Mac, Music, MTB...
billybobzia said:
looking for a good site to download music legally besides iTunes...there seem to be many out there, but not many of them let you preview before paying...as i really am not into mainstream music, i dont wanna waste my money...any suggestions?? thanks
You've hit on some of my favorite passions...Music, the Mac, and Mountain Biking! I think if you spend some time looking around the net you'll find tons of primo quality tunes in all genres.
It used to be much easier to find free music when the original mp3.com was around, but everyone today seems to be out to make a buck. Here's how I work the system...
Schema One:
Get a trial membership to live365 (
www.live365.com), which is good for 5 days. Download and install their premium player (which gives you the playlists with song, artist, and album info). Tune in and monitor the genre(s) of your choice. Capture the info for the songs you like then Google for the artist or record label website. Many artists have their own sites and offer full length tracks for free...this seems to be particularly true of European electronica artists. NOTE: the live365 player measures the 5 day trial period as 5 work days of 8 hours each...so you only get to use it for 40 hours. If you close the app after each session you can get it to last for weeks.
Schema Two:
Sign up for record company mailing lists. Many labels offer mp3 preview releases to those who are interested enough to sign up. Compost Records (
www.compost-records.com) has a great list and their site offers new downloads almost every month.
Schema Three:
Follow any links from artist sites that have "similar artists" or "music influences." They often to lead to more free music. I am continually surprised by the quality of music from unsigned artists.
Schema Four:
Scour the web for contemporary design firms (houses, teams). Many of the hippest design houses openly flaunt their music influences. Last year Emigre (
www.emigre.com) and House Industries (
www.houseindustires.com), both typographic design houses, respectively packaged music (full length CDs) with their catalogs and new product releases. Urban Medium (
www.urbanmedium.com) a pop culture design firm is associated with movemeant (
www.meantality.com), a hip-hop crew...which has...you guessed it...free music! I also discovered Positron Records (
www.positronrecords.com) through this method, off a link from Segura Interactive.
Finally, when I absolutely have to buy music, I try to buy used. SecondSpin (
www.secondspin.com) is my current favorite online source. Amoeba Records in Hollywood is my fave walk-in (also in Berkeley and San Francisco). I can often find current releases for under $7 and have picked up gems as low as $4.
What's this got to do the mountain biking? Well, whenever I ride solo my iPod comes along. I have playlists for climbing, bombing, scenic cruising, etc. Mountains, music, clean air, and some adrenalin...what could be better?!
Besides every couple CDs I don't buy gets me a new tire!
I hope this helps.
- christopher