Do you use a digital music service? Want to talk about it?

[remagavon]

Hey everyone! I need a bit of research information for an article I?m doing, and posting here would be a great way to reach the demographic I need to

Scope:

I?m doing research for an article concerning the current state of online music services, both subscription based such as Yahoo! Music, or Napster, and non subscription based, such as iTunes.

If you use any legal means of listening to music on your computer, I?d love to hear from you. This can also include non-online music services, for example there are a sizable amount of people who choose to purchase their music CDs through retail outlets or magazine services, and rip them to their computer for use there and on a digital music player.

I?m a journalist-in-training, so I will need a few pieces of information from responders. Your first and last name, your age, and the city/town/village you live in should be plenty of information. If you would rather not give your full name for everyone to see, please feel free to private message me. All information will be used only for this article, and I am not working in an official capacity for any service or company, I?m simply trying to project solutions for online music services in an objective manner, using your subjective opinions on the matter.

I will be quoting sources (you) for this article, so I would love insightful responses, even if they don?t exactly adhere to my questions?your thoughts on these matters really are valued.

Questions:

1. Do you currently use an online music service? For how long have you been using that service?
2. If yes, what made you choose that particular service over the competition?
3. If you aren?t using an online music service, why not? What would it take to get you to sign up, or are you simply not interested at all in procuring music this way?
4. Do you own a digital music player, and if so, which one? (I am aware that your choice of player will seriously limit the choice in music providers, so if you are using a certain service because it is the pack-in with that player (i.e. iPod/iTunes), feel free to extrapolate).
5. Are you concerned about where the industry is headed, or are you instead excited about the possibilities? How has digital music changed the way you listen to music?
6. Any other thoughts, feel free to talk about whatever you like.

Thanks in advance for any responses, if the forum authorities have any problem with this thread feel free to close it or contact me, I look forward to hearing from you. This isn?t a slap-dash project that I?m throwing together at the last minute; I simply can?t go into my local mall and approach people asking about digital music, the demographic balance more strongly in my favor here, so thanks for understanding!

 

[acemcmac]

I do. It's called µTorrent.

it's really cool. I go to torrent-finder.com and type in the music that I want. I then download a .torrent file, load it into µTorrent, exempt the music I don't want, and viola!

It's awesome, and you don't need a credit card!

Whenever you hear something on the radio that you like, but dont hear the song name, there are torrent files that actually include the whole billboard lists too! How awesome is that?

 

[GeneValgene]

i use:

iTunes
allofmp3

 

[yllus]

1. I use allofmp3.com occasionally.
2. It's ultra-cheap.
4. I've owned the Creative Nomad II in 1999/2000, the Rio Carbon 5GB in 2004, and the iPod Nano 4GB currently.
5. I don't really care about the industry, music isn't overly important to me. Digital music and its ease of access has made me listen to more music than ever before, though. I never bought tapes or CDs.
6. Podcasts rule.

 

[acemcmac]

Funny article about allofmp3

 

[remagavon]

Originally posted by: acemcmac
Funny article about allofmp3

Although that's outside the scope of my article, it is pretty damn hilarious. I agree to a point that eventually we will see a more direct connection (distribution of materials) between the performer and the consumer, especially where 'upstart' bands are concerned.

Thanks for the responses so far.

 

[Viper GTS]

1. Yes, Yahoo! Music. ~1.5 years or however long it's been around.
2. Price, under $5 a month was too hard to pass up.
3. N/A
4. Nope
5. I'm excited for subscription models, I think they're great. I find all kinds of new music using Yahoo, stuff that I'd never find otherwise. However...
6. I always end up buying the CD of stuff I like because quite frankly the quality leaves a lot to be desired. This is the glaring flaw in all current music services, their files are simply too highly compressed to be really useful. I don't mind DRM so much (particularly for subscription services), but I absolutely will not buy music that isn't bit-perfect to the original CD. The $5 a month is great as a rental fee to access their huge collection, but I won't buy a single track. When it comes to music I actually buy CD's aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

Viper GTS

 

[remagavon]

I appreciate the response Viper GTS

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: remagavon


1. Do you currently use an online music service? For how long have you been using that service?
2. If yes, what made you choose that particular service over the competition?
3. If you aren?t using an online music service, why not? What would it take to get you to sign up, or are you simply not interested at all in procuring music this way?
4. Do you own a digital music player, and if so, which one? (I am aware that your choice of player will seriously limit the choice in music providers, so if you are using a certain service because it is the pack-in with dthat player (i.e. iPod/iTunes), feel free to extrapolate).
5. Are you concerned about where the industry is headed, or are you instead excited about the possibilities? How has digital music changed the way you listen to music?
6. Any other thoughts, feel free to talk about whatever you like.

1) yes i started with Newsgroups/ Napster and then moved to Scour - CuteMX.... and finially to torrents, and i buy CDs
2) Free and easy to use, no way to get crap IE virii and such
3)...
4) yes, i have a IAudio X5L
5) i have no idea where its headed
6) i like cheese

 

[remagavon]

Thanks a lot Anubis !

 

[blurredvision]

1. I currently use Napster's To Go Subscription service, but have only used it for about a month so far. Before that, I used iTunes exclusively for over a year and a half, way before I ever owned an iPod.
2. I chose Napster because of the free month trial I got with my new mp3 player. What can I say, I like free months .
3. n/a
4. My music player of choice is the Creative Vision M.
5. I'm not really concerned about the direction of the music industry. Music is part of who we are as humans, and it will never go away, not even in the form that it is now. The model might change, but not the delivery. As far as my listening habits, digital music definitely has changed them. The abilities to hold thousands of albums in your hand at once completely redefines carrying around 3 large binders of CD's, and the ability to stream music to most anywhere with playlists and the like just simplify things tremendously.
6. My other thoughts? Let's see......the dominancy of the iPod is only a bad thing for this industry IMO, and allofmp3.com is still piracy, no matter who you are paying.

 

[sswingle]

Originally posted by: acemcmac
Funny article about allofmp3

Free music from allofmp3!!??! Where do I sign up?