whats better? downloading or buying cd's?
 

downloading or buying cd's.....which one is better? what's your take on downloading music illegally :soapbox: :jailed: :hphones:

man you get the satisfaction when you buy the cd and also you got something to show for it... often ill try out a band before gettin the cd but i dont listen to that much downloaded music very often...

Buying is much better than downloading, and it goes deeper than just the insert and cover art. I like knowing that I'm supporting the bands and that in a small way I'm helping them. It just seems more "real" when you buy them. Downloading has its pros as well, but buying is so much better. I think bands can use the Internet and downloading to their advantage (and alot do), but I don't think its right for people to download whole CDs and a lot of songs without ever planning to buy the real thing.

i cannot say which one is better, but i love having the actual cd over a copy.i just wish that they weren't so expensive! some cd's cost triple the amount they should cost! i only have that much money!
but i use(and want to more)use downloading to check out a band and buy their cds later......

I would say buying CDs, but when I don't have the money or just don't like the artist much, I download some of it. Then again, there's nothing better than the real thing

I Never Download Always Buy.

:clap:

i would love to be able to do that but unfortunately, i cant afford to

I buy them used
 

I buy them used from Amazon.com. Once in a while I might download a song or two to see if their worth the investment, but you can get a good cd from amazon in great shape for two bucks, so I vote for buying.

I often download individual songs to check out bands I've never heard before and I sometimes download whole CD's if I know I'm not going to buy it, but most of the time when I do this, the albums turn out to be so good I buy them anyway. It's seriously putting a dent in my bank balance.

I`m not going to pay to download anything.

I don`t want to lose half my ****ing record collection everytime my computer ****s up.

buying cuz when you download it take to long for the song to load and i get mad cuz sometimes the songs dont work and... then all this other stuff
GGGRRRR!!!!!!!

I use downloading as a tool to decide whether or not I am willing to invest my money in a cd or not. In my youth, I spent all my money on music. Now, I own a home and have children, and whatnot, so it isn't always feasible for me to spent a lot of money on music. Priorities, you know.

If I hear a few songs I enjoy by a certain artist, I will download some of their stuff. Listen for a while, see if it whets my musical palate. If so, I will sink some money into a cd. I, too, use Amazon to buy cds.

They say it's stealing, and I suppose, technically, it is. Charging 18 bucks for a cd with maybe 3-4 good cuts (if that), in my opinion, is theft. I'm paying 100% of my money for the cd, I should get 100% effort from the artist in return.

I'm not so sure it's a legality issue with music lovers. It's more a form of protest. We're sick of price gouging, and we're doing what we have to to get our music. It's not the artist's fault. It's the music industry. However, I haven't heard of any musicians losing their homes and whatnot because of the money they lose from internet downloading.

word to that!
my policy is that first when i hear of a new band i download a couple of tracks and if i really like them i always download the entire album. if i really like the album i always buy it, eventualy, but i can't buy it right away, usually i buy cd's 4-5 times a year from amazon (.co.uk or .com ) 3-4 cd's in one shipment, so in the meanwhile i listen to the burned cd's....sometimes, however, i listen to an entire album through streaming and them order it right away because i don't feel like downloading it, and sometimes i'll just hear one song and since i'm already ordering other cd's i'll order that album without hearing it, most of the time my gut feeling is correct and it turn's out to be a great album ( for example i heard daft punk is playing in my house from lcd soundsystem and then just ordered it...twas great )....i never consider downloading stealing because all the bands i'm listening to have way too much money already, and i buy their album anyway....most people i know in croatia however just download and never buy......but for me....i like my cd cases way too much not to buy an original album.....
i spend way too much money on cd's.....way too much...but i can't help it...and cd's in croatia are way too expencive....well cd's in general...they should cost 5-6$ top, then much more people would buy them
and don't get me started on ps2 or pc games, only once in my life have i bought an original game, and that was way back when i was 14 and didn't really know pirats exist.....hmmmm....should i pay 60$ for a game or 2$..hmmm...........that's a thinker........robbery?....they're robbing me.....!!!again, if the games cost 6-7$ they would ultimatly earn more money, 95% of software in croatia is illegal..i wonder why.....

Having the hard copy is better.

Now, compare my reply to adidasss'.





Me too lazy to type much.

buyin':
1. ya gots to pay
2. ya cant be in control of which songs from that cd that ya wanna have on the cd(if ya know what i mean)

downloadin':
1. ya get to be in control
2. ya dont gots to pay
3. ya can get all kinds of **** onto your comp. cuz ya gettin' hundreds & hundreds of thin' from other ppl. comp.(not good of course)


Both have their downs & their ups

I prefer downloading. That way, you get only the songs you want. But with stuff like Headbanger's Ball, i'd rather buy it.

cds are better , but!!
 

I would rather have the CD,, however, now with downloading, i find that it's more convienant and ALOT cheaper than buying cds. Sure, having the actual cd means more to me , especially if you have a rare cd, but the fact is that technology is changing and we have to accept the fact that the vast majority of people will download. Heck!! you care about the art work? now you can purchase the same paper that makes the art work for cds and copy and print and use that for your collection.

Will cds be absolete one day? maybe, just like cassettes and for the most part vynal records, CDS will dwindle down to just a handfull of people that will appreciate the meaning of having the actual cd.

the bottom line, if you find yourself never listening to your cds, then it may make sense to sell or stack away your cds.

I'm a teen that isn't allowed to get any allowance whatsoever, and my parents are only willing to spend 1-5 bucks on music a month if I ask.

Downloading is really my only option :( It's free, and all I have to be really careful of if it's a genuine file (if they're really FLAC and shizz).

There's something about buying CD's that give give a real sense of ownership though, I would think.

Buying vinyl.

Come on, that argument's been dead for a while now... CD prices plummet after less than a year, with most albums down to £5 or less on Amazon - just have patience and you'll get it at a good price. No one's forcing you to buy it on release day. Plus, the download option is there if you only like 3-4 of the tracks.

This is what people wanted the music industry to do for years, and now they've done it. Yeah, they're still treating customers and artists like ****, but that's a different issue - many of the old excuses for pirating are now gone.

Streaming is the future? I sure hope not. Why do you think its the future?

Agreed, I don't see why streaming would be the future at all.. Internet radio is nice but as far as buying music, I buy vinyl when I can.

I cringe at the thought of somehow losing all my digital music and having to get it all over again..

Vinyl records. I'm not sure if I prefer CD's or downloading.
CD's are uninteresting, files are uninteresting.
And as CD's are more expensive than records here, I don't want to spend my money on CD's, unless I really really love the band. I buy records frequently.

It depends. If you hate physical media, then downloading is great. If you don't want to pay for an album that you may not like, then downloading is great.

If you want to support the artist and like the physical aspect and like having a perfect copy, then buying is great.

Each has its place.

If you buy a CD you can rip it, so you own both a physical, and software copy.

I don't really understand downloading legally, if you're willing to pay for it you may as well pay for a hard copy. Yeah, downloading is cheaper but you don't have anything to have and to hold. If you're going to download legally, you may as well do it illegally.

Buying CDs/vinyl is far better, having a collection to look after and keep is the sign of a good music fan.

I love the idea of buying CDs, but as I am broke/trying to save money I can't afford to go out and buy CDs I want, so I do download them, but I love physical copies a lot more.

I honesty prefer downloading, as I find it really convenient for me, who doesn't have enough money to buy music. I will occasionally buy music on certain occasions (ex. Christmas, my birthday, etc.). I only own 2 CDs, one being a used copy of Radiohead's "In Rainbows" and one being a game soundtrack.

I'm too lazy to download, I either watch or listen to them on the net or buy the CD/s.

I kind of prefer downloading because it's a lot easier and you can get what ever you want. Plus it's free and the quality is usually the same or about the same. But I like the actual experience of buying the CD and going home with a physical product to listen to a lot more. Part of the problem is my town only has two places to buy music, one in Walmart and one in a place to rent movies. I think if I lived in a place that had a wider variety, then I would buy CDs a lot more. I have pretty much every good album that the movie store has, and the Walmart one just has whatever is in the Top 40.

I usually download my albums and music. Its a lot easier to carry around a ton of music and takes way less space. And since I listen to my own music in the car it is definitely easier to put all of my songs onto my ipod and just hook it up to the AUX port in the car. Granted I do like the feeling of having physical albums in my hand but I've grown do accustomed to the electronic way of doing things. It just turns out to be easier in the end.

I'd prefer to buy cds but unfortunately they cost money and it's hard to find music i actually like on cd nowdays unless i travel to Dublin or somewhere. I spent a lot of money on cds during my teenage years because i didn't have a broadband connection to download music, so buying cds was my only source and i pretty much grew up with them. It is nice to have physical copies of albums and having a collection of cds on the wall. Even though i download more music than buy cds nowdays it just doesn't feel the same, something feels missing.

I used to be good about just downloading a song or two to "sample" an album and then going out and buying the album if I liked what I heard. I didn't ever download entire albums. Obviously, that changed over time. I download a lot.

I'll still buy CDs if it's something I'm really excited about or a boxset with nifty packaging that I can display, but aside from that, download all the way.

I only started buying more original albums (vinyl, mostly) since I have access to broadband internet. I just get to know more music.
I do care about the quality quite a lot so mp3 just won't do for me if I really really like the music.

I love buying new releases on cd. There's nothing more exciting than taking a trip into town to get your hands on a new release from one of your favourite bands, bringing it home and putting the disc straight into your cd player.

Hands down, downloaded music does not compare to physical CDs.

But physical CDs aren't for everyone. Some people tend to lose them and prefer to have copies immediately stores on their computers, don't have the shelf space for them, or just don't have the money to spend on all the music they want.

It's really remarkable how so many people seem to say "I download, ALTOUGH it's good to have a hard copy". How... I don't get this :D.

both has its pros and cons

some of my torrents come with the tracklisting in the wrong order, split into separate volumes

CDs take up too much space in my room