[Kevin143]

Right -- they are encoding the files from lossless to your chosen bitrate, but only on certain files and when you pay for the priveledge. Even on so-called "online encoding exclusive" files, you must pay extra to have your file encoded from the original lossless file and not the 384 kb/s MP3. Give it a try, open up an order window for an online encoding exclusive song. Tell it you want an --alt-preset standard MP3. Now, check the box for "Use original audio-CD data as the encoding source" and you can see that the price to order the CD has doubled, even though it is still being converted to the same format.

 

[Thump]

What ilikemonkeys said-go for downloading complete shows in SHN or FLAC format (lossless). I get most of mine from bit torrents listed at www.sharingthegroove.com .

 

[Spent&Bent]

I have been using allofmp3.com also, for a few hard to get songs (well, I was impatient for these to show up from certian sources really...)

What I wnat to know is: when I select a lossless file if this is available, is the file actually just from an mp3???? so the filesize just increases but not the actual quality.
I have seen a few "exclusive" albums, mostly new ones, are these "exclusive" albums the only ones that are truly based from the original cd? if this is so I have been wasting my time on downloading changed mp3 to ape files, this sucks.

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Aging Rapidly

I also do a lot of artists' individual sites, but they're not usually complete songs, I'm just sampling them...

 

[james__bean]

That allofmp3 site looks pretty cool. I registered for it but something I can't figure out is how much does it cost to be in the VIP club? All it really tells you is what the cost for each download will be. Is it free to be in the VIP club?

edit: nevermind I figured it out.

 

[james__bean]

OMG! AllofMP3 is freakin awesome! I'm not really interested in downloading loss-less albums, but downloading 320kb MP3's is easy and it's really cheap. I love this place

 

[Jeffie]

40% of what I've dl'd from allofmp3 has been crappy rips
with digital extraction errors.(pops and clicks).

And thats only the in the first 1g I've checked...
and its not like I'm an audiophile...But the least they can do is provide a quality RIP.

IN one case, they rip'd what sounds like a copy protected CD, and just put the result on their site, complete with the errors introduced by the
copy protection.. (Cuz it sounds the same as when I tried to RIP
a copy protected CD).

I guess you get what you pay for..

 

[terrymx]

i'm not big into buying mp3s and all that, but recently signed up for club.mp3search.ru. you have to deposit first ($20 or more), then you can use that money to buy whatever mp3. the mp3 are average at 256kbs, mostly 192kbs to 320kbs, some vbr. on an average, a total ablum usualy cost 90cents to $1.25 to buy, so about 8 to 15cents per song. you are also allow to stream songs for free, which is very good if you are looking for new band and want to know if you like the music before you buy it. missing a few very underground band, but otherwize they have a very wide selection.

my main reason to use the service is to seek for rare album by underground band that are sometime not in production anymore or hard to get.

 

[Jeffie]

Is the quality of the rips there?

The problem I had with allofmp3, is the quality of the rips varied
from good, to god damned awful!

 

[cosmopragma]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeffie 40% of what I've dl'd from allofmp3 has been crappy rips with digital extraction errors.(pops and clicks). And thats only the in the first 1g I've checked... and its not like I'm an audiophile...But the least they can do is provide a quality RIP. IN one case, they rip'd what sounds like a copy protected CD, and just put the result on their site, complete with the errors introduced by the copy protection.. (Cuz it sounds the same as when I tried to RIP a copy protected CD). I guess you get what you pay for..

??????????????
There are two kinds of files, the preencoded ones (fixed bitrate) are not ripped by them but uploaded by users.
In my experience you get about 20% bad rips there, really annoying, barely better than P2P, just a bit more convenient.
The online encoded files are much better, less than 5% screwed, and to me even that is too much.I don't know what these russians are smoking.Proper ripping and encoding is so easy.I've recently complained about that and got no answer.
40% ? Probably there is something wrong with your setup/hardware.
Or with my ears.

I think I'll test club.mp3search.ru, let's hope they are better.
I'm purchasing, ripping, selling the music I really adore via ebay anyway, in order to get the lossless files this music deserves.

 

[CSMR]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cosmopragma Favourites discovered via this service or otherwise I purchase used via ebay, rip them properly, encode them to lossless, and sell them afterwards. Again, that's legal in Germany.

That can't be legal! Buying a CD, taking the data and then selling it? Whether or not it's legal it has to be immoral! What if a group of friends buy one cd and sell between themselves, all keeping the data? Maybe the whole of Germany could do this!

 

[abstruse]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CSMR That can't be legal! Buying a CD, taking the data and then selling it? Whether or not it's legal it has to be immoral! What if a group of friends buy one cd and sell between themselves, all keeping the data? Maybe the whole of Germany could do this!

Uuuhm CSMR i think he means he buys the albums, rips them to get a perfect losless file and then sells the original album on ebay again.

And if not, then it's "unverschämt"

 

[CSMR]

I know. I'm saying that it's absurd to allow people to copy cds and sell the originals on. Once you've sold a cd I don't think you should be able to listen to your copy. If there were no sense of guilt at this and everyone knew it was legal then this practice would be so rampant that there would be hardly any cds sold. Really if Germany lacks such a law then all other contries should retaliate and declare all content produced in Germany freely copyable outside Germany using this method.

 

[kevincme]

Many places, but the best one as far as breadth and ease would be the Live Music Archive

 

[cosmopragma]

Quote:

Originally Posted by abstruse Uuuhm CSMR i think he means he buys the albums, rips them to get a perfect losless file and then sells the original album on ebay again. And if not, then it's "unverschämt"

Exactly.