Bye bye vinyl...but how can I buy the files instead?

[weeksie31]

due to my use of live, id like to be able to buy decent music (the kind of stuff I usually get as vinyl from places like www.juno.co.uk) but in WAV or MP3 form.

Does anybody (specifically in the UK) know of any online shops or record labels who are missing out the middle man and selling the producers music in file format (and that are DJ friendly)? I think this is crying out to be done if it isn't already...and if it isnt, I might investigate the possibilities myself.

[dallas!]

Djmag has just launched a download service djdownload.com...I guess you could check that.

[weeksie31]

nice one, cheers.

[robin]

Buying CDs is probably your best bet. I would be wary of buying anything that isn't cd quality and is compressed.

I think eventually things will move to digital distribution but the problem of Digital Rights management needs to be tackled first or small labels will see all their stuff just leak onto p2p.

[supster]

There are too many to list. Start here:

edmdigital.com

beatport.com

[robin]

beatport looks ok as they do wavs

the other one...not sure i'd be happy stumping up cash for encoded stuff, no matter how high the quality.

[weeksie31]

good point r.e. rights management, ive seen a lot of content protection using digital licences in media player, but I dont know how it would work in a DJ context where the format must be a) high quality and b) highly transportable across different audio apps. very interesting tho, im yet to find a decent european site for access to new tunes...

[robin]

i think it'll head that way (to digital distribution) eventually but the package of a peice of vinyl that sits in your hand and is tangible is not really replicable with digital so the take up of digital is naturally gonna be slower than for the cd buying masses taking up iTunes, say.

i might be wrong on the above tho. i've grown up collecting vinyl obsessively. the younger generation who are used to buying ringtones etc might take to having the digital file as the whole package more readily. who knows.

[sqook]

What's the name of that russian site that has all the hot techno mp3's again?

-ducks-

[skiptracer]

Itunes? Napster? i spose they give you mp4's or whatever though.

there are a number of smaller companies that sell underground music like this. En:peg... uhh... i can't remember.

[nobbystylus]

You can buy U-FREQS original releases @ the u-freqs shop!!

www.u-freqs.com/shop/shopframeset.html

[The Mysterious Flying Pum]

The Russian site is mp3search.ru

Downloads are legal in Russia but not from European countries... but you can still do it ;-) MP3 downloads with no f***g DRM on the files.

Don't forget that Live doesn't support MP3 yet. You will have to use an audio converter (i.e. Soundgrinder) to convert to WAV. It is OK for live performance buy not recommended for studio usage due to the quality loss.
TMFP

[pepezabala]

berlinelektronischemusik :

z.b. www.shitkatapult.de
(mp3, 192 kb/hour, no DRM, kein scheiss)

[robin]

i'm sure on a quality sound system you'll notice the loss of quality of mp3s too

[sqook]

The Russian site is mp3search.ru

Downloads are legal in Russia but not from European countries... but you can still do it MP3 downloads with no f***g DRM on the files.

Awesome, I see that both Cher's "Greatest Hits" album (snicker) and the latest New Kids on the Block album both made this site's front page. Remind me to sign up for an account pronto!