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General discussionHQ DRM free music? Player? Mobile? HUH?(55 posts)(55 posts)
(55 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted May 16, 2020
So I've plunged into DRM free gaming, and don't regret it. I bought me a 6tb hard drive and will eventually have all my favorite tv shows, a few movies (don't really like movies) and after a while hopefully my full collection of music.

I've used Bandcamp and Quboz [update: thanks DubConqueror for telling me about 7Digital] so far, enjoying both [update: all 3] of them. I'm no audiophile, but a few songs sounded totally different than they did on spotify. [update: after testing, likely placebo. But at least higher quality files allows for more changes and conversions, and they're close enough to the cost of an MP3 for me to just buy HQ.] The only problem is the songs that aren't available, and even when they are sometimes they're not available for individual purchase. Like WTF? Trying to force me to buy an entire album for 1 or 2 songs? -.- I would buy CD's and rip them, but again, I end up paying 10-15 bucks for 2 or 3 songs I like, what a waste of money. I've only bought 3 albums because the number of songs I liked would cost more individually.

I'm using MusicBee, it seems fine for me. Mobile is confusing for me, though. Do I set up playlists? Do I have to create new playlists every time I change hard drives or devices... period? This will get tiresome with 1,000's of songs. Arg. I hate being new to things. [update: So now I'm just using MusicBee's conversion to MP3 on playlists, exporting to playlist named files, and using a free app on android to quickly turn those folders into MP3 playlists. SO I make a playlist 1 time in music bee and just copy, copy and use a free music app. :P]

Just curious of how (whoever cares to respond) you do your music library.
Post edited May 21, 2020 by zstrastwa
Posted May 16, 2020
I still buy CDs and rip them. I have a master library of FLACs and my everyday listening library of MP3s.
Posted May 16, 2020
Eh, I have the same problem and it's ages I'm looking for a decent music site too.

Sadly they all have many limitations or bad practices (e.g: client required, crap search system, no ratings, no real lossless formats, max n downloads, possible removal after purchase, missing many 70-90 classics, high prices, localized promos only, full album only discounts, etc etc), so I'm just not buying music.

Same for movies. I wish there were other sites like Gog for other media :\
Post edited May 16, 2020 by phaolo
Posted May 16, 2020
Well, I can’t help with music sites. I use band camp, and buy bundles from groupees, and rip cd’s although not had to do that in years. Not found anywhere useful to get music now, occasionally from YouTube if you can stand the endless adverts.
What I would say is did you buy just one 6tb hdd? If so get a few more. One day that drive will fail and having multiple backups will save you, trust me, I know what it’s like having 15 years of stuff go and having to recreate it all! You can never have enough backups.
Music Bee is great, not sure about the latest version as they seem to have changed the UI a bit and it’s confusing.
In terms of mobile, I have a nas, then from mobile I connect to that. This way all devices can access that. Note, make sure it is a working copy, and keep many offline backups.
Posted May 16, 2020
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zstrastwa: The only problem is the songs that aren't available, and even when they are sometimes they're not available for individual purchase. Like WTF? Trying to force me to buy an entire album for 1 or 2 songs? -.- I would buy CD's and rip them, but again, I end up paying 10-15 bucks for 2 or 3 songs I like, what a waste of money.
Try contacting the artist(s) via the option on their Bandcamp pages and asking them why they don't sell the tracks individually. You may get lucky and they can help you out in some fashion, or at least explain to you that they aren't trying to force you to waste money on albums/etc. of content you don't care for.
Posted May 16, 2020
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phaolo: Eh, I have the same problem and it's ages I'm looking for a decent music site too.

Sadly they all have many limitations or bad practices (e.g: client required, crap search system, no ratings, no real lossless formats, max n downloads, possible removal after purchase, missing many 70-90 classics, high prices, localized promos only, full album only discounts, etc etc), so I'm just not buying music.

Same for movies. I wish there were other sites like Gog for other media :\
I hear ya. I thought about just using Spotify and saying fuck it. I might keep using it, found a looot of songs/artists I love now through recomendations on there. YouTube is pretty good at recommendations too though, and I use that site daily... so might as well use the music app on it.

It's most frustrating because I HAVE MONEY and I WANT TO PAY yet I can easily steal music and it would be far more convenient. Just fucking sell me the things I want FFS. :/
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zstrastwa: The only problem is the songs that aren't available, and even when they are sometimes they're not available for individual purchase. Like WTF? Trying to force me to buy an entire album for 1 or 2 songs? -.- I would buy CD's and rip them, but again, I end up paying 10-15 bucks for 2 or 3 songs I like, what a waste of money.
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TheMonkofDestiny: Try contacting the artist(s) via the option on their Bandcamp pages and asking them why they don't sell the tracks individually. You may get lucky and they can help you out in some fashion, or at least explain to you that they aren't trying to force you to waste money on albums/etc. of content you don't care for.
Oh yeah I've done that, no responses. From what I've read it's the labels making these decisions. But hell I've even seen self produced people do the same thing. -shrug- Most people are happy not owning music and just streaming shitty mp3, so It's unlikely to change.

I just won't buy music from labels and artists that refuse to sell it to me DRM free and convinient. Same reason I moved completely over to GOG.

I may have made it sounds worse in the original post, I can actually buy over 2/3 of all the songs I like. Just upset with certain bands, like Black Label Society, Dope and FFDP not letting me buy anything new. Fuck 'em. :P
Post edited May 16, 2020 by zstrastwa
Posted May 16, 2020
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nightcraw1er.488: Well, I can’t help with music sites. I use band camp, and buy bundles from groupees, and rip cd’s although not had to do that in years. Not found anywhere useful to get music now, occasionally from YouTube if you can stand the endless adverts.
What I would say is did you buy just one 6tb hdd? If so get a few more. One day that drive will fail and having multiple backups will save you, trust me, I know what it’s like having 15 years of stuff go and having to recreate it all! You can never have enough backups.
Music Bee is great, not sure about the latest version as they seem to have changed the UI a bit and it’s confusing.
In terms of mobile, I have a nas, then from mobile I connect to that. This way all devices can access that. Note, make sure it is a working copy, and keep many offline backups.
Yep, as funds allow I plan on buying probably 2x 12-16tb harddrives. Not really into NAS and their forced software, I like the "freedom" of windows and using whatever I want. I plan on building a NAS like PC some day to handle everything for me, and be an HTPC. That's far down the pipeline lol money has to go other places first.
Posted May 16, 2020
If you pay for Spotify, you get the option for higher quality audio that you can download/back up. But I use bandcamp and Soundcloud mostly as well, and since my tastes aren't really towards the mainstream, it works out great for me- I get to experience music made by real people, and connect and communicate with them. One time one musician didn't have flac files available, so I emailed them asking for them to make flac available, and they just emailed me back with a flac file of the song I wanted.

For the rest, I just find CDs and rip them.

PS: I use foobar2000 to listen to music on Windows, and Clementine of linux (not found something of equivalent quality for linux yet, unfortunately).
Post edited May 16, 2020 by babark
Posted May 16, 2020
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nightcraw1er.488: Well, I can’t help with music sites. I use band camp, and buy bundles from groupees, and rip cd’s although not had to do that in years. Not found anywhere useful to get music now, occasionally from YouTube if you can stand the endless adverts.
What I would say is did you buy just one 6tb hdd? If so get a few more. One day that drive will fail and having multiple backups will save you, trust me, I know what it’s like having 15 years of stuff go and having to recreate it all! You can never have enough backups.
Music Bee is great, not sure about the latest version as they seem to have changed the UI a bit and it’s confusing.
In terms of mobile, I have a nas, then from mobile I connect to that. This way all devices can access that. Note, make sure it is a working copy, and keep many offline backups.
avatar
zstrastwa: Yep, as funds allow I plan on buying probably 2x 12-16tb harddrives. Not really into NAS and their forced software, I like the "freedom" of windows and using whatever I want. I plan on building a NAS like PC some day to handle everything for me, and be an HTPC. That's far down the pipeline lol money has to go other places first.
To be honest, I used to be of the same kind. They have come a long way, and can be setup to only allow via local network. A bit like having a hard drive available over WiFi. I have some apps on iPad, not the NAS ones, bluefire reader and vlc which plays most things. So your not tied to their software (qnap I went with) and there is lots of options with raid and whatnot.
Considering they are pretty cheap, it could help with your files everywhere issue.
Posted May 16, 2020
If you want High Quality (high bit-rate FLAC lossless for example) DRM free music on desktop PC, my mind draws a blank.

I know quite a few stores offer DRM free music once the music is bought (Google Play Music, Amazon...etc), but usually the quality isn't the highest or lossless.

If you forego the DRM free, permanent ownership, local files thingie, you could save a small fortune by subscribing to a streaming service with pretty much all the music in existence, and the ability to discover amazing new tunes through recommendations based on your tastes. But you know this already ;)

I personally have a premium subscription to TIDAL, which gives me hifi lossless quality music, and then even some studio quality music from some artists. When properly setup for Master quality, and if you have the cans and DACs to utilise it, holy crap, it's amazing. But the artist needs to have provided these tracks specifically, and not many do. Hifi lossless quality is more than enough for my gear though - I can hear a difference to normal 320kbps mp3s quite well.

Though you can download TIDAL music to play offline, it's only on mobile with some restrictions, so hardly DRM free.

High quality + DRM free? Not sure it exists.
Posted May 16, 2020
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rojimboo: High quality + DRM free? Not sure it exists.
The OP mentioned a couple: Bandcamp, CDs (rip them to FLAC), etc...

I usually buy music on CD (yep, a lot / most of the new music I like still gets CD/LP/tape releases. I don't care that much about buying single tracks - most full albums I have are worth having/listening entirely.
Posted May 16, 2020
For a mobile player I recommend foobar2000. I've been using it for years, and it has a very clean and easily manageable interface. You can create playlists too.
Posted May 16, 2020
For a mobile player, I wouldn't recommend Foobar2k.

Right now, I've been using ZXTune. And for desktop I've been using Deadbeef. But that is what happens when a library consists mostly of specialty format music.

I also never bothered with physical albums, so that's never been a problem of mine.
Post edited May 16, 2020 by Darvond
Posted May 16, 2020
Before the Corona thing I used AIMP for Android. All my music is stored in mp3 format on a 400GB SD card.

I'm still re-ripping all my old(er) CDs to FLAC. I have a lot of mp3s in 192 kbps from when hard drive space was a lot more expensive then it is now. I have around 1200 albums, so it's a long-term project.
Posted May 17, 2020
DRM free music is the main reason I buy CDs, but I also buy from bandcamp.
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionHQ DRM free music? Player? Mobile? HUH?(55 posts)(55 posts)
(55 posts)