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.
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.
How to buy a car without getting screwed. Wish I had seen this before dealing with Phil Bachman Toyota. My mistake was putting a deposit down before calling other dealers to see if they had the car I wanted.
