Best (legal) online music download service for non-Apple hardware?

[GTaudiophile]

My mom just called me saying she wants an iPod.

And I her that she doesn't want an iPod but an MP3 player.

But she also wants to be able to download music at $.99/song.

What I want to recommend is a Sansa product.

What service would she use with that? Amazon?

 

[TruePaige]

Get her an iPod.

People like them, they are easy to use.

 

[dudeman007]

Amazon is a pretty safe bet. I think most of the music stores apart from Apple don't use DRM anymore...so you should be good.

 

[RossMAN]

SanDisk eSansa + Amazon DRM-Free MP3's FTW

 

[dudeman007]

Originally posted by: TruePaigethey are easy to use.

See I find that to be total crap. They take as much effort if not more than any other mp3 player. Having to use shitty itunes for everything is a complete burden unless you own a mac.

 

[jpeyton]

Too bad AllOfMP3 is offline. They were awesome.

 

[LtPage1]

Originally posted by: TruePaige
Get her an iPod.

People like them, they are easy to use.

Yeah, seriously.
But if you're going to stick to your totally unfounded anti-fanboy crusade, then I'd say Amazon. Their service is pretty good.

 

[TruePaige]

Originally posted by: dudeman007

Originally posted by: TruePaigethey are easy to use.

See I find that to be total crap. They take as much effort if not more than any other mp3 player. Having to use shitty itunes for everything is a complete burden unless you own a mac.

Dude, it's a single touchwheel that controls it all, and hell if you get a touch it's just icons, it couldn't be any easier. Also the software automatically synchronizes all your music you purchase (if you purchase).

It's number 1 for a good reason.

 

[LikeLinus]

Originally posted by: dudeman007

Originally posted by: TruePaigethey are easy to use.

See I find that to be total crap. They take as much effort if not more than any other mp3 player. Having to use shitty itunes for everything is a complete burden unless you own a mac.

You don't have to use itunes for an ipod. You can use winamp with the ipod plug in. It's as simple as drag and drop for the ipod. Very easy to use and a small footprint for the software.

 

[erikistired]

Originally posted by: dudeman007

Originally posted by: TruePaigethey are easy to use.

See I find that to be total crap. They take as much effort if not more than any other mp3 player. Having to use shitty itunes for everything is a complete burden unless you own a mac.

see i find that to be total crap. my wife has a dell laptop and i bought her an ipod mini because it's easy for her to use. she plugs it in and it updates and charges. she wants music she hits up the itunes store. she wants to rip a cd she puts it in the drive and it copies it to her hdd. imho itunes has come a long way, and really isn't a burden anymore, especially for a casual user.

heck my anti-apple dad got a shuffle for xmas and he loves it. and he HATES apple.

edit: that said, amazon's music service seems to be pretty good.

 

[Aluvus]

I like Amazon's service. Other music download services that you might want to look at.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

I think it would be better for your mom to get an iPod so you don't have to worry much about supporting her. Just saying. If not then just go with Amazon.

 

[SmoochyTX]

Originally posted by: ChAoTiCpInOy
I think it would be better for your mom to get an iPod so you don't have to worry much about supporting her. Just saying. If not then just go with Amazon.

That's a bunch of BS. I have friends with Zunes who use Microsoft's marketplace and Amazon's music store and don't have a problem with it. Everything downloaded automatically syncs and it just works. Very easy for the electronic illiterate.

I'd have agreed with you a couple of years ago that the "not so intelligent" people should go with ipods. That's not the case anymore.

 

[QueBert]

Originally posted by: SmoochyTX

Originally posted by: ChAoTiCpInOy
I think it would be better for your mom to get an iPod so you don't have to worry much about supporting her. Just saying. If not then just go with Amazon.

That's a bunch of BS. I have friends with Zunes who use Microsoft's marketplace and Amazon's music store and don't have a problem with it. Everything downloaded automatically syncs and it just works. Very easy for the electronic illiterate.

I'd have agreed with you a couple of years ago that the "not so intelligent" people should go with ipods. That's not the case anymore.

The Zune software os HORRIBLE!!! MY GF has a Zune, we're both nerds and the software blows. We spent hours updating tags in Tagscanner only to have them not update properly in the Zune program, also it has about 20 songs it claims it can't play. they play fine in Winamp, yes they're mp3. The Zune error code links to some crap about file has been removed or deleted. We haven't touched the location/names of any files.

I don't mind the Zune as a player but being forced to use the MS software for it sucks ass. At least with an iPod she has dozens of proggies she can use to sync. But, if she isn't Techie Itunes works fine\ and is easier than the Zune crap. No I don't really like Itunes that much, but given a choice between it and Zune's junk Itunes is my favorite software ever.

She could always get a Zune and have the software place seamanly random cover art for a lot of songs.

death to the zune software

 

[GTaudiophile]

Amazon has a plug-in for Windows Media Player. I plan to put that on her laptop and go from there.

I personally just plug my Sansa into the USB port, let it open as a new drive, and just drag and drop from my "Download" folder. Pretty damn simple I would say.

 

[SmoochyTX]

Originally posted by: QueBert

Originally posted by: SmoochyTX

Originally posted by: ChAoTiCpInOy
I think it would be better for your mom to get an iPod so you don't have to worry much about supporting her. Just saying. If not then just go with Amazon.

That's a bunch of BS. I have friends with Zunes who use Microsoft's marketplace and Amazon's music store and don't have a problem with it. Everything downloaded automatically syncs and it just works. Very easy for the electronic illiterate.

I'd have agreed with you a couple of years ago that the "not so intelligent" people should go with ipods. That's not the case anymore.

The Zune software os HORRIBLE!!! MY GF has a Zune, we're both nerds and the software blows. We spent hours updating tags in Tagscanner only to have them not update properly in the Zune program, also it has about 20 songs it claims it can't play. they play fine in Winamp, yes they're mp3. The Zune error code links to some crap about file has been removed or deleted. We haven't touched the location/names of any files.

I don't mind the Zune as a player but being forced to use the MS software for it sucks ass. At least with an iPod she has dozens of proggies she can use to sync. But, if she isn't Techie Itunes works fine\ and is easier than the Zune crap. No I don't really like Itunes that much, but given a choice between it and Zune's junk Itunes is my favorite software ever.

She could always get a Zune and have the software place seamanly random cover art for a lot of songs.

death to the zune software

I don't have a problem with the Zune software. I also don't have a problem using Amazon with my Zune. The music downloads from Amazon and automatically syncs to my Zune. Easy peasy. My non-techie friends don't have a problem using a Zune and Amazon so I'm not quite sure why your gf would have a prob with it.... especially if she has somebody like yourself that can set up her sync folder. Set it and forget it.

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
I personally just plug my Sansa into the USB port, let it open as a new drive, and just drag and drop from my "Download" folder. Pretty damn simple I would say.

Don't you love that simplicity?

I showed my wife how to rip a dozen CD's into MP3's using Windows Media Player. Then she plugs her Creative MuVo TX FM into the front USB port of her $125 Hot Deals special and the rest is drag & drop.

 

[frostedflakes]

I never really understood peoples' hard-on for drag-and-drop. It's nice for videos, but if you have a player with more than a few gigs of space it's easier to sync it with a media library IMO. For example randomly adding 4GB of music to my MP3 player would take forever with drag-and-drop, but with autofill in Winamp it takes a few clicks. Adding individual artists/albums though should be just about as fast either way, maybe a little slower with drag-and-drop as you'd have to go up and down in the directory structure (assuming you have music organized in \artists\album\song.mp3 or something along those lines).

 

[GTaudiophile]

Originally posted by: frostedflakes
I never really understood peoples' hard-on for drag-and-drop. It's nice for videos, but if you have a player with more than a few gigs of space it's easier to sync it with a media library IMO. For example randomly adding 4GB of music to my MP3 player would take forever with drag-and-drop, but with autofill in Winamp it takes a few clicks. Adding individual artists/albums though should be just about as fast either way, maybe a little slower with drag-and-drop as you'd have to go up and down in the directory structure (assuming you have music organized in \artists\album\song.mp3 or something along those lines).

I guess I don't want my entire collection on my MP3 player at any one time. My music tastes can change with my mood for example, and I will want a different collection of songs on it.

 

[SmoochyTX]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile

Originally posted by: frostedflakes
I never really understood peoples' hard-on for drag-and-drop. It's nice for videos, but if you have a player with more than a few gigs of space it's easier to sync it with a media library IMO. For example randomly adding 4GB of music to my MP3 player would take forever with drag-and-drop, but with autofill in Winamp it takes a few clicks. Adding individual artists/albums though should be just about as fast either way, maybe a little slower with drag-and-drop as you'd have to go up and down in the directory structure (assuming you have music organized in \artists\album\song.mp3 or something along those lines).

I guess I don't want my entire collection on my MP3 player at any one time. My music tastes can change with my mood for example, and I will want a different collection of songs on it.

I thought this was for your mom. If her collection is tagged correctly, she can listen to anything she wants at any time.

ETA - BTW, I've never had a problem with Amazon's tagging.

 

[darkswordsman17]

How big do you need it to be (capacity)? There's plenty of players worth checking out. The Sansa Clip is a good deal, and is well liked for sound quality (and has good features as well). To be honest, I think its difficult to find a bad MP3 player these days, and most of the arguing is basically just fanboyish, and maybe one player just suits a person better than others. The iPod and Zune are at the very least competent, and there's plenty of alternative software to use with the iPod. The Zune software (on the PC side not the Zune iteself) on the other hand isn't, but as long as you just use the software to sync, its not too bad. There are plenty of good players to choose from, even Sony is worth taking a look at since they ditched SonicStage and made a good player (some say it has the best sound in an MP3 player).

 

[0roo0roo]

get her an ipod.
she wants an ipod, not an ugly clunky sansa. the look feel and total package of an ipod is hard to beat, and frankly a good match for non geeks.
what geeks like about sansas doesnt apply to moms ok?
get her an ipod, and tell her to shop on amazon for mp3s.

drag and drop is for anal geeks.
smart playlists and the ease of use of itunes is for regular people who use the player regularly. seriously... if you are going to tell me you can drag and drop faster than using the itunes search well...you are lying or have a very small music collection.

 

[dudeman007]

Originally posted by: fisher

Originally posted by: dudeman007

Originally posted by: TruePaigethey are easy to use.

See I find that to be total crap. They take as much effort if not more than any other mp3 player. Having to use shitty itunes for everything is a complete burden unless you own a mac.

see i find that to be total crap. my wife has a dell laptop and i bought her an ipod mini because it's easy for her to use. she plugs it in and it updates and charges. she wants music she hits up the itunes store. she wants to rip a cd she puts it in the drive and it copies it to her hdd. imho itunes has come a long way, and really isn't a burden anymore, especially for a casual user.

heck my anti-apple dad got a shuffle for xmas and he loves it. and he HATES apple.

edit: that said, amazon's music service seems to be pretty good.

Any other program will do that. The point is you shouldn't have to switch your music player to organize an mp3 player. Plus DRM music from iTunes is a waste of time imo.