Walmart now offers cheap DRM free MP3s
Walmart MP3 store adds 74 cent tracks, Mac, Linux support [downloadsquad.com]
Sounds great huh? Well I hadn’t heard what the sound quality was so I did some poking around and found some good news:
Sound Quality of Walmart MP3 Music Downloads
Our MP3 files have a high bit rate, which gives them top-quality sound. The majority of our MP3s are encoded at 256 kilobits/second, with others at 192 kbps.
Sony sells $0.67/song DRM free MP3s
On Dada.net. It took a little digging, but I found that their tracks are indeed 256 kbps (basically CD quality). The only real catch is that the service is a monthly subscription for $10 per month that get you 15 song downloads a month (that don’t rollover). I also assume you can buy another 15 song credits at any time.
The price is great, however I’m not a big fan of the subscription model and the catalogue is limited to Sony and Universal music. I will be keeping an eye on this service and stick with Amazon MP3 for now.
Why I’ve been re-buying music
Now that I have better headphones, speakers, more hard drive space, and hate DRM; the low quality (128 kbps) DRM protected songs that I had bought on iTunes years ago, now just aren’t cutting it.
At least you have the option to upgrade to the tracks they do have on “iTunes Plus” for a small fee. However most of iTunes’ catalogue is still only available as low quality DRM’ed tracks… Yuck!
I had already gotten rid of the DRM but audio quality is noticeably lacking after listening to 256 kbps tracks from Amazon MP3. I’ve read 256 kbps isn’t distinguishable from CD quality to the human ear.
So now I’m “upgrading” my favorite albums by re-purchasing them on Amazon MP3 and buying CDs (trying to stick to used) to rip at 256 kbps.
This is an example of why, (in a perfect world) you should be able to buy the personal use rights to the media and be able to download the song whenever you wanted in whatever format you wanted for free.
A free song download from the Castle Crashers soundtrack. You can get the entire soundtrack here. [Via Xbox Fanboy]
Music buying tips
Buy older albums used in CD format on Amazon.com. You can find most older albums that aren’t rare (a few years old) for around $2 or $3 plus $3 shipping. I just ordered 4 CDs for $20.26 total after shipping; the price of 2 albums downloaded or 1 album new at “BestBuy”. I must point-out that this doesn’t support the artists, but is legal, saves you money, and doesn’t give the RIAA any more money either.
MP3 downloads are still a great deal when you can’t find a used album for as low as mentioned above, or need to have the music now. Amazon MP3 usually has the best price for music downloads too.
With all the money you saved you can go to the artist’s website and buy a T-shirt to directly support them.
Just thought I’d share that.
First album recorded with the Korg DS-10 (MP3 download)
Not bad sounding stuff. It’s all done on just the Korg DS-10 for Nintendo DS. I’ve pre-ordered my American copy on Amazon today. [Via Kotaku]
Custom Ringtones
I’ve been trying all week to figure out how to put custom ringtones on my girlfriend’s Alltel Samsung Wafer phone. As far as I can tell it only works if I can send the file via text message from my cell (v3 RAZR) that I can easily put any mp3 file on via bluetooth. However there are length limits. It would seem that I can only text files 25 sec long maximum… Basic 96kbs MP3 without ID3 tags seems best also. It may not be ideal, but it sure beats paying for crappy ringers that aren’t much longer anyway. I did a test today and it works like a charm.
