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OK, I'm tired of lugging around twenty-year-old cassettes simply because I like one or two of the songs on each of the albums. I don't even listen to cassettes (partially because my car stereo eats them), but I can't bear to throw them all out.
Obviously it would be very expensive to replace every one of them with the analogous CD. I'm a cheapskate. Plus it's a low-density solution: on each CD I would still like just one or two songs. There has to be a better way.
So... what about those MP3 players, for which songs can be purchased one at a time? Question for the LJ brain trust. What do you use? What are the foibles and strengths of the player(s) you've chosen? What's your experience with the various ways to purchase music for them? Does anybody out there have a really wide selection of MP3s for sale, or am I faced with the (quite possibly illegal) prospect of taking a tape like Bobby McFerrin's "The Voice" and hand-recording it? What's your backup technology for your chosen system?
[Edits:
1. The stuff I want (for example, Bobby McFerrin's "The Voice") is not available from iTunes. Is there a bigger site, or at least a weirder site?
2. My car does not have a functional cassette input.
3. Anybody out there doing backups?]
Obviously it would be very expensive to replace every one of them with the analogous CD. I'm a cheapskate. Plus it's a low-density solution: on each CD I would still like just one or two songs. There has to be a better way.
So... what about those MP3 players, for which songs can be purchased one at a time? Question for the LJ brain trust. What do you use? What are the foibles and strengths of the player(s) you've chosen? What's your experience with the various ways to purchase music for them? Does anybody out there have a really wide selection of MP3s for sale, or am I faced with the (quite possibly illegal) prospect of taking a tape like Bobby McFerrin's "The Voice" and hand-recording it? What's your backup technology for your chosen system?
[Edits:
1. The stuff I want (for example, Bobby McFerrin's "The Voice") is not available from iTunes. Is there a bigger site, or at least a weirder site?
2. My car does not have a functional cassette input.
3. Anybody out there doing backups?]
no subject
There is an LJ community called "ipod" that i peek in every now and then. There's been a few threads in there about the transmitters, and most of the people who have problems with them live in the Bay Area.
I'll still do a cassette or LP every now and then. For instance, around 1984 or so Prince had a satellite group called The Family (one hit single... "Screams of Passion"). They did one album and it is a favorite of mine. However, it was only pressed into CDs in Germany, and in a small quantity. There are so few of them out there that the CDs sell for about $100 on eBay. In that case, I'll convert the album rather than buy the CD.
And despite the fact that this album is long out-of-print and essentially unavailable for purchase now, and even if I could get it, there would be no benefit to the holders of the rights because of buying through a 3rd party, it nonetheless would be illegal for me to rip it and give you the files. And that makes no sense.
[soapbox] In the same way that extreme polarization in our society has ruined politicial discourse, such is the same with most discussion on digital rights issues. Both sides are unreasonably dogmatic, and real problems, such as the outlying case I cited above, become mere tools of argument and stand no chance of being realistically solved. [/soapbox]