Mac Music Downloading? Options

[better]

What is the best recommended place to download music for mac? itunes is just too expensive even though it will be so convienent I just can't pay it. Is there anything better than Limewire? Is there anything that has a flat monthly rate or anything? This is so annoying.

[mortalengines]

My last two cents worth, I swear. People are willing to buy good music. I have been to epitonic.com and found myself paying for the full length CD after hearing a couple of mp3s (Blonde Redhead, Radiohead, Peaches....the list goes on). Giving away a song or two can often whet the appetite of the consumer. There is no shame in this. I actually get 13 cents per download from Napster of my own material. Better than nothing. A funny thing about home made cassettes.....I never could seem to hang on to them. They always wound up lost (probably under the seat of a friends car) or loaned and never returned. The good music I wound up buying in the end. I have shelled out hard earned cash for every Led Zeppelin recording (often buying the same release twice) available. I just bought the Zepp 3 and Presence CD reissues (they sound incredible by the way). I also just bought 2 copies of Radiohead's new CD (one for me and one for a certain young lady I am trying to "butter up"....wish me luck).

www.myspace.com/mortal_engines

This post has been edited by mortalengines: Thu 17 Jan 2008, 00:54

[pushtobreak]

The real argument stems with the concept of ownership. How does anyone own anything? Certainly we all come to this universe with inalienable equal rights to all things it has to offer. However, humans have created their own construct for how things should be divided up. I personally, would love everything to be shared equally, at least in my theoretical, utopian mind but, this is not our reality. One could make the argument that if I could fight off or perhaps kill anyone trying to enter a piece of land I am holding, that it would be mine...since that's how all land ownership originally came into being. This of course would lead the "authorities" to come kill catch or arrest me and quickly put a stop to my actions. This is because we have these things called laws. Laws are very complicated many I don't understand or even appreciate. However, they exist to serve us the citizens and of course the powers that be. Laws are actually the way that those folks who took the land to begin with manage to keep it!...But, they don't really need the laws as they could always just use force which is what they do when the laws don't work for one reason or another. In any case back in our utopian minds these laws stem from the idea of civilization. The idea that we can have a human contract, an agreement, that we will stick to in good faith..in other words our "word". This is the foundation for all civilization. In ancient times your "word" was paramount to your worth as a human and telling a lie was sufficient grounds for death, as it reduced you to nothing more than an animal. Of course, people lie all the time and people steal and people disagree with the laws but, for the most part people are honest and law abiding.

Why should someone pay for something they can get for free?
Many people do not like paying taxes but still do. Some people cheat a little, some a lot and some don't pay at all! So why do people pay? Two reasons, they know it's the right thing to do and fear of getting caught by the authorities. So, in the case of the illegal file sharing we'll assume that people doing it don't see anything wrong with it (seemingly wanting to harm the very people who's content they desire/appreciate or perhaps just not realizing that it does so). Since they are however, breaking the law the authorities will act to protect those who's properties are taken. As in the wild west it is hard to catch criminals in a new arena where they have the advantage but, they will catch a few and make examples of them. However unpopular this may be it will deter the average person from joining in the free for all. It does seem to me that the average person has conceded to the fact that a song is worth 99 cents and that taking it for free is not right. I don't agree with a lot of things in this world but, if someone is asking a price for something they created I would honor that even if I could just take it free...I mean after all if the physical ability to take something is really all that matters then bullies and thugs rule, which in reality they do but, in my idealistic world good prevails over evil and we still have a human contract. Unfortunately, the ultimate authority chain goes like this nukes, large weapons, armies, laws, guns...down to hand to hand combat and then there is bickering which is what we do here.

All ownership is questionable but, hey, I think if I took something of yours you probably wouldn't like it. Yes, ideas are patentable and intellectual property does exist and is protected by law whether one likes it or not. This is connected to every facet of our society.