Five things and Help a Luddite Day

[rolanni]

1. Snow removal
2. Laundry
3. Business email
4. Finish first draft "Intelligent Design" Gah. Not even close.
5. Figure out Itunes

*O Wise Flist -- I once long ago had a Relationship with Rhapsody, and I downloaded music, some of which I burned to CD and so still have, but other pieces of music -- nost! -- that was bought and paid for, I did not burn to CD and so lost it Forever when I switched desktops. This Put Me Off. However! Time heals, and I now wish to buy some singles again, so that I may burn them to a CD which will serve as a companion to that first, long ago, CD, which is a favorite for long road trips. If I succumb to this artistic impulse and buy music from iTunes, will it/they let me burn them to CD? Any tips/pitfalls?

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Ugh, I am about to go out and undertake snow/ice removal (1"+ sleet covered by 4 inches snow) from my driveway ...

Re Rhapsody, have never considered it as more than another piece of bundled and unwanted software to be uninstalled ...

Brom

[(Anonymous)]

You can burn them to CD from itunes no problem and you never loose the stuff you buy at itunes.

[birdhousefrog.livejournal.com]

Much of the iTunes music is now drm-free. Which means you can download it and then burn it to s cd, to an iPod. And you can have up to 5 computers on the same account if you have things networked in the house. Which means you can move songs from one machine to another without violating any copyrights. And create iTunes playlists on both so a copy of the song is on more than one hard drive. But you could always copy the song onto a cd or iPod up to about 4 times, even with the drm.

Oz

[stormsdotter.livejournal.com]

I hate iTunes to the point where I refuse to buy a MAC, becuase iTunes is an integral part of the MAC OS.

That being said, there is supposedly an option for you to tell iTunes, "I can name and organize my own music, thank you very much." I had never found this option on my workMAC, but it may have been turned off.

I buy my MP3s from Amazon.com. They are always DRM free, and I can upload them to the MP3 player of my choice. If I chose to change to a different MP3 player in a few years, all my music can be put onto the new player with no hassle.

[malkingrey.livejournal.com]

I buy my music from eMusic, which isn't as good a deal at 11.99 a month as it used to be at 9.95, but is considerably less annoying than iTunes. (I think the iTunes interface is Ugly, and it puts me off. If it were skinnable -- instead of being confined to the cooler-than-thou Apple esthetic -- I might like it better, but then again, maybe not.)

[schulman.livejournal.com]

I also buy my mp3s from Amazon.com these days, and import them into iTunes. I like iTunes for music management and CD burning, and I use an iPod, but anything you buy through the iTunes store is tied to the iTunes store (and can't, for instance, be burned to mp3 CD or imported to an Android phone, or at least I haven't figured out how).

Amazon Amazon Amazon!

[(Anonymous)]

Seriously, their download process is painless, import into itunes is easy. Prices are good. And! It's! Not! Apple!

Just remember to have a backup strategy. I use Jungle Disk, fwiw.

[jilltanith.livejournal.com]

I've not had a problem burning anything from iTunes to a CD, just make a playlist with what you want on the CD and then click burn to CD. Even before they got the DRM-free stuff.

[lizzy61.livejournal.com]

Second to what Jilltanith wrote. I've burned many cds with music I bought from ITunes.

Socks

[(Anonymous)]

On a completely unrelated note, our pastor has a fondness for wild and crazy socks, too. This morning, she gave fancy,bright colored socks to the kids who came up for the childrens' sermon,along with this poem
I have shared and it is true,
on days when I am feeling blue
the socks I wear have many hues;
I find that wearing socks-quite shocking
tingle not only my toes
but somehow lessen my woes.
I give you a pair
and offer a dare.
When you are sad or bad or feeling in a
snit,
place these on your feet and snuggly
wait for the benefit.
Rev. Deborah Stowers
Incidentally.she received The Agent Gambit for Christmas,and lived for a number of years in Baltimore.
Thank you for all you do.Your books draggedme through a difficult January this year.
Your friend from Sioux City,
Mary Martin

[craig trader (from livejournal.com)]

I'll second the "Buy it from Amazon" option. Amazon will sell you individual songs or entire albums, always in MP3 format, which allows you to do anything you want with the song. The only downside to Amazon is that Amazon wants you to use their downloading software, which can be irksome on Linux, but which is otherwise fine to use with Windows or MacOSX.

[ckd]

The stuff you buy from iTunes is in AAC (MP4) format; I'm pretty sure Android phones can play that, since it's not any more proprietary than MP3 is (now that it's all sold w/o DRM). Heck, my old SonyEricsson feature phone could play them!

Things that want MP3 CDs can't take them directly, but iTunes can be used to convert them to MP3 (with the requisite recompression lossage, though if you're listening to them in a car that's probably the least of your audio problems).

[prismakaos.livejournal.com]

I generally use iTunes; Amazon and Google searches are what I do after I can't find it on iTunes. Amazon and iTunes have different selections, so you may want to check both places if you're looking for something specific. For example, AC/DC songs do not exist on iTunes, but they do on Amazon, and Amazon is often cheaper.

Both systems will allow you to burn CDs, no problem (in the case of Amazon, you'll need a 3rd party burner, like iTunes or Winamp or Nero). To add Amazon songs to iTunes, use either File-> Add File/Folder To Library in iTunes or just drag the file from the folder to iTunes.

If ever needed, you can convert iTunes files to mp3 by right clicking on the song in iTunes, choosing Create MP3 Version. To prevent iTunes from auto-organizing, Edit->Preferences->Advanced->Uncheck "Keep iTunes Media Folder Organized"

[enleve.livejournal.com]

I buy my online music and audio books from eMusic (http://www.emusic.com/browse/all.html). They don't have DRM on anything, so you can transfer the MP3s to any MP3 player and burn them to CD as you wish.

Actually, I'd love to see your audiobook of Carousel Tides on there, in addition to being available at Audible. I refuse to use Audible because of the DRM.

Buying music to record to CD

[(Anonymous)]

I buy my mp3 files from Amazon. Download them to my pc and backup the file. That way I will always have them. Well, if I can find where I put the backup.

[dormantdrake.livejournal.com]

I buy my music from Amazon (mp3 format!) and simply listen on iTunes as I find that to be the most convenient method. I used to buy my music on iTunes, but besides the music being in an inconvenient format for most media players iTunes also hit me with a $200+ charge over a period of hours (their error) this summer, which they refused to refund to me although they acknowledged that it seemed neither I nor a hacker did that. There's this thing in their contract for buying music/movies/whatever whereupon once the music/movie/whatever is paid for there are No Refunds Ever. I had to get my bank to argue with them after I removed all info from my account, locked it down, and changed passwords three times. My money was eventually refunded by my *bank*, but I have since refused to do business with iTunes, and should I ever find a reasonably equivalent PC media player I *will* dump iTunes altogether.