While listening to a few albums tonight, I noticed a new tab inside my music player for Magnatune. I upgrade applications all the time without really knowing what fixes/updates there were, so I didn't notice it until now. I remember hearing about Magnatune a few months ago but it kind of left my memory for a while.
Basically, Magnatune is a completely new way to purchase music and is by far the coolest. The site has a slew of independent artists who want an easier way to sell music. They of course can still sell music by usual means, but this is just another way to make more profit and get their music out there.
It works like this. You peruse their catalog and listen to samples of whatever you want. Not just small snippets, the entire song. There is a "watermark" at the end, just stating what song it was and by whom. Granted, that kind of thing has to be expected. If you end up finding an album you like and want to purchase, you can download it quickly, through the site or through a compatible music program. In my case, this was Amarok.
I haven't gotten to the coolest part though. YOU choose what you want to pay, between $5 - $18. If you think it's a superb album, pay accordingly. If you think it's a good album, pay accordingly. Exactly 50% of the sale goes directly to the artist, while the other 50% goes to Magnatune for profit and bills. One thing I worried about was whether or not they just offered 128Kbps files, because that's all the samples are. I was surprised to learn that they have whatever you want... WAV (Which would be 1411KBps for true CD rip), FLAC, MP3, OGG and AAC. If you want a hard copy of the album, you can order it as well, for $13US or $18CAN, with free shipping. I should also mention that there is NO DRM whatsoever.
Anyways, I just thought this was a great service that I had to post about. I might take a more in-depth look in the future...
Basically, Magnatune is a completely new way to purchase music and is by far the coolest. The site has a slew of independent artists who want an easier way to sell music. They of course can still sell music by usual means, but this is just another way to make more profit and get their music out there.
It works like this. You peruse their catalog and listen to samples of whatever you want. Not just small snippets, the entire song. There is a "watermark" at the end, just stating what song it was and by whom. Granted, that kind of thing has to be expected. If you end up finding an album you like and want to purchase, you can download it quickly, through the site or through a compatible music program. In my case, this was Amarok.
I haven't gotten to the coolest part though. YOU choose what you want to pay, between $5 - $18. If you think it's a superb album, pay accordingly. If you think it's a good album, pay accordingly. Exactly 50% of the sale goes directly to the artist, while the other 50% goes to Magnatune for profit and bills. One thing I worried about was whether or not they just offered 128Kbps files, because that's all the samples are. I was surprised to learn that they have whatever you want... WAV (Which would be 1411KBps for true CD rip), FLAC, MP3, OGG and AAC. If you want a hard copy of the album, you can order it as well, for $13US or $18CAN, with free shipping. I should also mention that there is NO DRM whatsoever.
Anyways, I just thought this was a great service that I had to post about. I might take a more in-depth look in the future...
