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Sites to legally download lossless music?

post #1 of 26
7/6/09 at 9:34pm
Thread Starter 
Are there any good sites at all where you can pay a monthly fee to download lossless files? So far buying CDs seems like the only way. Thanks.
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post #2 of 26
7/6/09 at 9:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Solarfall View Post
Are there any good sites at all where you can pay a monthly fee to download lossless files? So far buying CDs seems like the only way. Thanks.
Sort of. Recently Spotify has launched this thing where for 9.99 a month you can get cd quality songs. I am not sure if it's lossless but that's as close as you'll get. BTW AFAIK you stream the music on Spotify. Anyways good luck.
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post #3 of 26
7/7/09 at 12:32am
I don't any legal ones but I know other ones!
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post #4 of 26
7/7/09 at 2:39am
Quote:
Originally Posted by FALC0NR14 View Post
Sort of. Recently Spotify has launched this thing where for 9.99 a month you can get cd quality songs. I am not sure if it's lossless but that's as close as you'll get. BTW AFAIK you stream the music on Spotify. Anyways good luck.
I doubt it's lossless, most online shops say their files are CD quality. And a few years ago 128kbps mp3 was considered CD quality, still is by some.
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post #5 of 26
7/7/09 at 2:52am
If you like Jam bands, archive.org has free lossless downloads and many are soundboards, some good aud, you can test the sq by listening to a vbr stream at around 192 bps and if it sounds good download the flac. If you like the type of music they have, you could fill all your external harddrives for the rest of your life. I have probably 150-200gigs from there not counting the ones i lost in a failed HD.
Edit-It is free.
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post #6 of 26
7/7/09 at 9:17am
HD Tracks ( HDtracks high resolution audiophile music downloads ) is a good source. It is set up like iTunes / Amazon, with purchases by song or album.

David Grisman's site, Welcome to Acoustic Disc Online , also has lossless.
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post #7 of 26
7/7/09 at 9:59am
Downloading music is legal in Canada! Uploading...not so much :P
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post #8 of 26
7/12/09 at 6:51pm
x2 for HD Tracks. Not only are these loseless but some are high resolution as well. Very easy to use. Just have to be careful about resolution on highest resolution files and various programs you need to down convert these for iPod for instance. Most of the music is from smaller labels but lots of high quality jazz, classical, fold, and blues.
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post #9 of 26
7/13/09 at 8:35am
I just signed up for magnatune.com last week, very happy with it. You can stream the full duration of all the music there online without any fees so you can check out what you like before buying/downloading. They have a membership program, for $60 for a 90-day subscription you can download as many albums as you want in various formats like 128kb ogg/mp3, ~250kb vbr mp3, flac, wav, and itunes. They only have one hip hop artist though and the majority of its 600+ catalog is instrumental or new-agey. Listening to the instrumentals first then will try out the rock/pop which I haven't tried yet but I am hoping will be good, who knows though the best-selling albums list they have is mostly instrumentals.
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post #10 of 26
7/13/09 at 12:00pm
In a hurry, sorry if these have already been given:

HDtracks high resolution audiophile music downloads

HDGIANTS - MusicGiants - Music Collections
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post #11 of 26
7/13/09 at 12:25pm
https://www.beatport.com/

for anything electronic (WAV dls)
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post #12 of 26
7/13/09 at 1:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by euphoracle View Post
https://www.beatport.com/

for anything electronic (WAV dls)
but you're from Canada! why pay? lol
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post #13 of 26
7/13/09 at 8:20pm
I also vouch for HD Tracks! A really good on-line store with a nice catalogue of 24/96. I've also used Naim Label and Linn Records, Naim is good if you're into new music, Linn is for the classical minded.

Also, I'd like to shout out for the Society of Sound, it's a really interesting project driven by B&W and Peter Gabriel. You subscribe with a monthly fee and get to download high res music of new and interesting artists... Really good!

regarding Spotify, It's not loss less. Spotify compresses all music in 160 kbps (free service) or 320 kbps (paid subscription) using the Vorbis codec... it sounds alright though and well worth the subscription fee
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post #14 of 26
7/14/09 at 2:25am
nm
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post #15 of 26
7/14/09 at 2:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ABathingApe View Post
but you're from Canada! why pay? lol
Because garbage Xing MP3's on bittorrent don't amuse me. Also, I dare you to find the original version of most electronic songs :\ (that means something not mixed into some garbage comp).
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