Lala
If you want to explore new music, and you already spend a lot of time in front of the computer, you should check out the streaming audio on Lala. It's free, and every computer geek knows how to capture the cached audio data for repeat plays. The streams are of decent quality (they say at 128kbps, but many sound better and a few worse. I'm not an audiophile, I don't want to fetish on the purity of sound at the expense of the music.) and the libary is so vast you'd think this offering criminal. I like the service so much I've set up a separate PC to run the streams. Do yourself a favor and check it out.
Thanks! I guess I'm not enough of a computer geek, how do you get these repeat plays?
ReplyDeleteThey give you 50 "web songs" for signing up, and after that they're a dime. If you're into free jazz, that can mean a dime for a "web cd."
ReplyDeleteThere are plenty of share and freeware applications available that can record streamed music, but I don't have any recommendations. You would need other software to edit the captured audio files, if only to remove gaps, and split files, and to create tags for your ipod. When you consider the amount of time involved, you might want to throw the artists a bone and just buy the download, already edited, tagged and with a higher bitrate.
Don't count this as free advice, but here are a few tips:
ReplyDeleteIf you want to record streaming media, try "wondershare." I think it can be found at cnet.
If you want to edit mp3 files there are many mp3 splitters out there.
If you want to make ID3 tags for your files, you can do it efficiently with "media monkey."
Here's a piece of free advice: if you're recording streamed media, close as many applications as possible, and try not to work with that computer. If you work with a browser you'll get "artifacts." Each of your "clicks" will get immortalized. That would be a bummer to listen to even for a non-audiophile.
Woody, thanks for the recommendation, but lala is not available overseas.
ReplyDeleteBummer. I'm curious: are they blocking your IP address, or could you use a US postal address for the account, and the issue is only with international disc trading?
ReplyDeleteIt looks like they automatically blog the sign-up procedures from non-US IP addresses.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I could accesss via a proxy, but who knows if I succeed in registering if I could actually use the service?
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ReplyDelete