Would you pay for digital music?

Originally posted by godisanathiest
We all knew what he meant :p and we're not all that pedantic!

Hehe, neither am I, I just happen to have a very twisted sense of humour. :)
 
I would definately pay for downloaded music - but only sometime in the future. I have payed at eMusic before.

For one, a CD quality downlaod takes up quite a bit of space. If I transfereed my 400+ CD's in their entirety to my computer at the 320 bit rate, it would take way too much HD space. You can now get 100GB hard drive, but for pure music downloading, you need much more. If these restrictions weren't there, I would exclusively download. That way (as I already do) I could burn great mix CD's - which I always foind to be better than albums (for the most part).

Also, I have found many hard-to-find singles on the net [ie: Hocus Pocus - Focus]. The CD was out of print, so I was lucky to find it. Granted, I used Napster to my advantage in the past, and didn't buy every CD from every artist I downloaded. But if the equipment is there, I'd be all for it.
 
I wouldn't pay for digital music. If i'm going to buy and album i want the cd, the artwork, everything. I rarely buy cds anymore cuz i'm broke as shit but when I hear a really really good record that blows me away, I buy it. otherwise its mp3's or promo copies. it has to be really good for me to spend money on it. CD's are just too overprice for me to buy everything i even remotely like.
 
I buy everything that i can find.

It is a little hard to find stuff like Atheist and Martyr... etc. So MP3's have to do...!
 
I still would not do it. It's like this new site I heard about the other day. You pay $1 to watch a particular movie online. You can watch it however many times you want for 3 days. Sounds like a great idea, except the quality is so bad so they can stream it that it is entirely unwatchable (I watched some of the sample movie). While the quality of .mp3s is arguably higher than streaming video, I still won't pay for sub-par quality when I can just go buy the CD. I only download to preview. Granted, some people do download and never buy, but does that really lower sales (meaning the person probably wouldn't have bought the CD anyway, so they aren't losing the sale. It doesn't justify the person keeping the downloads.)?
 
Well as for me, i buy the cd, but i just keep it safe case i scratch or broke them. i would encode them and listen as mp3. since i use winamp it have plugin to improve the mp3 and add large hall effect. since i don't have my own stereo system anyway, can't afford that. mp3 can come in very handy and you can send it to another person. there is alot of thing you can do with mp3 like chaning the pitch. as for paying for digital music, no, that's gay. if you have to buy mp3 or something like that why the hell don;t you just go buy the actualy cd. and it will destroy the meaning of downloading music
[support warez]
 
Hmmm, I think it depends. At the moment I would only be prepared to pay for music that was absolutely not available anywhere else. But by the same toke I would not pay over the odds for it. If the companies that sell online music can realise the difference between being able to have a CD and a glossy booklet for you to paw over, and just having the song, and then price accordingly it will probably take off.

I agree that eventually we will see digital only albums, and I also find it worrying that people can't shake off the idea of the net being free. It's like any other service - costs are incurred and they have to be met somehow. As long as the people selling their music online realise why they can't charge the same as if it were a CD in a shop, then I think it will catch on eventually. :) But then the benefit is that bands won't have to charge anywhere near as much as a shop bought CD to make their money back if they are already cutting out the middle man. :)
 
If it's internet only:I'd buy it.
But in any other situation, here's my P.O.V. I listen to one song. If I like it, I'll download the rest of the album. IF I like the rest of the album, I buy the cd, when I get money, of course. IF I don't like the rest of the album I simply delete it. And when I get the album on cd, I delete the mp3s. Except since I'm on a school network, and you can share music with other students, I leave my favorite songs available. Just in case someone decides to listen to a song, likes it, and listens to the band.