When looking into UK charity Oxfam's music download service, I was told I _had_ to be using IE 5 or greater, with Media Player.

Most of the web based services are run by a company called od2, who don't like anything which isn't IE.

Does anyone know of a [preferably web based] legal site from which I can download MP3's?

All the one's that exists are exclusively for windows users, and have extensive use of flash.

Although this isn't a direct answer to your question, it might work. One of these browsers is capable of sending its identification as something else (like IE 5 for example):
Konqueror
Opera

I honestly don't remember which one it is; maybe both. That doesn't guarantee it will wok; it just means the browser should get passed any initial checks their server makes.

jmorse

Take a look at

www.allofmp3.com

Works fine with Firefox, also extremely cheap

Pete

Just what I was after!

Many thanks.

I tried to use konqueror, which can change its useragent. But it then couldn't handle all the flash animations.

For Reference: Warning over 'illegal' MP3 site

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5051826.stm

So again I'm looking for somewhere to buy music, without Buying Windows first.

Any suggestions?

First up, I presume the useragent trick didn't work?

It is possible to run MSIE on Linux, using Wine -- this link will give you an easy install: http://www.tatanka.com.br/ies4linux/index-en.html
That should allow you to get to the site.

However, if they're being picky about you having Media Player, it's also possible that the music you want to download may not actually be in MP3 format, in which case you may find you still have problems once you've downloaded it. (you may be able to play it, but it's worth checking first before you start spending money)

Good luck!


ps -- if you feel strongly about it, you could write to od2 and complain about it. It probably won't help much, tho.

the problem is even if you find a legal music site offering music downloads its highly likely they will be wma and infested with drm which makes them unplayable on Linux.

I knoe emusic have big name artists for download in mp3 format, so there free of any drm. I am not sure wether you havr to use a cleint though, or wether a web browser is what is used.

magnatune is good, you can downlaod music in a variety of linux friendly formats, ogg, flac wav etc. There not big name artists, but you can choose how much you seed the song/album is worth so you paywhat you like.

The user-agent trick doesn't really work very well. Sites work to a point, and then fail to start Windows Media Player.

I found this list: http://www.pro-music.org/musiconline...ion-europe.htm
Which is supposedly a list of 'legal' download sites.

I am currently working down the list!

I worked down, but while their players may work on a Linux Box, it boils down to: you need windows xp to buy and download.

Sad, isn't it?