Your Music Downloading Habits...

i've been downloading a lot of free mp3s from the xlr8r website and i realize that i have a strange habit on doing so. most of the stuff on the site i don't know what it is and i'm happy that they have a listen first option before i start to dl something that i won't like.

the first habit i realize is that i'll listen to something for about 5 seconds and to me that is enough to judge a track. if i like what i hear in the first 5 or so seconds, i usually fast forward a couple of times to see if it still holds up. if i believe it does, i'll dl it. this habit i know probably most do it too.

another i noticed is that i'll base it on the pic alone. like if the pic has more than 2 members i usually skip because i feel that it doesn't take more than 2 people to make electronic music (unless you're kraftwerk). and if the pic looks too much like an actual band and some of the members are holding a guitar, i'll skip that too. i also give something a listen (or not) if the pic is just artwork or album cover.

(examples of pics which makes me decide whether to listen or not)

give a listen to:

SKIP:

i always give all the hip hop related mp3s a listen since i listen to hip hop as much as electronic music (probably more these days).

what are some of the habits you guys have that makes you dl or not?

I usually wouldn't listen to something if I'd never heard of the artist before and just found the mp3 on some website, unless the description really sounded interesting. I come across more than enough music without trying. Especially if its just an mp3 because I don't want to have to download it and add it to iTunes and then realise it's shit straight away and delete it.

I'm more into albums or EPs, I can't often get into a new artist off one track anyway. I'd rather take a trustworthy recommendation of an album.

xlr8r is a good site for new music.

I try to go off of friends' recommendations and "sounds like" options. Those can lead you down a bad path sometimes, though.

by the way I happened to be on this site earlier and found a load of really good free mp3s, if anyone is interested in that sort of thing. Its probably well known but anyway : http://www.thefader.com/

  On 8/15/2010 at 1:01 AM, Braintree said:

xlr8r is a good site for new music.

 

I try to go off of friends' recommendations and "sounds like" options. Those can lead you down a bad path sometimes, though.

that's a problem i have since most recommendations people gave me in the past i never liked. so now when someone recommends me something i always dismiss it. there was a girl who told me to listen to hot chip, arcade fire, diplo... and i didn't like neither. if anything the people i know always come to me for recommendations. but lately i have nothing to recommend since i haven't been listening to a lot of new music.

based on what i've dled from xlr8r so far, i'd say to listen to some shigeto.

  On 8/15/2010 at 1:14 AM, Coalbucket PI said:

by the way I happened to be on this site earlier and found a load of really good free mp3s, if anyone is interested in that sort of thing. Its probably well known but anyway : http://www.thefader.com/

cool... i'll check that when i'm done with xlr8r.

Well first off i check the genre of the track or album, then i often check the label it is on and who made it and so on, more information, then i check it up on youtube (99% of it is there) and i do just like you, i listen parts of it quick, 10 seconds at most and judge it, if i like it i download the whole album, and i'm using torrent site for that.

  On 8/15/2010 at 1:27 AM, asymmetrical head said:

  On 8/15/2010 at 1:14 AM, Coalbucket PI said:

by the way I happened to be on this site earlier and found a load of really good free mp3s, if anyone is interested in that sort of thing. Its probably well known but anyway : http://www.thefader.com/

 

cool... i'll check that when i'm done with xlr8r.

Start here: http://www.thefader.com/2009/07/08/dam-funk-toeachizown-mp3/

at the bottom of each mp3 page there is a related links list, a nice easy way to browse

Full WARP Discography FLAC (2010 update)

friends/message boards/blogs recommendations --> new tunes to check out --> head for the labels, see what else is going down.

My three main sources of new music are DJ mixes, last.fm similar artists feature and discogs wandering.

If I've never heard anything by an artist before, I'll be more prone to listening to it if thier moniker or the album title is intriguing. I've never really been influenced by the artwork.

Once I'm done with downloading, I skim through the track too. However, unless it's pure trash, I seldom trash something if it doesn't sound great. Many artists I thoroughly enjoy nowadays gave me a bad impression at first.

yeah. artist name or track/album names usually persuades my interests as well. like if there's profanity in a track name i won't dl it. it's as bad as someone having a pic that's flippin' the bird. i'm glad i knew about the tuss when i dled them in the past cuz if i didn't know about the tuss and the track "death fuck" was available for dl, i would've skipped it (it's my favorite tuss track btw)

  On 8/15/2010 at 4:10 AM, asymmetrical head said:

if there's profanity in a track name i won't dl it.

Don't you listen to a lot of hip hop?

  On 8/15/2010 at 4:20 AM, Enter a new display name said:

  On 8/15/2010 at 4:10 AM, asymmetrical head said:

if there's profanity in a track name i won't dl it.

Don't you listen to a lot of hip hop?

there's many things i over look in the listening/downloading of hip hop. non hip hop tracks with profanity in the names i tend to skip. to this day i still haven't listened to a single "shitmat" track solely based on the name.

  On 8/15/2010 at 12:09 AM, asymmetrical head said:

man i made a really similar photo for one of my album covers

Y=like

N=not like

SCOUR newReleases

IF Y

THEN youTube

IF ELSE nextNewRelease

IF THEN searchVinyl

IF searchVinyl = 0

THEN whatCD

IF ELSE purchaseVinyl

-Get recommendation. (person, article, artist/label affiliation, WATMM, last.fm, etc)

-Search YouTube for tracks. Listen. Search elsewhere for streaming tracks if no results.

-Wikipedia/discogs/artist website/MySpace for background/discography.

-If album is free/reasonably priced for online download, get it from them. If they're relatively unknown, get it from them anyway to support them.

-Otherwise, search Google for "blogspot [artist] [album]" and look for RS/MU/MF/similar links. If no results, search PirateBay/SoulSeek.

-If album is really good, order it online.

download everything

I hear a few good tracks from an artist, download their discography if I can find it, and then purchase my favorite albums.

I download their most critically acclaimed albums. If there are no reviews for any of their musics, then I download the one with the most interesting cover art/samples. If I like the album them I either buy it, buy another one of their albums, or download another one of their albums.

what if instead of '404 error' s on dead links, your browser returned '303 error'?

  On 8/15/2010 at 12:09 AM, asymmetrical head said:

 

 

Is that Sarah Michelle Gellar, Christina Ricci and Johnny Depp?

I'm a completist. If I like an artist, I'll probably like 75% of his discography. So I get all the albums. I'm album-only.

last.fm

  On 8/16/2010 at 10:35 PM, tht tne said:

last.fm

i dled a couple last night. they didn't have a good hip hop selection. when i clicked ambient they had stuff like the cheesy ambient from the mid 90s type stuff.