Do you download music?

[Helevitia]

I download:

[Wombat]

I'd never find out if I liked a band if it weren't for downloading. I'm one of the people that definitely buys more music because of it.

[az]

I'm one of the people that would buy more if they had the money, but don't buy less just because I download - because I couldn't afford CDs with or without downloading. I'd just do it "old school": Copy CDs from friends.

Oh, and even if I buy CDs: I rip them, then stow them away somewhere.

[Tjalfe]

I used to download illegal music / movies back in University.. in the last several years, I just have not bothered.

[Helevitia]

I'd never find out if I liked a band if it weren't for downloading. I'm one of the people that definitely buys more music because of it.

I hear what you are saying, but you can pretty much hear any bands music now from many sources. Amazon, the band's website, etc...

[az]

Ten second snippets in poor quality hardly suffice, IMHO.

[Jessterw]

I haven't downloaded any 'illegal' music in years, as I largely just buy CD's from places that are cheaper than the norm or off of iTunes. In terms of other 'illegal' downloads I do grab the odd episode from TV shows that I've missed (or don't have access to otherwise, like when I'm in Japan).

I've found I'm far more selective in my choices of music (again) these days because I don't just grab anything and everything that I happen to just like. For movies I have netflix and I really just can't be fussed spending the time to download a movie and do encoding dance just to get an inferior copy to watch on something other than my computer.

[Helevitia]

Ten second snippets in poor quality hardly suffice, IMHO.

OK, so Amazon was a bad example But most new bands have Myspace pages or they post something worth listening to on their website.

[Nowhere]

I'm a thief. I will burn in hell.

[GuchiGuh]

I'm a thief. I will burn in hell.

Guess I'm joining you there....

[Helevitia]

I think the majority of us have downloaded illegal music at some point. I stopped about 2 years ago.

[High_Jumbllama]

I use to but then realized that CDs are of a much better quality and I didn't really want most of it anyway.

[TnT]

Haven't downloaded anything illegal in years, although I've ripped my sister's and brother's stuff. Been checking out a lot more independent bands with their music online already. Although I hate places (such as MySpace and many band websites) that require you to have some shitty flash player just to listen to the music. Really, does the band get hurt if people download the freaking song at that horribly low quality?

Also been buying several older, used CDs for a few bucks each.

I agree though my musical awareness wouldn't be anywhere without IRC and BT all those years.

Speaking of downloadable music I got my Machinae Supremacy CD today!!! They have a bunch of awesome songs on their website for download.

[Wombat]

I hear what you are saying, but you can pretty much hear any bands music now from many sources. Amazon, the band's website, etc...

No, no you can't. First, you're assuming that Amazon/buy carry them, often they do not. And more often, you can't judge the album by the :30 or the 2 songs that are available (the band IS going to show their best two songs, after all).

My favorite bands get no radio airplay. Sometimes I hear cool stuff on mpegradio, but then you have to find more music from a band, and often you originally heard a remix, not an original version. And the only person 'round these parts that shares some of my musical tastes is dZeus.

Plus, searching online lets me find remixes/rares of my favorite artists, often from out-of-print media.

[VJ]

I'm probabely one of the few people today that only downloads legal stuff (open source software, freeware, updates, ...).

I could say that it is out of idealism, but I think it is more out of laziness/limitations. I only have a fast internet connection at work, and don't want to do illegal activities there. But when I hear/see what friends of mine download, and mostly how appaling the audio/video quality is, I figure: why bother?

So every now and then I purchase a CD or so. I feel that 10 euro/cd is a maximum (I've had quite some occassions where I bought one at 20-25 euro and it now is listed for less than 10). Having the CD a year earlier isn't worth 15 euro to me.

I used to copy the CDs for use in my car (don't want the originals stolen), but since I have an MP3 player in my car, I simply rip all my CDs to MP3. So even all my MP3s are legal.

Guess I'm joining you there....

Well, if that isn't reason enough to not download stuff...
(just kidding)


Jörg