question How do people buy music these days?

[Mercutio]

Apparently EMI withdrew its licensing for Grooveshark today, leaving it with no support from any of the major record labels.

I'm not too interested in streaming music for myself, but I understand that it works perfectly well for a lot of people. I'd rather build a library of my own content.

I think one of the challenges to come in dealing with playback devices is how well or poorly they present the content as more storage becomes available to them. That's my biggest knock against most most personal music players right now. I actually think there's been something of a regression since more devices are incorporating larger, full color screen; the tendency is to display more fluff like album art rather than offer a UI better optimized for quickly locating content.

 

[sechs]

It's $36/year...it's worth it.

Or, you could just raise the jolly roger and get them for free.

Even at $3 a month, it seems a bit steep for music that I don't get to keep.

 

[ddrueding]

Or, you could just raise the jolly roger and get them for free.

Even at $3 a month, it seems a bit steep for music that I don't get to keep.

I listen about 60 hours/week...that is a penny an hour. I'm OK with that.

 

[Handruin]

I also listen between 30 and 40 hours a week between work, travel, and other devices in my house. I don't care that I don't get to keep the music. I could easily use the free service but I'd rather support the company.

 

[LunarMist]

I listen about 60 hours/week...that is a penny an hour. I'm OK with that.

Seriously, how do find time to sleep or is some of that time spent unconscious?

 

[ddrueding]

Seriously, how do find time to sleep or is some of that time spent unconscious?

It plays in my office whenever I am there: 45 hours
It streams to my cell phone whenever I'm riding my bike: 12 hours
It plays at home when I'm surfing (like now): 10 hours?

I'm awake about 120 hours a week, listening to music just more than half that time seems about right.

 

[sechs]

I listen about 60 hours/week...that is a penny an hour. I'm OK with that.

I probably listen to a similar amount, but, as that rate, it would take me about three-quarters of a year to listen to all of the music that I already have. A penny an hour is infinitely more expensive than what I pay now.

 

[Handruin]

I probably listen to a similar amount, but, as that rate, it would take me about three-quarters of a year to listen to all of the music that I already have. A penny an hour is infinitely more expensive than what I pay now.

Sure, but that music that you own/stole/whatever has to be managed...then taken with you in some kind of device which typically isn't free, then create play lists, sorting, shuffling, etc. With Pandora you just put it on a station and listen...endlessly. My time is worth more than it costs me to spend a penny per hour for music that I'm enjoying as background and not critical listening.

 

[Mercutio]

What's so hard about playing a bunch of sequentially named files in a directory that represents the contents of an album?

 

[ddrueding]

Remembering to bring the album with you. I love that I can roll in somewhere with an internet connection, and start listening to music that I like.

 

[timwhit]

Remembering to bring the album with you. I love that I can roll in somewhere with an internet connection, and start listening to music that I like.

Subsonic.

 

[Mercutio]

Remembering to bring the album with you. I love that I can roll in somewhere with an internet connection, and start listening to music that I like.

Does your home network not have VPN access?

 

[Howell]

IMO, the real asset of Pandora or other music services is introduction to music I didnt know I liked. The is either necessary to make the service work or cake.

 

[Handruin]

Does your home network not have VPN access?

Nope. Even if it did, I wouldn't be able to access it from work. I'd need to host some kind of web/cloud hosted from my desktop.

IMO, the real asset of Pandora or other music services is introduction to music I didn't know I liked. The is either necessary to make the service work or cake.

This.

 

[Mercutio]

I haven't found very much value to Pandora for that purpose, but of course I have the peculiarities of my perspective; it wasn't all that long ago that Pandora had absolutely nothing to offer me at all.

 

[MaxBurn]

Subsonic.

Damn, I read the statement on what that is and I am interested.

 

[timwhit]

Damn, I read the statement on what that is and I am interested.

I've been using it for several years, let me know if you have questions.

 

[sechs]

Sure, but that music that you own/stole/whatever has to be managed...then taken with you in some kind of device which typically isn't free, then create play lists, sorting, shuffling, etc. With Pandora you just put it on a station and listen...endlessly. My time is worth more than it costs me to spend a penny per hour for music that I'm enjoying as background and not critical listening.

I think the issue here is that you don't have a music collection that you manage, anyway. That's additional work for you.

The only time that I spend managing my music is when I add something. I don't spend any time creating playlists, sorting, or shuffling (there's a player function for that).

I don't generally carry my music with me, but, when I do, it's on a device that I didn't buy solely for that purpose.

 

[sechs]

Nope. Even if it did, I wouldn't be able to access it from work. I'd need to host some kind of web/cloud hosted from my desktop.

Google Music?

I was streaming music from my computer back in the days when one had to worry about having enough bandwidth. I don't do that now, as it's totally unnecessary.

 

[sechs]

IMO, the real asset of Pandora or other music services is introduction to music I didnt know I liked.

If that is a goal, then you can listen to radio.

I found that free samples and word of mouth are a far more valuable way to find new music.

 

[Handruin]

If that is a goal, then you can listen to radio.

I found that free samples and word of mouth are a far more valuable way to find new music.

If the song playing on the radio is something you don't like, you can't tell the radio station to learn your preferences. Pandora will listen to your preferences.

 

[Handruin]

I think the issue here is that you don't have a music collection that you manage, anyway. That's additional work for you.

The only time that I spend managing my music is when I add something. I don't spend any time creating playlists, sorting, or shuffling (there's a player function for that).

I don't generally carry my music with me, but, when I do, it's on a device that I didn't buy solely for that purpose.

I do have a managed music collection, but sometimes it's nice to have someone or something else play you a song based in a relative theme that you may not already have/own.

 

[sechs]

If the song playing on the radio is something you don't like, you can't tell the radio station to learn your preferences. Pandora will listen to your preferences.

And, yet, it's not as as good as the human brain for making suggestions. I imagine that it's susceptible to payola, as well.

Then again, if a radio station isn't playing music that you like, you can just change to one that does....

 

[sechs]

I do have a managed music collection, but sometimes it's nice to have someone or something else play you a song based in a relative theme that you may not already have/own.

It just sounds like you're trying to justify money that you've already spent. You don't have to pay Pandora, let alone any other source, to suggest music to you.

Pandora isn't a charity case. They had about $139 million is revenue last year; almost 90% of that was from advertising.

 

[ddrueding]

It just sounds like you're trying to justify money that you've already spent. You don't have to pay Pandora, let alone any other source, to suggest music to you.

Pandora isn't a charity case. They had about $139 million is revenue last year; almost 90% of that was from advertising.

Hardly. Before using Pandora, I hadn't purchased any music in many years. I started using their free service when it came out, and started liking what they recommended so much that I bought it (Amazon MP3). When they limited their free service to 40 hours a year I went onto their paid service. 90% of what I listen to now (even from my MP3 collection) is stuff that I first heard on Pandora.

Perhaps you have friends with similar musical taste, but I certainly don't. I don't know where else I would get musical recommendations. There are a number of radio stations around here, but if you don't count the Spanish, Country, Talk, or Classic Rock stations there are absolutely none.

 

[Chewy509]

When I first heard of Pandora, I went to try, but found it's a US only service... So recently I've been listening to some of the various Internet Radio stations and finding some good music that way... When I do find something, as mentioned previously, I'll try to buy a CD and then rip to FLAC...

FYI, I tend to use http://www.internet-radio.com/ to find stations, and for those on Linux, etc, Rhythm Box has native support for Internet Radio stations which makes listening to them easy, unfortunately have no idea what's it like on the Windows side of the world.

PS. If anyone knows of a Pandora like service that operates Internationally or in Oz and works on Solaris, please let me know.

 

[Mercutio]

One suspects you could find a US proxy for it. I'm less sure about the binary compatibility. It would be awfully silly to run a VM just to listen to Pandora.

 

[Handruin]

It just sounds like you're trying to justify money that you've already spent. You don't have to pay Pandora, let alone any other source, to suggest music to you.

Pandora isn't a charity case. They had about $139 million is revenue last year; almost 90% of that was from advertising.

Nope. If you read anything I wrote earlier, you would know why I pay for a subscription. I don't have to, I want to.

 

[Handruin]

And, yet, it's not as as good as the human brain for making suggestions. I imagine that it's susceptible to payola, as well.

Then again, if a radio station isn't playing music that you like, you can just change to one that does....

Sure you can change stations on a radio, but you have no idea what you're changing to. Countless times I've scanned the radio only to hope from station to station playing commercials. That has not happened on Pandora.

 

[Mercutio]

That is why there is public radio.

 

[ddrueding]

That is why there is public radio.

I listen to a lot of public radio, but it isn't like they don't have commercials. Sure they have less, but the time they spend announcing sponsors or asking for donations (don't get me started on pledge drives) is basically a commercial. In this world of digital internet stuff you would think they could find a way to allow members (have been for years) to get a direct feed of some kind.

I guess I could just set up a system of pulling podcasts for my favorite shows and queuing them somehow...but that is work.

 

[Mercutio]

The podcasts usually include a very brief statement about sponsorship as well. I just finished listening to this week's On the Media and heard one.
But 15 seconds over the course of an hourlong program is pretty inconsequential and even after years of listening it's unusual to see anything like a bias toward sponsors.

Pledge drives don't bother me. I actually pledge to a station I don't listen to because my station plays a show I hate so much (Sound Opinions) I refuse to even possibly give it money. But the drives themselves are fine. My station even goes out of its way to make the morning pledge breaks entertaining. Ira Glass is particularly good for that.

Anyway, I'm a huge advocate for direct sponsorship of media I enjoy. I think it's important to pay for services I actually use and care about. That means public radio and a number of web sites I enjoy. Pandora isn't sufficiently compelling in my opinion, but I'm glad the option exists for those for whom it is.

 

[Adcadet]

NPR and the USPS, two things I think are very unsexy but are really bargains.

 

[ddrueding]

Just bought some music on Amazon MP3 (<200 songs). They appear in the cloud player correctly, and that part plays fine. But the downloader seems to be choking.

I've decided to acquire a legal copy of the music I listen to, as they seem to have actually found a way that is easy and cheap enough to be preferred over piracy.

I know I should be acquiring lossless copies, or buying the disks and ripping myself, but I can't be bothered.