Comments on: Amazon, iTunes, Other? Where Do You Buy Your Digital Music?

By: fathur yusli

fathur yusli — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 14:33:38 +0000

new song greenday i like

By: Allen

Allen — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 08:05:03 +0000

I buy my music from the iTunes Store.

By: Simon C.

Simon C. — Wed, 27 May 2009 04:34:48 +0000

I use iTunes before but since i’m out of us for 3 months now I can’t buy there anymore. I hope that they put a music store on iTunes Philippines. I paid a lifetime membership fee at ares pro music for just $30 something and i can now buy any music, music video, movies, e-book, podcast for free as long as you pay your membership fee.

for me, that’s not a problem because a have a lifetime membership fee.

you should definitely try one.

By: bv

bv — Sat, 23 May 2009 10:17:19 +0000

I use Spotify (when that comes to the US it is going to change everything!) which is just like having an iTunes Library with every song you could ever imagine in it. I find it’s only really useful to listen to catalogue stuff, but i like discovering new, edgy stuff. So, I use a combo of eMusic (90 downloads, been a subscriber for 3 years and could probably use three times that ammount every month) I also use the recommendations on Last.fm.

My favourite new tip is to download an App called Peel and subscribe to a bunch of MP3 Blogs that fit your taste.

I don’t think it’s as black/white as “Where do you buy your music”. Discovery and consumption is just as important.

By: Khürt Williams

Khürt Williams — Fri, 22 May 2009 11:09:08 +0000

iTunes FTW. Ease of use wins over price.

By: Rus

Rus — Fri, 22 May 2009 01:00:04 +0000

Tom …

I loaded up in free AmazonMP3 songs last year during the PepsiStuff promotion … 5 codes got you song … On my walks with my wife and son we found caps and boxes, we also had family and friends give us caps … amongst free 2gb thumb drives I also net 100 songs. I’ve done the same kind if thing for various iTunes promotions. I also rip from CDs that I find at the flea market for $0.25 to $1.00 – trying to find “Best of …” “Greatest Hits” or “Complilations”.

Last week Best Buy had 3 iTunes $10 cards for $25 … I’ve done similar deals with Staples and Radio Shack.

Occasionally … I download from limewire and rip audio from YouTube videos.

My local library also has a shared iTunes playlist and I can “rip” from that with Audio Hijack or rip from their 10,000 plus CDs in stock.

By: Richard

Richard — Thu, 21 May 2009 16:37:43 +0000

I like to buy physical CD’s and I like Vinyl records and when I feel good about myself I buy from iTunes.

By: Daniele Rossi

Daniele Rossi — Thu, 21 May 2009 16:19:17 +0000

I like to use beatport.com (electronic music). A useful feature they have is you can stream all the songs you want to sample like an online radio station (for free, too!). itunes is my primary store for convenience but their 30 second sampling isn’t enough for me as I’m usually discovering new new music on a store, not going there because I know the title.

By: dragaroo

dragaroo — Thu, 21 May 2009 15:03:49 +0000

Gotta second Lala – it’s a fantastic service – full length previews and 10-cent song streaming if you’re on the fence can’t be beat. Interface works much better than Amazon imo, but I go back and forth – iTunes, Amaazon, Lala – based on what I’m looking for.

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 21 May 2009 13:46:34 +0000

I’ve been using AmazonMP3 since it began, switching over pretty much entirely from iTunes. I can’t think of even one time I’ve attempted to buy something, looked in both stores, and found that iTunes was cheaper. More often than not, in fact, Amazon’s prices are shockingly low. I actually resent when an album I want can’t be had for $6.99 or less now.

I’ve never noticed a significant difference in the quality between Amazon MP3s and iTunes AACs, so that isn’t an issue. I’ve never opened a single liner notes PDF that came with an iTunes purchase. I still haven’t spent the nearly $100 required to convert my old iTunes purchases to the iTunes Plus files that everyone else gets to have now at no additional premium, and may never do so, considering that $100 for music I already own is equivalent to quite a few albums over at Amazon that I don’t.

As for eMusic, I tried it once, but found very little of interest. Similarly Amiestreet was quite underground in terms of selection when I last checked. It’s not that I don’t like indie music (I am generally quite open to it). It’s just that I don’t have the time to spend sifting through online stores to find it.

By: justelise

justelise — Thu, 21 May 2009 11:27:41 +0000

As soon as Amazon started selling MP3s I quit iTunes for good. Anyone who says Amazon’s interface is difficult to use is just daft. There’s a reason why they’re recession-proof, and after their sales last quarter, I really don’t think the interface is getting in anyone’s way. You can’t really beat the prices or the download speed, and I’ve never had a download crap out on me like they have on iTunes (no it’s not my connection either). New albums are for under $5.00 constantly and sometimes they’re $2.99! I could give a crap about liner notes and live bonus tracks, because I rarely read the notes unless I’m doing research, and largely don’t like listening to live music (I’d rather pay to go see a concert in person). I’m fine with iTunes for playing my music, but that’s it. I don’t buy anything from the iTunes store anymore, and I haven’t since the $0.30 upgrade fiasco. I really resent paying for something twice. I won’t even go into the movie/tv show thing with iTunes either.

By: RealG

RealG — Thu, 21 May 2009 06:09:46 +0000

I search through iTunes, buy exclusively from Amazon. I don’t care about the esthetique when I download a CD in under one minute. There is a big difference in price between iTunes and Amazon, especially for movies. I clearly don’t see the point to pay more money for the same service with iTunes. Although I love iTunes.

By: BustersDad

BustersDad — Thu, 21 May 2009 02:48:18 +0000

I tend to comparison shop between Amazon & iTunes for reasons very similar to yours — not necessarily audio quality but price. Amazon is missing a couple of features that I like in iTunes, particularly the “popularity” rating that shows which songs are being purchased. This is particularly helpful if I do not intend to purchase the whole album but one or two highlights. So I often shop in iTunes and then purchase in Amazon.

The other reason I browse, and purchase, in Amazon is that they provide a lot of free and deeply discounted content. I have picked up great new releases for $4.99, with a heads up from the newsletter or Twitter. Amazon also provides hundreds of free tracks and lots of great label samplers. The “free on iTunes” section is a mere pittance compared to the number and quality of what is offered on Amazon. And that gets me over to Amazon, browsing and shopping.

By: fm

fm — Thu, 21 May 2009 02:21:50 +0000

I tend to buy CD’s when I can find them for $9.99 for two reasons. First, I want the best sound quality I can get for the home system, and second I don’t want to be nickel and dimed every time the resolution at the stores goes up (i.e. an extra $.30 from iTunes to get rid of the DRM and increase the file quality).
If there is a single song off an album I want then I tend to use either iTunes or Amazon, depending on price and the quality of the file. That was Amazon for a while but now iTunes looks to have a slight edge (the files look to be similar quality, so convenience wins). The only downside to buying the actual CD is figuring out where to store them.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Thu, 21 May 2009 00:54:16 +0000

I was a member of eMusic during my one-month free trial, then got stuck with a second month I didn’t want and milked the heck out of it. When it was up, that was it for me and eMusic.

Besides that, if the music I want is available on a used CD for less than the digital download, I buy it and rip it myself. If the music is free—whether I want it or not—I’ll download it from any legal site. If it’s superbly cheap on Amazon and I actually want it, I’ll download it there. Otherwise, it’s iTunes all the way, baby!

By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 20 May 2009 23:13:08 +0000

iTunes only for me. No good reason, just how I am.