Music download sites
» Published by szola on Apr 05, 2008
Despite the explosive spread if the internet in the last decade the music business has reacted remarkably slow to this technological leap. If it wasn’t for the different torrent and p2p sites one might wonder whether or not music would still be bought in large quantities over the counter. Luckily for every consumer of music there are pirates on digital waters of the internet. Sharing and redistributing music (and with the rise of sites such as youtube, also videos) through the web has resulted in an evolution of how music can be bought and sold.
This article will not venture into the legal questions, moral questions or the financial side of illegal downloads. Stealing is wrong, exploiting a monopoly situation is wrong, sharing knowledge is good, restricting it is bad, supporting the growth of alternative record companies helps the diversity of music and is therefore good. Obvious you might say. But not practiced so far. Since people love music the industry has always been important. This site is not the right place to discuss socio-economical sides of music. We know that the music industry is profit orientated. It is a business. And we are consumers. But music is art.
Soundscaping has tested three sites, namely iTunes, Rough Trade and Boomkat
iTunes is the most flashy site of the three, and tempts the consumerwith a vast array of titles to choose from. In fact it is possible to buy a single song if that is what you choose. The fact the the iPod has become the new walkman has made iTunes that more appealing to the general public. It is easy to purchase music on iTunes, and it is quite average when it comes to user friendly. It’s not difficult to find the song or album you want to buy, but if you are just browsing, the page could be better. But with as many songs available one might wonder how that could be. The question when using iTunes is are you being ripped off? Since the downloads from iTunes are at 128kbps, I would say definitely. The popularity of iTunes is similar to the popularity of one of their main rivals, Wal-Mart. Their sheer size can conquer smaller competitors. But please don’t be scared of the smaller sites that offer legal downloads. A 128kbps rate should be too low for any consumer, if there is a better alternative.
Rough Trade was the second website that was tested by Soundscaping. Rough Trade is a music shop situated both in London, Talbot Road, and on the glorious world wide web. It was the possibility of downloading a “Rough Trade exclusive” EP of Various Production that made me search up this site. The difference between iTunes and Rough Trade are glaringly obvious, and unfortunately for the smaller competitor, it s not to it’s advantage. The site is not a complete mess, it is possible to navigate, but the search option has a lot to be desired from. It is also time consuming and boring to weave through its pages. An internet site should be easy to use, quick, informative, flexible and to a certain extent fun/imaginative. Rough Trade’s page is neither. Buying a record here supports the smaller shop, but it doesn’t need to be inconvenient.
Boomkat, the third and last shop to be tested by Soundscaping is a best of both worlds scenario. Boomkat is smaller then iTunes, it has a vast collection of records, it is easy to use, it is quick, it is reasonable and it has FLAC. FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec and this format offers a higher bitrate, read better sound quality, then the average MP3. Being a lossless compression format, FLAC does not remove information from the audio stream, as lossy compression formats such as MP3, AAC, and Vorbis do. It also supports tagging and cover art. Pared with the fact that it is an open source software, it is impossible not to prefer it to MP3 or AAC. It is true that the FLAC releases cost a few pounds more, but if music means more to you then just something to fill the empty space with, it is worth the extra bob, even though the MP#‘s come at a bitrate of 320. (Remember the bitrate offered b the powerhouse of iTunes?) Boomkat is, to put it short and simple, the best site of these three when it comes to digital downloads. Try it yourself. You will not be disappointed.