Ask the Editors Live forum: Peter Gavin, CNET Download.com music associate producer live!

Hi everybody! Welcome to today's Ask the Editors Live Chat. I'm Peter Gavin, associate editor for Download.com Music. The topic today is "Finding music beyond iTunes," so if you are looking for alternative ways to find new music, let me know. Or if you just want to chat about your favorite bands - fire away! I'll try to get to as many questions as possible before the end of the hour.

Yeah I used use Musicmatch too, back in the day (which by the way, that day was a Wednesday, if you didn't know . I'd say Rhapsody is the closest you'll get to an all-star service for managing your MP3 player, ripping, and discovering new music. Most of Rhapsody's catalog is DRM protected but they recently started selling MP3s - hopefully we'll see more of that.

They seem legit, sounds like they already got a few of the major labels onboard. Personally, I stay away from any site or service that has DRM (Digital Rights Management) songs. But I'm sure it will be hard for others to ignore a legal free service. Advertising is the source of income for a lot of sites already - Qtrax's advertising model is just more obvious.

Yeah, it's surprising (and great) that Amazon is now selling unprotected MP3s. They're the best source right now for buying MP3s. Have you tried Download Music http://music.download.com? Works on Mac and all the music is free non-drm MP3s and streams. And yeah eMusic is great for indie music as well.

I just bought some MP3s from Amazon yesterday. I don't believe they use tracking info in the song's ID tags. They really don't need to since they get enough info just by the fact that you bought it. That's why Amazon is so successful, they keep you on their site by recommending similar music/products that you like.

Glad you asked! My second favorite site (after Download Music) is Rhapsody http://www.rhapsody.com - they have pretty much every album ever made (hundreds of thousands of songs). But it cost $10 (or maybe it's $12 now?) a month. Download Music http://music.download.com is all free, btw. We have tons of downloads and full album streams such as the Grammy's Album of the Year - Herbie Hancock's "River: The Joni Letters" http://music.download.com/herbiehancockriverthejoniletters/3600-8480_32-101075880.html

I'm not an expert on this, but perhaps try asking your question on our forum pages http://forums.cnet.com/?tag=dir.forum or search Google for "convert vinyl to MP3." Hey, look at that - there's even a website called convertfromvinyl.com!

Just wondering how it can be free. Does the advertiser pay for the music rights when the music is free to download??

I stayed away from sites like this because I know musicians who complain about it. What is your feelings on this hot topic.

Hi there,

This live chat session topic is all about online music.

For your specific question please give the CNET forums a try and post your question within the Home Audio and video forum here:

http://forums.cnet.com/5204-7596_102-0.html?forumID=60

I'm sure there will be other members who can provide you with a solution.

Good luck and thanks!
-Lee
CNET Community

www.mp3search.ru. I first came upon this website about a year ago. Since then I have not bought any music from there because it almost sounds like a scam. Is this for real? And if so, how does it even work?

Please give the CNET forums a try, this live chats topic is all about online music.

Give the Cell phone forum a whirl and post your question there.

Here's the link:
http://forums.cnet.com/5204-7817_102-0.html?forumID=74

Good luck!
-Lee
CNET Community