I just hope it grows in popularity.

isolationism

Fri Nov 10 20:46:02 -0800 2006

manage

Yes, of course -- I bought music from there in their first year of business and downloaded both FLAC and Ogg Vorbis versions of the same album (why not, it was part of the deal). To thank me for being their customer, they gave me a coupon for another album, gratis. Very nice.

Magnatune is slowly being discovered not only by users but also by developers (which is why the Magnatune store is now included by default in the latest version of Amarok) and perhaps most importantly by artists.

If artists start flocking to the store then everyone will really win: The artists will make a lot more for their online sales, the consumer will get the music in the format they want and get to use it the way they want to, and the RIAA's pockets won't be lined with as much cash.

Even if you have to scramble a bit to find something you really like, buy something from them anyway and support a business model that consumers can actually get behind. You can set your own price (within reasonable guidelines defined by the artist), try for free before you buy, and best of all, know that you're putting a lot more money into the artist's pocket compared to buying something from iTunes (if I recall correctly, half the cost of an album goes to the artist).

Has Anyone Else Discovered Magnatune?

seanf

Fri Nov 10 22:35:22 -0800 2006

manage

Emusic.com is another DRM-free service, although they don't have the range of format options that Magnatune offers (MP3 only). Still, it's not a bad service. A lot of great indy stuff, and a few classic rock gems hidden here and there.

Has Anyone Else Discovered Magnatune?

Chuck Burgess

Sat Nov 11 10:26:53 -0800 2006

manage

Hadn't heard of emusic.com before.  Took a glance at their site, and can't help but be slammed over by the big FREE TRIAL flash.

Some other online shopping this morning has had me checking unfamiliar URLs with the Better Business Bureau (bbb.org), and they show me two different business listings with the same www.emusic.com URL... one has a good reputation, whereas the other does not (due to dealing with free trials... hmmm).

I'm curious about how your service with them has been.

Has Anyone Else Discovered Magnatune?

seanf

Sat Nov 11 10:50:00 -0800 2006

manage

I don't want to sound like a shill for eMusic, but to be honest I'm very pleased with the service.

It *is* a monthly subscription service, so you can't just pop in, buy something, and leave - but that's what the free trial is for, so you can get a feel for the service and decide if you want to stay. I don't really see that as a bad thing. And they've been around since 1999, making them one of the oldest players in the digital music distribution business.

My single complaint: during my free trial, I discovered that eMusic had Frank Zappa's entire discography available. This was the main reason I joined - it doesn't get any better than cheap, DRM-free Zappa. But a couple of weeks later, Rykodisc (Zappa's label) was purchased by Warner, and the Zappa catalog vanished from eMusic. Some of the forum activity seems to indicate that it will be back, but I'm not holding my breath.

Apart from that, which isn't even eMusic's fault, I don't have a single complaint about the service.

Has Anyone Else Discovered Magnatune?

Chuck Burgess

Sat Nov 11 11:06:11 -0800 2006

manage

I'm still checking out more of the artists on magnatune, but I think I will be giving emusic some time later to see/hear what their artists are like.  If they had Zappa at one point, I'm guessing that they actually have some mainstream label-constrained artists available in their library.

Thanks for the shill ^H^H^H^H^H opinion ;)
CRB

Has Anyone Else Discovered Magnatune?

wolfger

Sun Nov 12 03:14:35 -0800 2006

manage

I used to sound like a shill for emusic, but then their billing department screwed me over.... All I have to say is, if they tell you your account is being suspended, be very careful. When they told me that, I thought to myself "well, I'll just let it stay that way for a while". Then I find out two months later that they quietly unsuspended my account without telling me, and therefore billed me for 2 months of service I never used. When I caught it, they refunded me those two months without a hassle (kudos to customer service for that!), but the whole incident has left a pretty bad taste in my mouth.

Has Anyone Else Discovered Magnatune?

zotz

Sat Nov 11 07:31:33 -0800 2006

manage

"Think we can rouse the geek world behind this service?"

I doubt it, at least not me. Last I checked, they were using the Creative Commons NC option and that is a big red flag in my book. Now if they used Attribution (BY) or Attribution-ShareAlike (BY-SA) only, I would be there.

I surely hope the Free Software world never gets any bright ideas about using anything like the NonCommercial option for their software.

In any case, my non-software works get BY-SA licenses for now until I come across something better. (more nearly copyleft?)

all the best,

drew
Sayings - Deterred Bahamian Novel
CC BY-SA (money and mouth etc.)

Has Anyone Else Discovered Magnatune?

Chuck Burgess

Sat Nov 11 10:23:12 -0800 2006

manage

You are correct, they use the Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.  Looking at this from the consumer listening to music however I want to listen to it aspect, I'm not seeing the problem with the NonCommercial piece.  When it comes to software, assuming I want to be able to modify it rather than just use it, I see your issue.  But, since I'm not a music user and modifier in any aspect (commercial or not), I'm not really sure using that parallel presents an argument to me.

The debates around music that I've followed have mostly been about restricting my ability to take music I've purchased and play it on whatever device I want to listen to it on.  I haven't seen any debates about whether or not I can buy a copy of your song and feel free to modify it a little and then sell it myself.

Help me understand your position against that license...
CRB

Has Anyone Else Discovered Magnatune?

Chuck Burgess

Sat Nov 11 11:07:39 -0800 2006

manage

Bruce, what's your take on these Creative Commons licenses in regards to music?  Have you had to delve into that area in the past?

Has Anyone Else Discovered Magnatune?

zotz

Sat Nov 11 14:35:52 -0800 2006

manage

"Help me understand your position against that license..."

Well, the same way not all people who benefit from Free Software are programmers, and yet Free Software is still good for them, not all people are musicians, but they can still all benefit from Free Music.

Let me give you what is perhaps a dumb example:

For the last three years, I have entered the NaNoWriMo contest over at http://www.nanowrimo.org

Now, for 2004 and 2005 I won and am on course to win again this year. The books are:

2004: Conch - A Bahamian Novel
2005: Tings - Anuddah Bahamian Novel
2006: Sayings - Deterred Bahamian Novel

Now, as you can see, you can go and read 2005 and 2006 and they are under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license, so you can sell them if you can, build on them, whatever, sort of like with the GPL and code.

Where is 2004? Well, That one was set in the 1970s and I made the mistake of including lines from songs that were on the radio back then. It is being edited now by someone else, and some day I may have the guts to go back and rip out the quotes and write around them to patch up the holes, but there you have an example where non-Free music can effect a person who does not need to be a musician.

I also have poems and other works which will likely never see the light of day due to similar reasons. Plus, it stifles music and you end up with less music. Musicians traditionally build off of each other's works in ways similar to coders. I could go on. If this is not a good enough explanation, please say so and I will try again.

Now, that is my theoretical reason to be in opposition to NC. There is a practical reason as well, NC is total confusion. Check out the CC license and community mailing list archives for the complex discussions which are yet to be resolved.

all the best,

drew
Bahamian Nonsense
Also CC BY-SA

Has Anyone Else Discovered Magnatune?

Ben Hutchings

Sat Nov 11 19:19:01 -0800 2006

manage

Including lines from songs is likely to be considered fair use, though most publishers won't take the risk.

Has Anyone Else Discovered Magnatune?

zotz

Sun Nov 12 04:51:09 -0800 2006

manage

"Including lines from songs is likely to be considered fair use, though most publishers won't take the risk."

Here is the thing: "likely to be" and "most publishers won't take the risk" and while I might agree on the former, why should an individual who wants to release his novel on the net for free downloads and under a copyleft type license take that risk? Especially where some copyright violations can land you in jail these days and ignorance of the law is no excuse.

Also, there is no lack of advice out there on the net that claims it would be a violation.

all the best,

drew
http://musicians.opensrc.org/DrewRoberts

Has Anyone Else Discovered Magnatune?

Mathinker

Mon Nov 13 06:36:07 -0800 2006

manage

> Now if they used Attribution (BY) or Attribution-ShareAlike (BY-SA) only, I would be there.

Given your viewpoint as I understand it from other posts here, didn't you mean to say:

--> Now if they used ShareAlike (SA) or Attribution-ShareAlike (BY-SA) only, I would be there.

(or am I not understanding something?)

I personally feel there is room for NC (although I agree that its current implementation *is* a mess). I for one would puke if I published music using a CC non-NC license and Sony, for example, started to make lots of money off of it by pushing it via all its sheep-leading advertising channels.

OTOH, Sony wouldn't be able to use whole-media DRM when distributing it, so maybe you have a point. (But being cynical, I assume their lawyers would figure out some way to distribute it with DRM and a small-print notice where it could be downloaded without DRM.)

Has Anyone Else Discovered Magnatune?

Chad

Sat Nov 11 20:31:42 -0800 2006

manage

Version 1.4.4 of Amarok now has Magnatune support integrated. Hopefully that will help spur community adoption once it becomes widely available. Not many distros have it yet outside of Debian Sid and Ubuntu Feisty.

Chad
http://linuxappfinder.com

Has Anyone Else Discovered Magnatune?

leodp

Sun Nov 12 00:31:46 -0800 2006

manage

Ther are others, check out:

http://www.jamendo.com/

jamendo is broken

wolfger

Sun Nov 12 03:37:20 -0800 2006

manage

Thanks for the pointer, but all of the music links turn up a "forbidden" error, and when I click to "register now", the home page just reloads. I wish it was working so I could check it out....

jamendo is broken

wolfger

Sun Nov 12 04:54:29 -0800 2006

manage

It's working now...

Has Anyone Else Discovered Magnatune?

wolfger

Sun Nov 12 03:20:25 -0800 2006

manage

For free-as-in-beer Radio, I find the Pandora project to be fantastic. I have recently stumbled upon Magnatune myself, but have not had much time to explore it yet.

Used it for some time now :-)

nvj

Sun Nov 12 08:03:12 -0800 2006

manage

The selection is limited, but it's got a quite nice range of classical. Of the other genres offered I'm most into rock, but they're rather lacking in selection there.

I like what I've bought, the way it's packaged and sold and I like the principle behind it: Sell People What They Want. Major labels have lots to learn here.

As a little extra bonus you can give copies to your friends.

Has Anyone Else Discovered Magnatune?

Gnomidala Palaneg

Wed Dec 27 06:16:50 -0800 2006

manage

Hehe. Magnatune.com is not evil, but they have no major hits. Try to find disco music there! When it comes to the task of fast download of something DRM-free from Hedkandi or mmmm.... S&M for example I would rather suggest www.mp3ninja.com.
Give link to Amarok please.