DRM Free Music Downloads 2017 (Legal)

[Jagosaurus]

Hey guys, title says it all. Where are you legally DL music these days?

Looking for it DRM free. Want to throw on a HDD for safe keeping, side load as third party music file to an Adroid, & move to USB as needed.

I'll be DLing mostly old & new rock of genre matters regrading availability.

I'm not wanting to buy & rip CDs. I'm not wanting anything tied to a website, streaming service, etc.

[noiseredux]

Is emusic still around?

[marurun]

If your local public library has Freegal, that's a way to go.

[Jagosaurus]

Will look into those. Thanks.

I'm starting at ground zero here. My only experience is ripping CDs, iTunes (hate it), & file share sites (been some years).

Any others?

[Segata]

install one of those Firefox plug ins on YouTube to convert vids into MP3s.

[marurun]

I do still buy used CDs, and sometimes the $5 CDs at Wal-mart. And then I rip them to shreds! Muah hah hah hah hahahahahahah!!!!!

[isiolia]

Personally, I tend to prefer buying the CD still, since I can rip to whatever format(s)/bitrate I feel like. I only buy digital if that's the only (or logical) format to buy in.

However, far as I know, the majority out there now is (or can be) DRM free anyway. iTunes swapped to DRM free AAC in 2009, Google Play has been DRM free from the start, stuff like Autorip or digital music purchases from Amazon are basic MP3 files as well.

Most of what I have is Amazon, since they've got a lot of CDs listed for Autorip - basically, as soon as you check out, the album gets added to your Amazon music library to stream or download.


Offhand, where you mostly run into DRM now are hybrid situations, such as Amazon's Music Unlimited service. It's designed as a streaming service, but you're able to download DRM'ed tracks for offline use.
It's obviously worth double checking before starting to buy tracks from someplace though.

[Ziggy]

Most of what I have is Amazon, since they've got a lot of CDs listed for Autorip - basically, as soon as you check out, the album gets added to your Amazon music library to stream or download.

I love Amazon. They have a ton of digital music now, and the auto-rip feature is great. Sometimes the CD is cheaper than the digital price, and you get it digitally anyway.

When you buy digital music from Amazon, it's in the cloud. You can download the mp3s straight away, or stream it (the Amazon music app is great). The auto rip comes in real handy when I buy vinyls, since it's not as easy to rip those. The mp3s are DRM free.

[Jagosaurus]

Most of what I have is Amazon, since they've got a lot of CDs listed for Autorip - basically, as soon as you check out, the album gets added to your Amazon music library to stream or download.

I love Amazon. They have a ton of digital music now, and the auto-rip feature is great. Sometimes the CD is cheaper than the digital price, and you get it digitally anyway.

When you buy digital music from Amazon, it's in the cloud. You can download the mp3s straight away, or stream it (the Amazon music app is great). The auto rip comes in real handy when I buy vinyls, since it's not as easy to rip those. The mp3s are DRM free.

This might be my solution. Like most folks, I already use Amazon often so it'd be easy to try out.

What I'm trying to avoid is the Google Play movie download scenario... where I can DL a movie but it's riddled with DRM, tied to the Google movie app, & hidden within folders in multiple files. That is frustrating & why I just ripped 100+ DVDS with Make MKV to get DRM free .mkv files . While it was worth it to have DRM free movies, I knew there were alternatives in the music world to ripping CDs.

Thanks man & appreciate the suggestions from all.

[ExedExes]

Most of what I have is Amazon, since they've got a lot of CDs listed for Autorip - basically, as soon as you check out, the album gets added to your Amazon music library to stream or download.

I love Amazon. They have a ton of digital music now, and the auto-rip feature is great. Sometimes the CD is cheaper than the digital price, and you get it digitally anyway.

When you buy digital music from Amazon, it's in the cloud. You can download the mp3s straight away, or stream it (the Amazon music app is great). The auto rip comes in real handy when I buy vinyls, since it's not as easy to rip those. The mp3s are DRM free.

Amazon has always been great with music. Even better if you're like me if you have 2 of their tablets, the Echo device, the Fire TV Stick, and the Amazon Music apps on the PC and my smartphone. Plus you can upload a limited number of your own MP3s to their cloud to have access across all your devices.

I also have AutoRip stuff and digital music purchases in addition to the vast Prime free library. Yeah. I love Amazon.