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#1 2007-07-28 13:30:29

veek
Member
Registered: 2006-03-10
Posts: 167

Can't legally buy music on Linux...argh!!

I can't find a service that will let me buy music on Linux, and it's driving me mad!

iTunes has an established store with a huge selection and Linux users can't access it.
I installed XP on vmware and ran iTunes like that, but it's a ridiculous solution.
On top of that, thanks to DRM I can't even play those files in any other media player so I have to log onto vmware to hear the tracks.
I guess DRM is a separate matter although that drives me nuts too. Overall it's an absurd setup.

Why do I have to bend over backwards to legally buy and listen to music online???


Now real has released RealPlayer 10 with a built in music store, also with quite an impressive
collection, and Linux users don't have a way to access that either.

I've been trying to get iTunes and now realplayer running under wine for ages and no luck.

Is anyone else frustrated by this, or are there some services I've overlooked??


Thanks for any input everyone

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#2 2007-07-28 14:00:20

lucke
Member
From: Poland
Registered: 2004-11-30
Posts: 4,018

Re: Can't legally buy music on Linux...argh!!

Amarok has Magnatune support (and generic music store support is planned for 2.0, if I'm not mistaken), thus it is possible to buy music in the Linux world. I don't know what selection of music Magnatune offers, however.

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#3 2007-07-28 14:02:06

smoon
Member
Registered: 2005-08-22
Posts: 468
Website

Re: Can't legally buy music on Linux...argh!!

I recently purchased some music at http://www.magnatune.com/. You can listen to all of their music on their website or even from within players like Rhythmbox or Gmpc. Once you decide to buy something you can determine yourself how much you'd like to pay. After paying via Paypal you can choose to download the music in the format of your choice (they even send out CDs if you like that better). Also you are allowed to give the download-link away to a few friends (can't remember how many), so that can get the music as well.
All in all it's a great service, but unfortunately they don't have too much music. Also most is pretty unknown, though there's some really great stuff.

Maybe http://www.drmfree.org/ is of help as well.

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#4 2007-07-28 14:09:28

iphitus
Forum Fellow
From: Melbourne, Australia
Registered: 2004-10-09
Posts: 4,927

Re: Can't legally buy music on Linux...argh!!

I found this thing called a CD store which sells drm free music, and you get a nifty backup frisbee with its own case, just in case your computer dies.

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#5 2007-07-28 14:13:58

veek
Member
Registered: 2006-03-10
Posts: 167

Re: Can't legally buy music on Linux...argh!!

hey lucke, yea I found Magnatune, but as you and smoon alluded to, selection is pretty limited.
One of the things I'm currently looking for are some tracks performed by classical guitarist John Williams.

smoon, I didn't know about that drmfree search site before, thanks a bunch for the info.

iphitus, I'm not sure I follow...are you suggesting I leave my computer in order to buy music?:)
Also I have more frisbees than I know what to do with.

Last edited by veek (2007-07-28 14:15:48)

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#6 2007-07-28 15:47:47

Dusty
Schwag Merchant
From: Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada
Registered: 2004-01-18
Posts: 5,986
Website

Re: Can't legally buy music on Linux...argh!!

veek wrote:

iphitus, I'm not sure I follow...are you suggesting I leave my computer in order to buy music?:)

ROFL, of course not!!!
http://amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/102-05 … .y=0&Go=Go

Dusty

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#7 2007-07-28 17:15:30

skymt
Member
Registered: 2006-11-27
Posts: 443

Re: Can't legally buy music on Linux...argh!!

eMusic is another popular DRM-free music store that probably has more popular artists than Magnatune.

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#8 2007-07-28 19:52:20

daedalusman
Member
From: CO, USA
Registered: 2006-12-05
Posts: 258

Re: Can't legally buy music on Linux...argh!!

skymt wrote:

eMusic is another popular DRM-free music store that probably has more popular artists than Magnatune.

I second emusic, I have been using now for about a year and I'm loving all the new artists I'm finding there, great stuff.

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#9 2007-07-28 19:55:54

rayjgu3
Member
From: Chicago IL usa
Registered: 2004-07-04
Posts: 695

Re: Can't legally buy music on Linux...argh!!

http://www.archive.org/details/audio

compltely free no pop-ups no registration works great no matter your os
alot of it can be streamed through browser via flash
if you want more check out
http://bt.etree.org/
completely legit
dont try to upload any torrents unless you can prove approval from the band

enjoy the tunes

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#10 2007-07-28 21:46:48

dolby
Member
From: 1992
Registered: 2006-08-08
Posts: 1,581

Re: Can't legally buy music on Linux...argh!!

what i find frustrating is people not buying the actual media the music is released on and instead prefering to buy mp3s/flac/someotherdumbfileextension


There shouldn't be any reason to learn more editor types than emacs or vi -- mg (1)
[You learn that sarcasm does not often work well in international forums.  That is why we avoid it. -- ewaller (arch linux forum moderator)

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#11 2007-07-28 23:12:04

veek
Member
Registered: 2006-03-10
Posts: 167

Re: Can't legally buy music on Linux...argh!!

Thanks for the tips fellas I'm going to check out all the suggestions.

dolby wrote:

what i find frustrating is people not buying the actual media the music is released on and instead prefering to buy mp3s/flac/someotherdumbfileextension

I can't see why dolby.

What is the value of the media? It's all digital anyway.
All my music ends up in "some dumb" file format on my computer or mp3 player.

I could see an argument against lossy compression methods (due to loss of fidelity) gaining dominance in the market though.

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#12 2007-07-29 04:44:42

dolby
Member
From: 1992
Registered: 2006-08-08
Posts: 1,581

Re: Can't legally buy music on Linux...argh!!

damn i shouldnt have posted this here.  anyway since its really OT, i'll just limit myself to the following.
u ask whats the value of the media. thats exactly one of my points , and the only one im gonna stick to right now. the files u download from a site have a value of 0.
the media (or a CD in your occasion since u clearly stated the digital connection) has some value. even if its very close to 0 (which really depends on the music) it has some. comparing that with the 0 value of the files that equals to infinite.
buying the tracks/songs is a waste of your money since you get nothing for them in return.
there is, though, 1 scenario where downloading music would make sense. that is wanting only 1-2 tracks/songs from a whole CD.

& finally: http://www.ram.org/ramblings/philosophy/fmp.html
hope more people will actually understand the meaning of the content of the above link than the ones they did where i posted it last time even though the audience is more limited smile


There shouldn't be any reason to learn more editor types than emacs or vi -- mg (1)
[You learn that sarcasm does not often work well in international forums.  That is why we avoid it. -- ewaller (arch linux forum moderator)

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#13 2007-07-29 06:35:17

daedalusman
Member
From: CO, USA
Registered: 2006-12-05
Posts: 258

Re: Can't legally buy music on Linux...argh!!

dolby wrote:

damn i shouldnt have posted this here.  anyway since its really OT, i'll just limit myself to the following.
u ask whats the value of the media. thats exactly one of my points , and the only one im gonna stick to right now. the files u download from a site have a value of 0.
the media (or a CD in your occasion since u clearly stated the digital connection) has some value. even if its very close to 0 (which really depends on the music) it has some. comparing that with the 0 value of the files that equals to infinite.
buying the tracks/songs is a waste of your money since you get nothing for them in return.
there is, though, 1 scenario where downloading music would make sense. that is wanting only 1-2 tracks/songs from a whole CD.

& finally: http://www.ram.org/ramblings/philosophy/fmp.html
hope more people will actually understand the meaning of the content of the above link than the ones they did where i posted it last time even though the audience is more limited smile

Great stuff. This is pretty much how I have been looking at this issue for a while now though I wouldn't have been able to say it in such a way. Thanks for the link.

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#14 2007-07-29 09:07:15

cry0x
Member
Registered: 2007-04-11
Posts: 91

Re: Can't legally buy music on Linux...argh!!

iphitus wrote:

I found this thing called a CD store which sells drm free music, and you get a nifty backup frisbee with its own case, just in case your computer dies.

Why purchase a compact disc with 10-15 songs, when all you may want is just one or two of them? Seems wasteful.

Edit: I see dolby has already addressed this issue. Oh well.

Last edited by cry0x (2007-07-29 09:09:34)


Who is this doin' this synthetic type of alpha beta psychedelic funkin'?

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#15 2007-07-29 14:58:03

stonecrest
Member
From: Boulder
Registered: 2005-01-22
Posts: 1,190

Re: Can't legally buy music on Linux...argh!!

I second both magnatune and archive.org.


I am a gated community.

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#16 2007-07-30 05:10:10

hussam
Member
Registered: 2006-03-26
Posts: 572
Website

Re: Can't legally buy music on Linux...argh!!

Can't something like DRM be ported to Linux?
DRM by itself is good as it attempts to reduce piracy.

It is just a matter of time. Once there are enough Linux users out there, someone will figure out something close to DRM to enable Linux users to be able to purchase music.

Last edited by hussam (2007-07-30 05:21:17)

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#17 2007-07-30 07:03:29

shining
Pacman Developer
Registered: 2006-05-10
Posts: 2,043

Re: Can't legally buy music on Linux...argh!!

hussam wrote:

Can't something like DRM be ported to Linux?
DRM by itself is good as it attempts to reduce piracy.

It is just a matter of time. Once there are enough Linux users out there, someone will figure out something close to DRM to enable Linux users to be able to purchase music.

DRM is indeed the only thing missing for Linux to be perfect.


pacman roulette : pacman -S $(pacman -Slq | LANG=C sort -R | head -n $((RANDOM % 10)))

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#18 2007-07-30 10:43:08

wuischke
Member
From: Suisse Romande
Registered: 2007-01-06
Posts: 630

Re: Can't legally buy music on Linux...argh!!

You are not by chance being ironic, are you? Or are you just ... different?

I may have different ideas about freedom, but whilst I'm perfectly happy to buy a CD of a band I like, I'm a bit ... hesistant to spend money for something which restricts me in terms of usage (like converting it to ogg and putting it on my portable player).

Last edited by wuischke (2007-07-30 10:43:20)

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#19 2007-07-30 16:54:25

karsten
Member
Registered: 2006-07-14
Posts: 261

Re: Can't legally buy music on Linux...argh!!

shining wrote:
hussam wrote:

Can't something like DRM be ported to Linux?
DRM by itself is good as it attempts to reduce piracy.

It is just a matter of time. Once there are enough Linux users out there, someone will figure out something close to DRM to enable Linux users to be able to purchase music.

DRM is indeed the only thing missing for Linux to be perfect.

lol thats the quote of the year:)

Last edited by karsten (2007-07-30 16:55:20)

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#20 2007-07-31 23:45:21

hussam
Member
Registered: 2006-03-26
Posts: 572
Website

Re: Can't legally buy music on Linux...argh!!

wuischke wrote:

You are not by chance being ironic, are you? Or are you just ... different?

I may have different ideas about freedom, but whilst I'm perfectly happy to buy a CD of a band I like, I'm a bit ... hesistant to spend money for something which restricts me in terms of usage (like converting it to ogg and putting it on my portable player).

DRM isn't against 'freedom'. It's only against your faulty understanding of freedom.
If you are not paying for a license to be able to convert it to ogg, how come you expect to have the freedom to do so?

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#21 2007-08-01 02:57:53

Gullible Jones
Member
Registered: 2004-12-29
Posts: 4,863

Re: Can't legally buy music on Linux...argh!!

Because you bought it and you might wish, for whatever reason, to convert it to ogg for your own personal use - that falls under fair use. There's a difference between copying for personal use and copying for illegal distribution.

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#22 2007-08-01 05:17:09

hussam
Member
Registered: 2006-03-26
Posts: 572
Website

Re: Can't legally buy music on Linux...argh!!

Gullible Jones wrote:

Because you bought it and you might wish, for whatever reason, to convert it to ogg for your own personal use - that falls under fair use. There's a difference between copying for personal use and copying for illegal distribution.

That only applies if the license mentions whether you are entitled to make a backup copy for personal usage or not.

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#23 2007-08-01 06:14:03

karsten
Member
Registered: 2006-07-14
Posts: 261

Re: Can't legally buy music on Linux...argh!!

hussam wrote:
Gullible Jones wrote:

Because you bought it and you might wish, for whatever reason, to convert it to ogg for your own personal use - that falls under fair use. There's a difference between copying for personal use and copying for illegal distribution.

That only applies if the license mentions whether you are entitled to make a backup copy for personal usage or not.

the law allows this

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#24 2007-08-01 07:14:50

shining
Pacman Developer
Registered: 2006-05-10
Posts: 2,043

Re: Can't legally buy music on Linux...argh!!

hussam wrote:

DRM isn't against 'freedom'. It's only against your faulty understanding of freedom.
If you are not paying for a license to be able to convert it to ogg, how come you expect to have the freedom to do so?

If you are not paying for a license to be able to be stupid, how come you expect to have the freedom to do so?


pacman roulette : pacman -S $(pacman -Slq | LANG=C sort -R | head -n $((RANDOM % 10)))

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#25 2007-08-01 07:57:00

wuischke
Member
From: Suisse Romande
Registered: 2007-01-06
Posts: 630

Re: Can't legally buy music on Linux...argh!!

We're getting OT here, but nevermind and I'm not going to argue about "freedom" or - to phrase it different - "ideals of freedom" as this is even more OT.

Well, Yes, you are right. In a legal sense I am only allowed to use a music file with the restrictions its DRM puts on me and at least in Germany I do not have the right of a backup copy if I have to circumvent a copy protection technology (=DRM) first, no matter how trivial this is.

And DRM is not primarily about piracy. It is about incompatibility to the competition. Try to play a Microsoft DRM file on a IPod. You can't and you can't convert it to an IPod compatible format, because DRM forbids exactly this. Try to use an Itunes DRM file on a third-party MP3 player. You can't.
Nowadays it doesn't matter anymore as "IPod" is already a synomymous for portable music player, but in the beginning it made a big difference and killed many third-party players as they had no (good) shop offering music files for them.

Anyway, I seriously recommend you to get a Mac. It will do almost everything Linux can do, will be able to do more (pricy) things and you get the best possible compatibility to the leading online music distribution format. As long as you own an IPod for mobile listening. wink

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