Advice for a old git.

[massivemoto]

I've been around for a while and have seen various formats come and go. My problem is that my taste in music is too wide, everything from obscure techno to 60s ska, Greenday to Elgar. The only place I find really obscure tracks (regardless of publisher, deletion and sometimes only released on vinyl)is fileshare, but I daren't use that for copyright reasons. What are my alternatives? Is there still a legal version with as wide a range of enthusiast uploaded content?

I currently use a hard drive to store and play music in mp3 form, whatever format it is originally purchased in.

[ShadownINja]

I might be misunderstanding the question but are you looking for free, uploaded music that's actually copyrighted? Or independently produced stuff that is legally free to download?

[BertB]

My understanding of the OP is that, they need a paid file service that has the more obscure music that he listens to?

Google is your friend really, searching for paid services is probably the way forward.

[massivemoto]

ShadownINja said:

I might be misunderstanding the question but are you looking for free, uploaded music that's actually copyrighted? Or independently produced stuff that is legally free to download?

I want legal, but much of what I want is deleted or never made on CD, or otherwise not on proprietry download sites. Usually found on Limewire, uploaded by enthusiasts, sometimes from old vinyl, but how does one know if it's legal (even if Limewire still worked in UK).

[ShadownINja]

A first stop might be youtube. You won't believe what kind of rare tunes get posted.

[4hero]

http://www.last.fm

[massivemoto]

ShadownINja said:

A first stop might be youtube. You won't believe what kind of rare tunes get posted.

Yeah, I found a few there. YT is good for searching, but slow and unreliable in my slow broadband area. I'm interested in downloads, so that I can play on demand, mix, build into playlists and use in the car or for parties.

[Evangelion]

You can download from YouTube. Get the softwarte from here:

http://www.dvdvideosoft.com/

The YouTube to .mp3 converter will also convert to .WAV files if you want it to.

[massivemoto]

Evangelion said:

You can download from YouTube. Get the softwarte from here:

http://www.dvdvideosoft.com/

The YouTube to .mp3 converter will also convert to .WAV files if you want it to.

Thanks for that, I'll give it a go. Can I assume that if it's on Youtube, the rights owner has, at least, not objected?

[Evangelion]

No, if the rights owner finds it has been put up without their permission, they can have it taken down. So don't delay, if you find something you want, download it straight away!

[kiteless]

Evangelion said:

You can download from YouTube. Get the softwarte from here:

http://www.dvdvideosoft.com/

The YouTube to .mp3 converter will also convert to .WAV files if you want it to.

Apologies for any thickyness, but does that YouTube doowhacky work for downloading to iPods???

[Meteor Madness]

Have you tried Spotify ? I've been surprised by how much obscure stuff I've found on there. If you really need to download it, to take it to the car etc, simply record it from Spotify using audio capture software like Audacity.

[R60EST]

If you do end up paying to download a particular track don't assume it's legal. Quite a few dodgy download sites out there that charge for stuff without having any copyright to the material

[massivemoto]

Thanks for all the replies guys. I'm trying out a few of those.
My problem, as an ex-DJ who decided to retire to avoid going on long after my own death, is that I don't get sent the equivelent of "White Labels" anymore and the old traders who I used to buy obscure Jamaican vinyl from, have long since shut up shop. Used to mix electronica, rocksteady and ska into my sets and still love the tracks I cut together, but lost 12,000 pieces of rare vinyl in a burglary. Miss them like old friends.

[Evangelion]

massivemoto said:

Thanks for all the replies guys. I'm trying out a few of those.
... lost 12,000 pieces of rare vinyl in a burglary. Miss them like old friends.

My heart goes out to you and anyone else that has happened to. I nearly lost everything on my computer due to backing up all my files onto a dodgy 32 gig memory stick (pm me if you want to know where it came from) and I was at my wits end. Fortunately a data recovery specialist was able to restore the hard disk I'd just formatted and I got most of it back.

In answer to an earlier question, I don't know about iPods 'cos I don't know what file types they use, but DVD Videosoft Free Studio includes a YouTube to iPod converter. Also a quick search of the net will find loads of audio file conversion programs. Before I discovered DVD Videosoft (which includes one), I used Switch Sound File Converter - download it here:

http://downloads.zdnet.co.uk/0,1000000375,39132325...

Before that I used Wave Repair to capture the audio, this stores it as a .WAV file and does editing as well. It's meant for transferring vinyl but is useful for all sorts of things; I recently used it to copy a load of cassettes and old RTR tapes onto the hard disk.