Avian Gamers Network

Okay so now that I'm no longer a poor college student and one of about 25-30% of grads this year who actually have jobs...I should probably actually start paying for my music instead of "borrowing" it from friends...

Actually the truth is I ride the train into downtown each morning and out again at night and so getting some new music on my ipod touch is going to be key.

Any suggestions or experiences with any of the major players besides Itunes. I've glanced at Rhapsody and Napster, emusic seems like it has a limited library as well. As far as what I'm looking for I'm kinda open, not sure how much I would necessarily use a streaming service but Its a possibility, Monthly fee if Im getting streaming and a couple free downloads is decent (which has me looking at napsters new deal)

anyways any experiences would be great

_________________
Ryric Krael
Former Vice President AGN
Former Director, Section 6
Former Head of Department of the Treasury
-------
Ask not what your PA can do for you, but what you can do for your PA
"Gone Section Five"

I buy CDs!

_________________
X2-PB

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That makes me so optimistic in the progress of mankind... a spaceship builder who's stuck in the stone age.

iTunes I guess is alright.

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"Perhaps the sentiments contained in the following pages, are not yet sufficiently fashionable to procure them general favor; a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defence of custom. But the tumult soon subsides." - Thomas Paine, Common Sense

iTunes is the only one I have really used.

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"I built me a bomb and dropped it on every MFer who got in my way!"

iTunes is the only one I use. Havn't tried anything else.

It removes the need to backup the music. It handily comes in albums so you get lots of your favourite music together. And it also leads to the possibility of listening to a track that you might not otherwise have downloaded. For example, I got a CD of The Proclaimers for the track 500 miles, but I also discovered on it On The Way, King of the Road and Throw the R Away, which I wouldn't have listened to otherwise.


EDIT: Also I find it far easier to search through a collection of CDs to find a few tracks that suit my mood at that time than to hunt through a gigantic electronic collection (although I have one of those too, I rip all the CDs I buy!).

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X2-PB

Pathfinder Kingmaker Campaign:
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Star Wars: The Old Republic: - Not really playing
Antare Karmola - Jedi Guardian (32)
Antan Karmola - Jedi Shadow (21)
Arianae Karmola - Gunslinger (20)

iTunes is CRAP! anything associated with Apple is generally intrusive and crap!

I purchased an mp3 player for my wife that was generic and could use multiple programs for downloading music...

I have never like iTunes....I do think Rhapsody is ok...and have downloaded non-restrictive music in a .mp3 or .mp4 format that will play REGARDLESS of the music download service.

In my opinion the player needs to be flexible....after that the music download service needs to be flexible and not restricted to a particular format...that is the best option.

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The Cord
Occasional Caretaker of the Horde Maelstrom Guild
Ex-Section 3 Director

Couldn't agree more.
I have a 512 MB MP3 player, cost me 10 US$.
Have to say though that the connecter for the earphones tends to break on this particular type, but once it does that I usually just buy a new player. I can stille use it as a storage device... have three so far. (One ubuntu boot usb, DamnSmallLinux boot and a MS-Dos Boot USB)

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1st Feb 2008

I too agree with the itunes is crap theme.

Lately, I've been buying from Amazon. They have the DRM thing too. Their selection isn't the best, however.

From time to time I do also buy CDs.

My cable company , Wideopenwest or WOW, has it's own music service that I use. I kind of like it. You can get a monthly subscription service to it which basically allows you to download and play just about all the music on the site. You just can't burn it to a CD until you purchase it. And that's fine with me since my Xbox is on the home network and I just download them and play all the music through it on the home theatre. I have XM radio so that's what I listen to in my cars at at the office and I have yet to considered buying an MP3 player - no need for me. So their subscription system works out pretty good for me. When I do purchase a CD from them, it takes about 2 minutes or less to download the entire thing - very fast speed.

I thought I'd bring this up again as I've just thought of another point. CDs don't use compression so I can rip the music into any format I like without risking losing quality from converting from mp3. I tend to use the ogg format in general but there aren't that many portable players that support it at the moment.

_________________
X2-PB

Pathfinder Kingmaker Campaign:
Gednan Malithanar - Wizard (1)
Dukin Thunderstrike - Ranger (1)

Star Citizen: - https://www.robertsspaceindustries.com/
AntanKarmola on their forums

Star Wars: The Old Republic: - Not really playing
Antare Karmola - Jedi Guardian (32)
Antan Karmola - Jedi Shadow (21)
Arianae Karmola - Gunslinger (20)

You can use FLAC for lossless compression.

PS : "You may embed only 3 quotes within each other." wtf ?

_________________
Flyoc,
Farm with attitude.

I reset it at...ooh, lets say.... 9.

Good thing our forum admin is a problem solver.

_________________
~Ravage™
~I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.
~The problem with facts, is that sometimes they don't support your opinion.

Yes but only if you take it from a lossless source, which is why buying CDs is better than downloading mp3s, in my opinion.

_________________
X2-PB

Pathfinder Kingmaker Campaign:
Gednan Malithanar - Wizard (1)
Dukin Thunderstrike - Ranger (1)

Star Citizen: - https://www.robertsspaceindustries.com/
AntanKarmola on their forums

Star Wars: The Old Republic: - Not really playing
Antare Karmola - Jedi Guardian (32)
Antan Karmola - Jedi Shadow (21)
Arianae Karmola - Gunslinger (20)

Indeed mp3 to FLAC would be pointless. The best imho remains to lazily download FLAC

_________________
Flyoc,
Farm with attitude.