[MikeB06]

My sister got a Zen Micro for Christmas and she and my dad are looking at sites like walmart.com, amazon.com, real.com, and itunes for downloadable songs. I was wondering what format each site offers their songs in and which are compatible with the Zen Micro. I know amazon.com is in mp3 format, and I think itunes is only compatible with ipods, but generally how are the quality of these files? Thanks.

 

[Latexxx]

Zen micro can play mp3 and wma. Most stores (except itunes & real) sell wma std @ 128 which is supported by your player. Msn sells wma @ 160 kbps and a store, the name of which I can't remember, has some songs @ 256 kbps wma though most of their collection is at 128.
Creative's store sells 192 aac and their player can convert the songs to wma for your player. You can select bitrates up to 192 kbps.

 

[bangraman]

I'm not entirely sure whether this is OK to post, but as far as I know there is no law against the import of music from Russia and they are 'legit' over there. Pay a visit to www.allofmp3.com wher you can choose the download format that you want. The difference in price is due to the fact that the artists are paid mechanical royalties instead of download specific royalties (which tend to be much higher)... and this is OK in Russia.

 

[MikeB06]

Wow

. Thanks bangraman, I think I'll have to try out that site myself. Lately I've been purchasing CDs for the sole purpose of ripping them to ogg, then the CD collects dust, so I'll give it a shot. Depending on how it works for me, I will recommend it to my sister and dad. Thanks!

 

[Charlie87]

EDIT: I downloaded the AllofMP3 Explorer, that simplified things

 

[Taphil]

I finally looked into allofmp3.com today. Albums at LAME APE for ~$0.75, singles at ~$0.08 each? I used a one-time-use credit card number.

is all I can say.

 

[blessingx]

Yeah, the site is great. Just keep in mind you have a choice (with many albums) between files transcoded from 384 kbps MP3 or 'original source'. The later costs around twice as much.

 

[MikeB06]

Quote:

Originally Posted by blessingx Yeah, the site is great. Just keep in mind you have a choice (with many albums) between files transcoded from 384 kbps MP3 or 'original source'. The later costs around twice as much.

So, I am assuming the files that cost $.02 per Mb and labeled as "Online Encoding" are the only ones not transcoded from a 384 kbps MP3?

 

[Taphil]

Are the lower bitrates <384kbps transcoded??? I didn't know that. That sucks, but I'm only out $1.

 

[MikeB06]

Ok, now I am confused

. I dont see how you can get lossless compressed codecs like FLAC and Monkey's Audio, but only be able to transcode to lossy from a 384 kbps mp3 file. From what I have read on the site, the files marked with OE are available to be encoded from the 'original source' into all lossy codecs, but those with OE EX can be encoded up to full CD-quality wav files. So...since only the OE EX files can be encoded to lossless, does that mean they are the only ones encoded from the original CD source file, and OE files are encoded from a 384 kbps file? The beginning of my post is confusing, but please enlighten me before I purchase any songs NOT "OE EX".

 

[fokfokfok]

Those sites are not approved by the music industry, and since the artist's don't get any money there's really no point in buying from them. It's like paying for nothing.

 

[Taphil]

http://www.museekster.com/allofmp3info.htm

Looks like non OE EX tracks are transcoded.

Also http://www.museekster.com/allofmp3fa...ofmp3%20legal?

 

[MikeB06]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fokfokfok Those sites are not approved by the music industry, and since the artist's don't get any money there's really no point in buying from them. It's like paying for nothing.

That doesn't make any sense. It is a Russian company, operating legally and purchasing rights to the music from the record companies. As far as I have read on the links posted by Taphil, importing legally purchased music files is legal. Paying for nothing? I don't see how it would be any different than going to Russia, purchasing a CD, and returning to the US with it.

 

[ChickenScrtchBoy]

Basically, he says that the artists gets nothing. This is true either way.

 

[Vashin]

According to the articles, the money is going to the songwriters.