Ares

[Sandwich]

I've come accross this download service. It seems to good to be true. Unlimited downloads for .99 a month not per song! Anybody see a catch? Is this truly legal? http://realmusicnow.com/members/index.asp?loginflag=1

[Matridom]

How can I stay legal?
Stay legal and avoid breaking the law. Quick steps to stay legal:

1. Make sure there are no potentially infringing files in your shared folders - meaning only files that are in the public domain, for which you have permission to share or are available under pro-sharing licenses .


2. Remove potentially misleading files names that might be confused with the name of an RIAA artist or song (e.g. "Usher" or "Madonna") from your shared folder.


3. Disable the "sharing" or "uploading" features on your P2P application that allow other users on the network to get copies of files from your computer. Music companies are focused on finding people who share thousands of files on their computers with the rest of the community. If you don't share - you reduce the risk.

File sharing under guidline #1 is totaly legal, you can even do that on public pier 2 pier, like bit torrents.

it's a pay usage p2p network. from what it says here, it does not apear to be regulated, just a bunch of mumbo jumpo to keep the laywers happy. They also apear to take no responsibility if illegal trading *does* take place.

Save the money and share the same legal music on other p2p networks.

[Sandwich]

So by paying the .99 cents per month, you really get nothing? No legal files!
I knew it was too good to be true!

[Richard1]

Hey Sandwich,
I use a service called Real Rhapsody. Here's how it works. You pay like 5 or 10 bucks a month and you can keep as many songs as you want on your playlist(Unlimited). The catch is these are not MP3s they are actually proprietary files which have to be played using the Rhapsody interface. If you want the songs in MP3 format you can burn them to a disk at a cost of .99 cents a song. I never burn the songs so it's just the flat monthly fee for me. You can have it on more than one machine but only one can be logged in at a time.

Just as with any of the stores, there are some Big artists they can't get the licensing to, like, Led Zeppelin, Billy Joel, Black Sabbath and more. It's not perfect but it works well for me, because I'm always in front of my PC. Good luck and please let us know which service you subscribe to and how you like it.

[Matridom]

Hey Sandwich,
I use a service called Real Rhapsody. Here's how it works. You pay like 5 or 10 bucks a month and you can keep as many songs as you want on your playlist(Unlimited). The catch is these are not MP3s they are actually proprietary files which have to be played using the Rhapsody interface. If you want the songs in MP3 format you can burn them to a disk at a cost of .99 cents a song. I never burn the songs so it's just the flat monthly fee for me. You can have it on more than one machine but only one can be logged in at a time.

Just as with any of the stores, there are some Big artists they can't get the licensing to, like, Led Zeppelin, Billy Joel, Black Sabbath and more. It's not perfect but it works well for me, because I'm always in front of my PC. Good luck and please let us know which service you subscribe to and how you like it.

Along those notes, i use "Launchcast" by yahoo, it's an online radio station, but no commercials and they tend to have some big names, you unfortunatly can't download the songs, so it's PC only. The part i like is that it's adaptive, you rate songs and the station adjusts to your preferences.

It's also included with any premium yahoo account (i hear it's available for with the freeby accounts) I have a premium ID from a local ISP (who uses yahoo for e-mail) and access it that way. So technicaly, it's part of my ISP service

[Sandwich]

Well you see, I have all this vinyl, and I have invested in some software to remove scratches, so I make my own cd's by recording my vinyl into my computer and it's easy then to make cd's. Of couse my cd's are not recognized by the online id companies, but they play fine. It's a slow process. A few years ago I thought HEAVEN had arrived on earth. I could download all my old fav's in better quality than I could produce by my method. Not to mention how quick and easy it was.
Oh well, I use winamp's newest basic player for online radio.