Be Excellent To Each Other

I thought I would join the download revolution the other day so I bought a laptop (i'm writing from it now, woo!) and an ipod.

I've been mucking around with itunes for a bit, which is interesting, and I've downloaded some bits and bobs but I've noticed that for anyone with an interest in hip hop the UK site fucking hates you. A quick scan of the US site reveals most of hip hops backcatalog which has annoyed me greatly. A friend of mine says get a utility called Linewire but I've been on the linewire.com site and it won't let me register. Humph. I'm not even sure it'll let me download to my ipod and I'll probably have to fork out for a generic mp3 player. Bastards.

So I was wondering if anyone would care to share where they get their music from - do you have to download anything; does it costs anything/much; can I download to an ipod; that sort of stuff.

P.S. Anyone doing a bit of CoD'ing later on tonight? If we could get about 8 or so we should avoid the riff raff and play by ourselves.

I'd recommend something like Magnatune. Of course if you want commercially available chart-type stuff, you're buggered with licencing to be honest. I buy most of my music direct from the bands, such as Machinae Supremacy.

I sometimes buy from

http://www.bleep.com - Mostly Rough Trade and associated labels, offering 320kbps mp3 and sometimes lossless. Pay as you go, paypal and stuff.

http://www.audiolunchbox.com - they have a subscription system, but I just buy an album at a time (usually $10). Only 192kbps VBR, though

I also have an account at http://www.wippit.com which is a gold mine of mostly a bit older stuff. £50 for an annual "all you can eat" subscription, but the site is painfully slow and breaks a lot, so you get fed up and don't bother.

Those are the paid-for ones I use. I don't use itunes because it won't accept anything I put in for a telephone number, not even my real one.

For most of my paid stuff, I've been buying from play.com's Play Digital service. Everthing's either 192 or 320kbps MP3, no DRM, you can listen to previews on the site and you can buy a bunch of stuff and download it in a single zip file. Regular prices are 70p a track, but buying whole singles/eps/albums works out cheaper.

Oh, neat. I didn't think of play.com . That said, I like the others because I can spend paypals on those.

Thanks VERY much... uh, 'AceAceBaby' (I just can't get used to that) for the recommendations there, particularly Bleep! Fucking hell. I was thinking TWENTY MINUTES AGO that I wanted EXACTLY that.

Simply for having loads and loads of stuff from 4AD*, Domino, Warp, Rough Trade and Bella Union, I owe you a pint. I'm astonished how many different label are all signed up with Bleep.

* Except 4AD artwork is bestest, so er, bugger. Still, at least it means you can get the following for only £5.99, which is a bargain for any sane person (about half swirly piano-enhanced 'classic period' Cocteau Twins, some of them long instrumental, piano-oriented pieces, showcasing Harold Budd**) for the music alone.


(click to go lookie-see)

** who I really need to hear more of, for fuck's sake CUS.

That album fucking RULES! God damn, I love the Cocteau Twins soooo much!

Bleep is very recommended btw, the musicians get a decent slice of the income from sales, unlike iTunes where they get practically fuck all.

Well, Lullabies to Violaine is probably the best way to be introduced to them. They were a singles band really, and that compilation has the likes of "The Spangle Maker", "Aikea-Guinea" and many other of their best stuff, from what I consider to be their peak. It covers their whole career (the last album or two being argubaly their weakest, of about 10 I think), so it's a good place to start. The album I linked to... is a good example of some aspects of them, but not of others. It's before Liz developed the more choral singing voice she's known for (as heard on Massive Attack's 'Teardrop' for example). It's when they were at their semi-gothiest.

I have no idea if you would like it JOHNMID (damn you!). Your last.fm list is pretty electic though. Just don't expect clean modern laser-sharp production. It has a beautifully murky sound, which I personally love, but others might find 'old'...

edit: if you go there and have a look, you can listen to samples apparently.

Treasure is probably my favourite, but Heaven Or Las Vegas is probably their most accessible for someone being introduced to them. The Lullabies to Violaine best of is a very good introduction. I agree with CUS on the production comments, I love their 80's hazy, shimmery sound, it's almost other wordly. This for me is Pop at its greatest.

I have Lullabies, which is why I know I didn't get on with them too much. Except for Winter Wonderland and Frosty the Snowman, which were fab.

When I first decided to get into the Cocteaus (as I'm sure Peely called them at some point), I was furnished with mp3s of 'Heaven or Las Vegas' and 'Lorelei'. They did the job very nicely.

In fact, if Audioscrobber existed back then I'd post evidence of how nicely they did.

I've been quite enjoying listening to 'Untrue' by Burial today. I've been told that this is like going up to a big drum n' bass head about 10 years ago and saying 'Yeah, I love it, I've got that Roni Size album, what else is good?' Because I have absolutely no idea what 'scene' it might be lazily put into.

It sounds like 'Dead Cities'-era Future Sound of London and Third Eye Foundation*, are slowly drowning Justin Timberlake and his female equivalent in a prison, in a vat with chemicals. Not usually my sortathang, but it's growing on me. I like the thickness of it.

These two are about as deep into This Sort Of Thing as I've gone. By which I mean... murkiness. Without being just slightly down-beat drum n' bass.

You might want to check out some Boxcutter (Glyphic), Distance (My Demons) or Shackleton now.

Erm, does anyone use that limewire? Can anyone tell me if I can play downloaded music files on my ipod or how I can somehow burn the files to a CD so I can play it in the car?

I don't use Limewire, but I'd imagine you get the files on yer iPod by clicking File-Add folder to library, and then selecting whatever folder the music is in. Then drag 'n' drop. Et voila.

last time I checked limewire (a few years ago) it was riddled with spyware and other crap. It's just a file sharing program AFAIK. You'll get a whole load of mp3s or whatever.

Malc

I had a falling out with Wippit when they screwed over the Baker and Kelly podcast just before Christmas last year...bastards, it was the best thing on the whole interweb. Don't believe me check the last podcast with Bohemian Rhapsody with lyrics comprised of only footballers names. Genius, sheer genius.