Thursday, April 4, 2013

FYI on Amazon MP3 Downloads

So I made my first mp3 purchase on Amazon. I got an EP that wasn't available on physical media (I'm a CD luddite, too), and it turns out in order to download all the tracks at once you need to install Amazon's mp3 downloader. Of course it doesn't work on PowerPC, but you can still download the tracks one at a time by clicking on "Skip installation" where the popup prompts you to install the downloader.

These downloaders that import your music for you are just another pillar in the conspiracy by distributors to get you to forget there's such a thing as a file system and files that you, you know, own. But I'm not paranoid.

3 comments:

  1. The first time I used Amazon's mp3 downloader I spent a very frustrating half an hour trying to understand how to get the music I had just bought. It was refusing to even see the files I had to download, or, more exactly, Amazon was asking me to install the downloader even if I had it already running on my mac. The trick is you have to open both the downloader and iTunes to make it work (if I remember correctly this was not listed anywhere in Amazon's help pages).
    This on Leopard, I have no idea if it even works on Tiger.

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  2. Bandcamp is my go-to place for music when there isn't a physical copy available. It actually requires the artist or label to have established a storefront there first I should note. Once you purchase an album (always very reasonably priced) you are emailed a download link for the album in just about any format you could imagine (FLAC, ALAC, MP3 etc.).

    Definitely worth a check.

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    Replies
    1. Coincidence! I went there for the first time last night for a band called The Ropes. I could have gotten the tracks on Amazon, but the artists get a bigger cut of my money on Bandcamp.

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