[Smithy]

Originally Posted by Judas Iscariot

Bah, iTUNES downloads and MP3 are trash too. I know, I'm being a complete audiophile here. Special meniton goes to the bellends who use iTUNE's soul destroying sound enhancer function.

Me and Arista are in the back with a record player and sub woofers.

I saw a TV show once, where they were rating Vinyl, CD's and MP3 on quality of music (they did it blindfolded) and MP3 came out on top (Which they were really surprised by too )

[Patrick]

Originally Posted by Judas Iscariot

Seriously, how do you listen to music from YouTube. It's horrible. Even the cleanest of videos will sound muddled and unspectacular when listened to through some good headphones or speakers.

Depends where you download them from.

I download them as a MP3 and they sound just fine tbh.

[Enid]

Of course it's theft. The question should be: Do I care?

[Smithy]

Originally Posted by Enid

Of course it's theft. The question should be: Do I care?

Ok, Do you care? and justify your answer.

[Enid]

Originally Posted by Smithy

Ok, Do you care? and justify your answer.

No I don't care. I steal music all the time. Why? Because 1. the music I like is usually difficult to find. 2. I don't like paying for anything if I know I can get it for free and 3. I'm a thieving bastard.

[Stu]

Originally Posted by Smithy

I saw a TV show once, where they were rating Vinyl, CD's and MP3 on quality of music (they did it blindfolded) and MP3 came out on top (Which they were really surprised by too )

I would have to call bollocks, but a lot of it depends on the genre of music and changing production and mastering techniques. A lot of newer artists would obviously produce to sound good on newer audio formats. To this end a lot of records these days by artists like the Black Eyed Peas have absoloutely no definition of depth in the sound, with piss poor dynamic range. All they care about as pure loudness in order to get radio airplay and stand out to internet afflicted, ADD kids.

[Harry!]

I rarely download music anyway. I buy CD's mostly and listen to songs on the web and not downloding them. I only download a few remixes and only a few.

[Smithy]

I just found this

Youtube video

[Enid]

^ horrible website. What if you wanna download albums? Many of those tracks could be infected. Nah, stick with torrents.

[Smithy]

Theres more than one site oin the vid

[GypsyGoth]

I am a criminal.

[Smithy]

Originally Posted by GypsyGoth

I am a criminal.

You stole my clothes hoe

[GypsyGoth]

Originally Posted by Smithy

You stole my clothes hoe

And they suit me better

[Smithy]

Originally Posted by GypsyGoth

And they suit me better

Touché

[arista]

Originally Posted by Smithy

I was reading the paper earlier and saw an article which said something like 60% of people who illegally download music didnt see it as theft.

So just wondering if you do, and if not, why not?

Yes it is Theft
They should have there Internet Cut Off for a year

[MeMyselfAndI]

no it obviously isnt and anyway i buy all my albums from town i got sugababes sweet 7 and its really good

[Mrluvaluva]

It doesn't affect the bigger artists as much as they make their money from tours, merchandise etc and generally sell sh.it loads of CD's anyway. However, for musicians with smaller fan bases, they need the revenue to keep going. They can't make that from gigs etc, so they rely on income from their album sales. I generally support the independent artists I like and buy their CD's or pay for downloads. I don't download free stuff very often, but when I do, it's mainly older stuff that's not available in the shops anymore. If it's not available for sale, and I have to buy it second hand, I am not paying money to the artist in that case. They get nothing from it, so why not download it for free?

[Beastie]

Yeah but some people can't afford cds or albulms!

[MeMyselfAndI]

Originally Posted by thebeast

Yeah but some people can't afford cds or albulms!

like who
they r cheap i get like 2 a week

[Twilight]

Originally Posted by MeMyselfandI

like who
they r cheap i get like 2 a week

Like me

[MeMyselfAndI]

Originally Posted by Twilight

Like me

ohhh im allowed to get 2 albums a week bacicly £15

[Twilight]

Originally Posted by MeMyselfandI

ohhh im allowed to get 2 albums a week bacicly £15

My family is poor + i can get gig tickets for that much money, and i can just download albums, and buy them at a later date.

[Mrluvaluva]

Originally Posted by thebeast

Yeah but some people can't afford cds or albulms!

There are a lot of things people cannot afford. I just bought several CD's off HMV website for £2.99 each. There is a lot of cheap stuff out there.

[Beastie]

Originally Posted by Mrluvaluva

There are a lot of things people cannot afford. I just bought several CD's off HMV website for £2.99 each. There is a lot of cheap stuff out there.

Yeah I like to get a bargain but sometimes when albulms are new released at a tenner.. some people rather download illegally from the net if they want it on their ipod. Spending a tenner on cds quite frequently.. well some people cannot afford that!

[Mrluvaluva]

Originally Posted by thebeast

Yeah I like to get a bargain but sometimes when albulms are new released at a tenner.. some people rather download illegally from the net if they want it on their ipod. Spending a tenner on cds quite frequently.. well some people cannot afford that!

It's very rare I ever pay full price for a CD. I usually wait until it's on offer. Shops and websites have promotions on all the time. I don't have to have it on the day it comes out, but then again, if I was 16 I most probably would NEED it there and then.

The ability to illegally download stuff has it's pros and cons. The record industry both gain and lose with it. As was said above, you have greater exposure on the web, now more than ever before, to music, and it is readily accessible. That can introduce you to stuff you may not normally hear on radio/TV etc. So it can in fact generate more sales.

A lot of newer artists put their stuff out there, and make it accessible to the public, simply to get themselves heard, whereas as some of the more major artists don't really care as it does not affect them directly. Take Radiohead as an example. They gave their fans the choice to pay what they wanted for "In Rainbows". Mainly because they aren't tied to a record label, but also they know it will get them wider exposure, and most probably attract a wider crowd to their live shows.

There will never be a solution to this debate, as it has both it's good points, and it's bad. It's up to the individual to decide. Record companies will never get round this problem, and as Shasown said above, they should be careful as they could be cutting their nose of to spite their face.