Music stores online
I realized that I wasn't buying CDs anymore. The physical product itself is useless to me and thus a waste of resources and storage space, and I don't have any use for the product as sold - I still need to rip it to use it.
So it's off to the online music stores. I had not used them due to wide-spread DRM previously, but I'd read in several places that the situation isn't as bleak as it used to be. However, last night I couldn't find any of the music I wanted in a store I could use.
iTunes: great - if I lived in America and used an iPod. I don't want to be forced to do the MP3 conversion myself. Also, the localized store does not carry the same selection the US one does.
Amazon MP3: great - if I lived in America. They don't sell outside of North America. ("Global" store is "coming".)
Bleep.com: great - when I'm looking for electronic music. MP3 and FLAC available, sold everywhere, alright prices, horrible website.
All of the local variants in Finland - outrageous pricing (more than double the US standards), highly compressed WMA with restrictive DRM, very limited selection.
Do you guys have any recommendations for music stores which -
A) sell MP3s without DRM and with 256+ kbps quality
B) sell globally - or at least to Europe (and no, "UK" != "Europe")
It doesn't matter if they're genre-limited or whatever, I'd just like to have a list of stores where I can actually shop for music.
As it stands, the Amazon CD store is my best bet, as they tend to have very good prices and don't mind shipping to Europe, even if I can't buy the same songs digitally from them. But it takes a while to ship and I'm stuck with a CD I have to rip.
http://dustygamer.mcmuumio.net | Xbox Live Gamertag MC Muumio
You can still use the US iTunes Music Store, you just need a little creativity to do so.
a) you need to create an account with a US address
b) add credits to that account using iTunes Gift cards specifically bought from the US
c) purchase songs w/o DRM (iTunes Plus)
I've never received a single piece of mail from iTunes. its all electronic receipts.
And, you can purchase the Gift Cards in all sorts of places.
eMusic doesn't appear to have any DRM and if you've subscribed once they'll occasionally give you a nice re-subscription bonus offer, which you can immediately cancel (usually netting you about 100 downloads for $10).
Their selection is generally limited when it comes to big names but they do have some real gems in there, with lots of The Mountain Goats's CDs and Tarja's new album (Winter Storm), her first since she left Nightwish. They have their own downloading software but you don't need to use it and I'd recommend you not as it often has trouble actually downloading your files, which is a huge pain in the butt.
Also, once your subscription lapses you no longer have access to your download history or the files you already purchased, even if their crappy software kept you from EVER downloading some of them (and, like me, you found out too late that you don't need to use it). Their tech support is responsive and helpful but also lies to try to sell you the product; I was told that my download history would only be preserved for two months if I don't resubscribe even though the first CDs I downloaded over a year ago are still on there.
After my most recent troubles, details of which are buried in the above paragraphs, I was offered 60 additional downloads if I resubscribed but I didn't as I'm not sure I could come up with another 90 songs worth downloading. Still, coming back to it every few months I can usually find something new and worth getting.
NOTE: This is not a doodle bug.
BF2142 Stats
The store that I've been eyeing for a while, because their portfolio is abso-freaking-lutely fantastic is: www.soulseduction.com. I can't guarantee their downloads as I haven't actually bought anything from them yet, but if you do, please let me know. I'm itching to buy stuff from them. I think they are Austrian based. My thing is, I still want actual CDs and I haven't been able to figure out how to buy any from them.
Another store I've been eyeing is www.etchshop.co.uk. I know that you said you're not interested in UK, but I figured I'd toss it out there.
And finally a small label that I just have to plug like mad is US based ESL. I actually bought a CD off of them and will do again, many times ($14.89 delivered to my door just can't be beat considering that my local music store was asking $28 for that particular CD). Not sure if their music has DRM or not.
(@)