Dan Gray’s article, Music Download Services, prompted quite a few responses. Here are a few of them!

Gnomie Marc Williams writes:

Good Morning Dan,

Here a few personal comments about my music downloading experience for your research.

First of all, I haven’t done the iPod thing, so I don’t have that experience for comparison. However, I have used several other services to collect music for my library and have ended up pretty opinionated about some of them.

I do not care for the rental model where you access music and play it online. Maybe I’m just an old fart and not with the current times, but I much prefer buying the tunes, downloading them to my computer and then managing them the way I see fit.

I have settled on MusicMatch for my library manager, and it works pretty well with a few minor exceptions. I like their online music purchase capability. It’s easy to use and automatically integrates the new music into my library along with music acquired from other sources. I also really like the Super Tagging feature to keep up with music data about artist, title, CD, etc. The only downside to MusicMatch is that I find its library somewhat lacking in some of my favorite genres; new age, electronica, and jazz.

The Wal-Mart system is pretty good, too. It’s quite intuitive and very easy to use.

What I don’t like about most all online music is the DRM crap that only lets you burn a song (MY song, at this point!) a limited number of times. I enjoy making CD compilations, and I find this limitation to be annoying.

The other main thing I don’t like about any of the MP3 music is the audio quality. Although, pretty good, it’s just that; pretty good. Compared to a well-done commercial CD, MP3 lacks full frequency response (and therefore poor timbre) and suffers compressed dynamic range.

However, I try to overlook these shortcomings because the ease of use and versatility of MP3 is so cool.

Another type of online music service I really like is XM Radio. I subscribe to XM and therefore have access to its online music. Terrific!

One last comment. I will never, ever use any RealNetworks product again whatsoever. Ever. Did I say never? Ever. If I come across some content on the Net I want, but it only comes in Real; I just pass on that content. Period. I tried RealPlayer once, and it completely took over my computer. It took a lot of effort to eradicate that infection, and I don’t ever want it again. I also don’t like its corporate position of trying to dominate the market with its proprietary protocols.

Editorial Bonus: The RIAA and the music “industry” need to get a life. They and their customers would be much better served if they put more energy into developing good music access methodologies and business models, and less energy into suing the pants off their customers. The toothpaste is out of the digital tube, and they need to wake up and re-invent themselves.

Thanks for your time, and good luck with your article. Please put a note in Lockergnome when you publish.

And Dan Horne writes:

You say you believe that “you buy it, you own it,” but yet you still use iTunes? Can you really say that you own those tracks when you are limited in what you can do with them? Do you really own a track that you can only play on a certain number of computers? Or one that you can only transfer to your iPod? That’s not what I call ownership. I subscribe to the belief that “you buy it, you can do what you want with it” and there are precious few music services that offer that kind of freedom. I use eMusic.com because it offers no restrictions on its files. I also use AllOfMP3.com (for as long as it is legal), but not much because I don’t believe the artists are being paid for their music with that particular service. DRM is good only for the music industry. It is an impediment to fair use.

Says Patrick Barden:

I’ve been trying Rhapsody for a while now and love it. The selection is great and I get to hear before I buy. I’ve discovered a lot of music that I would not normally have tried, and the 89 cent charge per song is fine for when I really have to have the song. I wish the selection of videos was bigger but that is only a minor issue. The music is the thing and I’ve sat for hours finding one cool song after another. Rhapsody is my personal choice.

One feature I really like is that you can have the service on up to four computers and it makes it really easy to sync them so that songs selected from one computer can also be accessed from the other ones with a simple click.

BTW I have the “unlimited” plan for now. If I ever get that MP3 player I want, I will switch to the “on the go” plan that provides unlimited copying to mp3 players.

Hope this helps!

Terry Wambaugh says:

Dan,

During the past year or so, I’ve taken advantage of various trial offers to explore five music download sites: emusic, Virgin, Musicmatch, Napster, and, most recently, Yahoo!’s Y!Music. I am nearly sixty and my musical interests are age appropriate: all (most?) of the best has been done before!

Emusic has the most limited and obscure musical selection. Even when emusic has name artists in its library, for the most part, it does not include their most popular works. Going to the emusic site is a lot like going to a bargain outlet: you may not find the name brands you usually shop for, but you can find some items of value if you rummage around.

The other four sites carry a similar range of musical offerings and options. That said, Napster and Virgin were both slow to stream samples and MusicMatch10 software tries to establish contact with the Internet whether you are actively using it or not, plus its burner, although it initially worked, quit functioning shortly thereafter.

For me, Yahoo! has differentiated itself predicated on its low pricing for both streaming and for downloads. Also, the Y! Music engine application, although still in beta, performed well on my XP SP2 platform. It did what it was supposed to do and it did not interfere with any other software. Also, the streaming function is very responsive most of the time unless someone requires musical selections or a technology not provided by Y! Music, Y! Music offers a good user experience and it certainly is where the best value is at this time.