Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Pirating mp3s or downloading via iTunes

Do you pirate music or download via iTunes

  • I pirate my music

    Votes: 32 33.0%

  • I pay for my music

    Votes: 79 81.4%
  • Total voters
    97
  • Poll closed .
I vote I pay for my music, but I don't really buy that much music (don't pirate, either; I only have a few CD's I listen to like Phantom of the Opera, and a bunch of video game soundtracks I downloaded because they're not actually sold).

But I refuse to pirate music and have never downloaded a commercial song.
 
I buy off itunes, when I buy (which isn't that frequently). I really like simplicity, so I'm actually glad not to have the physical CD to keep track of!
 
I buy a lot from iTunes. Never buy CD's anymore as I just rip them into iTunes then I never use the CD again.

I do occasionally download albums that I wouldn't normally buy. I also go to a lot of shows and buy merch.
 
I imagine the most common answer would be that people do a bit of both.

Also, by "pirating" you could mean ripping a friend's CD or downloading, and ripping is probably a lot more common.

I've started buying from iTunes more these days; I'm not an audiophile so the bit rate is fine. I also still buy classical music CDs, the price is much more reasonable than popular music. You can get most stuff for $10 or less.

Having the physical album and artwork is nice, but it doesn't justfy the price of popular music CDs. So iTunes is a better option for me.
 
I buy music as CDs, I like having the packaging and the artwork. :)

Pirating music seems 'fair enough' to some people i know, but you don't just walk into a bakery and steal a loaf of bread. Why should downloading music be any different?

(ok, that analogy didn't come out perfectly :eek: )
 
I pay for my music and I use iTunes. I do on occasion, however, download a song via Limewire for free and check it out. If it's a keeper, I delete it and buy it via iTunes.
 
iTunes is usually good but, there's been a few times where I'll download an album and there will actually be skips or stutters in the audio in a few of the songs... or like one album I bought, there was a loud hiss sound at the end of each track that I had to manually delete by re-ripping the CD and using an audio editing App and then re-converting them back to AAC again.

skinnylegs said:
I pay for my music and I use iTunes. I do on occasion, however, download a song via Limewire for free and check it out. If it's a keeper, I delete it and buy it via iTunes.
Click to expand...

Sometimes I do that to hear the entire song before I choose to buy it or not... sometimes those 30 second previews don't do the song any justice. Sometimes the 30 seconds is the crappiest part of the song... you know?
 
I'm actually surprised by this poll, I thought for sure there would be more people pirating than paying for their music, unless everone is just lying so as not to be caught.

I'll be honest, I have pirated music in the past when napster first came out. I dont buy CDs anymore cause I never like all the songs on the album, I usually just listen to internet radio on iTunes. But I have started purchasing music from iTunes a lot more, its like Tenacious D says "iTunes... easier than stealing, almost as cheap."

I used to play in a band and I have to say that I wouldn't be upset if people were downloading our music, I think I'd be excited that they like our stuff. Sure we wouldn't make any money off of it, but then again we never did it to be rich and famous, we just liked playing music. It could be considered free marketing, they are listening to your music and might come out to your show to see you live and they'd have to pay to do that.
 
Most of my music is from my CD collection. I also use eMusic quite a lot now - it's really cheap and has loads of great stuff (if you don't paddle in the mainstream). iTunes for the odd single now and then.
 
calculus said:
Most of my music is from my CD collection. I also use eMusic quite a lot now - it's really cheap and has loads of great stuff (if you don't paddle in the mainstream). iTunes for the odd single now and then.
Click to expand...

I love emusic!
It stopped me having to transfer my Napalm Death vinyl!

Now the Dischord Records back catalogue is on there too I have loads to download every month!
 
bartelby said:
I love emusic!
It stopped me having to transfer my Napalm Death vinyl!

Now the Dischord Records back catalogue is on there too I have loads to download every month!
Click to expand...

I always have loads more on my list than I can download each month (I have the forty tracks package). I can't believe how cheap it is, there is no DRM and that it's got tons of stuff I want. I am a big fan.
 
calculus said:
I always have loads more on my list than I can download each month (I have the forty tracks package). I can't believe how cheap it is, there is no DRM and that it's got tons of stuff I want. I am a big fan.
Click to expand...

I have a long list too and I'm on the 65 track package, I frequently buy top ups.
Also the higher quality encoding is nice. I've been with emusic since Dec 2001 and I can't see myself leaving it.

I recommend emusic to anyone who likes non commercial music.
 
I pirated music back in the day. But ever since the iTMS came out and made downloading music 50 times easier and better, I buy music from iTunes all the time now. I just can't wait till the movie store gets more movies and HD movies!
 
Part of it has to do with how easy things are.

Back in the day, Napster was easy and buying CD's was hard (you either had to go to real stores, respecting store hours, and couldn't always find the CDs you wanted at the store, or you would order the CD, pay shipping, and wait a week to get it). Plus "everyone was doing it". In my university days, I vividly remember going to a friend's house downtown -- taking a special trip by bus, and walking 6 blocks -- to pick up a CD-ROM full of mp3's he was selling to people for $5 each. The $5 was to recover the cost of the blank CD!

Then for a while I used newsgroups and mass-downloaded tons of stuff. That novelty wore off quickly as I found myself grabbing music way faster than I could listen to it. After a while it became kinda pointless.

Nowadays, it's the opposite. I don't bother with newsreaders nor do I run programs like Limewire on my Mac, so pirating is hard, and immediately downloading almost any tune I want from iTunes is easy and fast. 99 cents is less than I pay for a Tim Hortons double-double, and I know I'm doing The Right Thing.

I still have those burned CD's sitting around somewhere, but everything on my iPod can now be traced to an iTMS download or a physical CD somewhere in my collection.
 
I hate the record companies and the RIAA etc, but I still et all my music off iTunes, because it's convenient, the songs are good quality, you know what you are getting, fast downloads (I don't know how people can say bittorrent is faster:rolleyes: ), and it is legal:)
 
i buy my music from the iTS. it's convenient, the quality is decent, and the price is fair - most albums on the iTS are less expensive than in retail stores.
 
I find the music video on youtube, then play and record it in GarageBand:D (Hey, someone probably bought it...) Not as good quality, but pretty good for getting it for free.
 
To echo everyone else....yeah, I used to download music in the Napster years, back at uni. Right now, I only buy odd songs, here and there, off of iTunes (if there's that one song I must have). I use Limewire rarely and mostly for what I can't find on iTunes. I still prefer to buy regular cd's, though....I get the wonderful artwork and booklets, which I love. Plus, I can rip them into whatever quality I want, whenever I want. As other people said, cd's also serve as an archive.

And actually, cd's are some times cheaper than buying on iTunes or some other source (legal sources, that is). You can buy a typical used cd for less than $10. For new (popular) cd's, I sometimes buy them off of BMG. For example, they had a recent sale where all cd's were $5.99 including free shipping. I also go to Best Buy if a cd that I want is on sale: read $9.99 or less. Again, all cheaper than purchasing an album from iTunes.

I love iTunes, but I want higher quality, cheaper prices and more non-US music (Asian, European, etc.). Then, I would be more inclined to buy from there. However, I still prefer having a physical copy to fall back on.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back