Music Subscription Services

What are your thoughts on subscription services?

They're certainly much cheaper in the short run (especially if your current music collection is sparse), but you don't accumulate any music that you "own" and sometimes new stuff is hard to get.

 

I guess it's smart business, I mean as an audiophile I have no problem buying a CD that I really like. A real recording not MP3 rips sound better on a quality amp, preamp any day (much better sharpness and sound imaging).

As for testing out the waters with new bands it couldn't hurt to buy a couple of songs, but I still would buy the CD if I liked them that much.

 

I was dead set against this for awhile. They are really expensive. When YMU came out I was curious, and used the 6.99 membership/month. I love it! I enjoy learning about new bands and hearing new albums BEFORE I buy. Occasionally I will go out and buy a CD, but only after hearing it in its entirity and deeming it worthy. If I decide it's not worth the price, I can buy individual songs for only .79!

The only downside is the Yahoo Music Engine. The interface is nice, but it is ultra slow. I suppose it is tough being totally net-dependent. Still, though, Windows Media Player can load internet content WAY faster. Other than the laggy operation, it has a good design. I still pay 6.99, but I had to downgrade membership because it now costs $11.99 to put subscription music on a portable device. However, this price is still cheaper than the competition.

YMU takes the gold for me. I used to fileshare w/ Kazaa/Bearshare/Morpheus, but wised up. First, it's illegal and even with a virus scan it's really easy to get trojans. Second, I just like owning the CD's; they're concrete...and they're REALLY NOT expensive. If you can't afford $10 for a CD, use a service and test it out. You might sleep better knowing you're not part of the problem...lol.

Heck, you can use YMU's engine for free and listen in (some are 30sec previews).

 

PS...you forgot a few...I know at least two..

iTunes Music Store
MSN Music

 

I use Rhapsody. I love the service. I have found lots of new bands I would have never heard of if not for Rhapsody. I am a college student and end up spending hour and hour every day listening to music and even though I do have a rather large music collection (that I bought CDs for) there is still I ton I don't have. The only thing I don't like about it is Real. It is slow and bogs the computer down a ton. Other then that it is great.

Adam

 

I think he's asking about subscription services only (unlimited music for a monthly fee), and I think both of those are music download services (pay per download). Correct me if I'm wrong...

 

ttupa, I posted this as I was signing up for a YMU 7-day trial subscription and after 1 night my feelings mirror yours pretty much exactly.

I have almost no music so this is a great option to expand my collection to infinite almost immediately. The fact that you can d/l all this stuff and listen online is a nice bonus I wasn't expecting.

But it is also painfully slow and at one point it was using over 100MB of memory.. yikes.

Regardless, I think I'm going to sign up for the 1 year subscription which gives you $4.99/mo.

 

I'm not sure if iTunes or MSN are subscription or not. I would bet dollars to doughnuts that there are more subscription services, though.

In any case, YMU was included so I can't complain.

I forgot to mention that I tried Napster at Best Buy (work there). I don't mind the interface and it's quick. If it didn't cost twice as much I'd give it a shot, but I am also a poor college student.

 

one pseudo-solution is that WMP will play your YMU music that you've d/led.

The advantage is that even WMP is more resource-friendly than YMU.

The disadvantage is you can't add any music w/out going into YMU.

 

Plus, you periodically have to go into the YME and renew your licenses (listen to a song). So you can't use WMP as a total replacement, you can use it to listen to your subscription music provided you use YME sometimes.

 

I'm a happy Rhapsody subscriber.
All you need is a web browser to listen to songs.
The Rhapsody software also never caused me any problem.

 

How do you listen in a web browser?

Thanks
Adam

 

Try it out at www.rhapsody.com.