lost monies' that there is no reason to believe they would have acquired in the first place that's a problem.

It's people with large computers, fat bandwidth and small brains that's a problem.

If you're an indie artist and someone dloads your song, becomes familiar with your band, and becomes a fan.. later buying your album, and maybe coming to see you live... would you rather have that, or would you rather that person to not have ever heard of you?

If you like a band/artist enough to want to have every single song on a given album, common decency dictates that you should go out and buy the album (if it's available at all). If you'd rather have it for free, there's a good chance you were never going to buy it anyway. If you can live with that.. *shrug* some people can live with killing children for shits and giggles too, it's all about your perspective.

Keep in mind that just about anything in excess can be bad, file sharing is no exception. It's no reason to ban it or make it illegal though. There are many instances where it's a great tool, and beneficial to artists and fans alike as well.

I think that in the bigger picture.. we should just sterilize everyone with an IQ under 100, and throw all executives of large corporations who can't tell you the difference between hdd space and memory, in the gutter. Technology is rapidly changing and if your business model can't keep up or you're unwilling to adapt it to what's out there now, then you need to retire and let those with some sense take over.

damnit I'm a bitter bastard.