My daughter received an MP3 player for Christmas.and I'd have to say I am a late adopter of technology so I am new to this.
Anyhow I am wondering what is the best way to go to download MP3's? My sister said you could download most songs from Amazon for 99 cents. I did a search and saw you can subscribe to such programs as eMusic which gives you 24 songs a month for $12 a month. Do iTunes work on a non Ipod? Are they cheaper?
Also what is the legality of converting files from a CD into an MP3 and what kind of software is needed?
So as you can see this really is all new to me so whatever help and advice you can give is appreciated! TIA
We just load our cds to the computer and then choose which songs she wants on her mp3 and just plug it in and follow the directions. Amazon is great for downloads, and yes, you can use itunes for it as well. We haven't tried emusic or anything like that since she's only 9 and wouldn't download that much anyway.
I have both Realplayer and Microsoft Media Player on my computer. These are free programs and you may find they are already on your computer. With these programs you can "Rip" (Copy) CDs and download music into a Music Library. Then you can put this music onto an MP3 or CD. I'm not sure about the legality of converting files from CD. I have CDs that I've ripped to my computer, but it is usually because I don't want to lose that specific CD or am using it for a project (slideshow) I have a feeling I am probably not supposed to do this but I justify it with the fact that no one else listens to them and I can't listen to the CD player and audio file on my computer at the same time.
For Karen M. I've seen links to Itunes from YouTube for songs but I'm not sure you can download directly from YouTube. Boy, I used to be up on the latest and greatest and now just feel old ;-)
to get YouTube videos, you can google "how to convert Youtube to MP3". Her is one option: http://www.listentoyoutube.com/
If you own the CD you can rip it and use it for personal use. I do not think you can legally just give copies of the MP3 files to everyone you know since that would infringe upon copyight. However, we have put our CD's onto the 3 different MP3 players in our house.
YouTube even has videos how to do this,and it also has videos how to use an MP3 player. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXhs8qxIOhE&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR24zFnUa1o&feature=related
Good luck.
You can download from iTunes; there is an extra step that you have to do to convert the file to an MP3 file. Also, it is perfectly legal to "rip" CDs that you already own using Windows Media Player. Good Luck!
Beware of eMusic if you want new and modern music. I bought an eMusic giftcard for a friend's teenage son a couple of years ago and it was really hard for them to find much music they liked because it seemed to have a lot of small label/independent artist content according to them. Maybe you can go on the eMusic website and see what kind of selection they have before you commit.
As for iTunes, like someone else said, there is an extra step to convert music from your CD's to iTunes for an iPod, but once you learn the step, it is no big deal. iPods and iTunes have a different file format than MP3's and music from CD's, that's really the only difference. It goes the other way as well, you can convert music downloaded in iTunes to a traditional MP3 format with an extra step. If you decide to do this and you need help, just send me a private message on here and I can walk you through the steps. iTunes also has a lot of tutorials that walk you through how to do stuff, and there are tons of websites where users ask questions about how to do things if you just do an online search of your question if you can't find the answer in iTunes.
A lot of the music you find on iTunes is now $1.29 per song, but you will also find music (things like additional tracks) on iTunes that you can't find anywhere else. I just bought the new Black Eyed Peas CD at Walmart, but iTunes had 3 or 4 extra songs on their version that weren't included on the CD.
And yes, you can legally copy (rip) music you own on CD to any music device you own, but you can't go giving it out to other people due to copyright laws. Keeping it in the family is fine. Good luck and enjoy your music!