LEGALLY-I would recommend Napster or iTunes.

 

If there's more than four or five songs that I like, I probably already bought the cd. If there's only a song or two that I'm looking for, or if the group was a one-hit-wonder, I don't mind paying iTunes for a song or two.

Don't go looking for Metallica, Zep or the Beatles, though.

 

Yeah I use iTunes and Sony Connect (cuz I have a MD player)...between them there are few things I can't find.

 

heres my .02 on this whole music thing...

I use iTunes to manage and play my music, but to download it legally, i use walmart.com. The file format is protected .WMA files, but to unprotect them you just burn them to a cd and then rip the audio files off the cd using either iTunes or Windows Media Player and they are no longer protected.

The reason i dont use iTunes is their files are all in AAC format, and if you ever want to use a different MP3 player than an iPod in the future, most of your library wont be able to play.

 

I like Soulseek. And I have the free version of iTunes on my notebook and absolutely love it, however, you pay for those songs.

 

I just can't believe that someone would spend ~25.000$ for a brand-new muscle car and then go ahead and download music illegally for his 500$ Shaker 500 radio. And then even say "I don't share", the straw that breaks the camel's back. Certainly, there's the problem that a lot of these music stores don't let you download MP3s, but that's a very minor problem. First, the easiest way is to burn a IMAGE(!) file of the album, then use something like Daemon Tools to mount the image as a virtual CD drive and rip the tracks from it. No need to even waste five minutes and a CD-R for burning the album. Second, there's plenty of tools that will remove the copy protection and create MP3s (dunno about how legal or not it is in the U.S., here in Germany it's problematic, as you may create backups of your music, but breaking copy protections is illegal since beginning of the year unfortunately). And third, if you're looking for MP3 download stores, try http://www.allofmp3.com/ - a russian site, but legal, as they're paying royalties in russia. You can select the format (MP3, WMA, OggVorbis) and the bitrate, and download the files.
But don't say "the artists are rich enough anyway" or whatever. That's both a wrong and stupid point of view. They work, so they want to earn money, and regardless of how much it is, they have a right to get their money. If you have a job that doesn't earn you as much as Kylie Minogue, why don't you just stop complaining and try to become a popstar yourself. It's about respecting what others created. Period. And the very same goes for software. Of course Bill Gates is the richest man in the world, but that doesn't give anyone the right to use a copied version of Windows. Even if it stinks.

 

Actually the same scenario applies to AAC files as well. Burn them to CD or a disk image in iTunes and Rip them to MP3.

 

That's the whole point. After you buy a 25k car the last thing you want to buy or can afford is a Music CD with 3 good songs on it.

 

Who needs music anyway when you can listen to this:

Red 05 GT

 

I've heard rumors that Apple Computers is looking to buy Apple Records (the beatles lable).

 

I'd be very careful using kazaa. Kazaa and limewire are the 2 main sites the RIAA targets. I would use a legal system like napster or itunes or buy the CD and rip it yourself.

 

Then maybe you should have a small bit of morality and use a service like Napster or iTunes to buy those 2 or 3 songs that you like on the CD

 

Then maybe you should have a small bit of morality and use a service like Napster or iTunes to buy those 2 or 3 songs that you like on the CD [/b][/quote]
Hey I'm a musician too so I understand that stealing music is wrong but if I like the 3 songs that I downloaded I'll buy the whole album.