which online music stores are Linux-friendly?

newbiesforever · 12-10-2007, 05:31 PM

What's a good place to buy Linux-friendly music files (WMA or MP3--I don't use an iPod) online? I wouldn't try Wal-mart.com, because knowing Wal-Mart, I suppose their licenses probably demand the Windows Media Player. I prefer Passalong.com, because their system usually or always lets me have the file licenses back if I lose them due to a crash. (Wal-Mart never does.)

damonhart · 12-11-2007, 01:43 AM

Amazon (www.amazon.com) just went DRM-free on (all?) their MP3s available, so you won't trip over some Windows Media Player requirement related to DRM.

operator10001 · 12-11-2007, 12:02 PM

You are also forgetting magnatune.
here is the link:
http://www.magnatune.com

newbiesforever · 12-11-2007, 10:40 PM

"People's Republic of Berkeley, California"? Either what a sarcastic fellow, or what a jerk to name Berkeley after a fake people's republic. Until that, I thought it sounded like a nice project. And its search engine is broken.

And I wonder why Amazon would be so progressive as to get rid of DRM.

willie_joe · 12-12-2007, 02:56 AM

magnatune com its great

try it

newbiesforever · 12-22-2007, 03:29 PM

Magnatune's search engine and catalog were working today, so I looked in it. They don't appear to have anything but classical music, a little jazz, and lots of indie or underground music. I like classical, but I also like many artists, instrumental or not, who are popular enough to be sold by major retailers. Not a single one that I looked for is available.

reddazz · 12-22-2007, 03:32 PM

I use 7digital.com. Its UK based and sell mp3 and flac files which are drm free.

newbiesforever · 12-22-2007, 11:32 PM

Not bad. I looked up a handful of my favorite artists, and it had most of them, although some albums were missing. Why it should have some Acoustic Alchemy albums but not others, I don't understand. The machinations of the music industry?

matthewg42 · 12-23-2007, 01:14 AM

The best thing to do is contact the online store and tell them that you'd like to buy their product, but it doesn't work on your computer.

Consumer pressure seems to be the best way to go IMO, since some of the labels are experimenting with DRM-free, they are taking the idea seriously.

If the re-sellers get lots of messages that people want DRM free music but cannot get it, they might just pass that on to the idiots to mandate DRM, and who knows, they might even listen?

petespin27 · 12-23-2007, 10:04 AM

I like emusic. DRM free, and their download manager works on linux now. The caveat is that it is subscription based: you get so many downloads per the price a month, and they are yours forever. This is good if you plan to use the service every month, but not good if you only want a few tunes, now and then.

newbiesforever · 12-23-2007, 09:02 PM

Good idea, Matthewg42. I'll speak to my usual store, Passalong. (I'm not sure I would bother asking a major retailer like Wal-Mart to change, since it's probably too big and powerful to care what the consumer thinks.)

newbiesforever · 12-23-2007, 09:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by petespin27

I like emusic. DRM free, and their download manager works on linux now. The caveat is that it is subscription based: you get so many downloads per the price a month, and they are yours forever. This is good if you plan to use the service every month, but not good if you only want a few tunes, now and then.

Not a good idea for me. I'm afraid my music buying pattern is the latter, not the former.