FREE, LEGAL Downloads of Broadway Music! (AOL users only)

[CapnHook]

Posted: 6/29/05 at 9:10pm

I found a great new way to support cast recordings!

If you're an AOL member, you should receive an e-mail today on a special offer: 30-day unlimited free trial for MusicNet@AOL - a music-downloading program (NOT a music-sharing program!).

No spyware involved. No registration! Because it's an AOL software add-on, you simply download it!

You can download an unlimited number of songs in the 30 day free trial. After the 30 days, it costs $8.95 a month. And in order to burn songs to a CD, it costs $.99 per CD.

With this software, you can either download the songs, or save links to listen to them LIVE in real time (ie custom radio).

I sound like a commercial, LOL.

Already I have downloaded:

-Les Miserables
-Cabaret Revival
-The Light in the Piazza
-Finding Neverland (soundtrack)
-Little Women
-Peter Pan (the Leonard Bernstein CD that was JUST RELEASE THIS WEEK!!!!)

They don't have ALL cast recordings, but I was pleasantly surprised in the range of CDs they offer. New releases of this year to London cast recording to great Broadway classics to artist CDs.

And the best part - it supports Broadway cast recordings! Legal! Free to you (for 30 days)! And they make their money!

AOL USERS: http://channelevents.aol.com/music/musicnet/kw/demo_shell.adp

[sassypanz]

Posted: 6/29/05 at 9:11pm

thanks to you(-ms swan) hook!

[CapnHook]

Posted: 6/29/05 at 9:25pm

Also downloaded Last 5 Years and Brooklyn.

I paid to join the Site.

[JoizeyActor]

Posted: 6/29/05 at 9:42pm

Amazing. I DLed Spamalot and Light in The Piazza. Thanks SO much! That saves me $30 right there.

[Thenardier]

Posted: 6/29/05 at 10:06pm

THANKS!

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 6/29/05 at 10:11pm

Ugh, after 5 years of suffering through AOL, they come out with this a year after I finally broke away from their grasp! This only makes me hate them even more.

[briarbrad]

Posted: 6/29/05 at 10:14pm

It's not compatible with my Powerbook though! THANKS AGAIN AOL!

[Thenardier]

Posted: 6/29/05 at 10:14pm

Best thing EVER

But, wait!

After I dwnld the songs, how can I access them in, say, iTunes? Or can't I?

Posted: 6/29/05 at 10:17pm

Buy the cds and support musical theatre!

[CapnHook]

Posted: 6/29/05 at 10:18pm

You can't - you can only play them in MusicNet@AOL. However, if you burn it to a CD, you can then upload the songs from the CD to iTunes or WMV.

[Thenardier]

Posted: 6/29/05 at 10:18pm

I'm supporting AOL.

When Theatre loses its ticket prices, I will buy more CDs...

[Plum]

Posted: 6/29/05 at 10:19pm

Bleh- I'm with you, orangeskittles. I held on to a fraction of an AOL account for 9 years, and now they come up with this?

[Thenardier]

Posted: 6/29/05 at 10:20pm

Ha, The Wild Party/Look at Me Now/Idina Menzel/John La Chiusa.... LOL

[CapnHook]

Posted: 6/29/05 at 10:20pm

Jose - this DOES support musical theatre. It's the same as buying. AOL pays fees to the record companies and give them totals of songs/CDs that were purchased/downloaded.

And even though it's a free trial, and we're downloading them for free (at least for the 30 days), AOL still pays the record companies.

So it's the best of both worlds.

[Thenardier]

Posted: 6/29/05 at 10:25pm

Does anyone have an answer to my question?

Or do I have to burn the music on a CD and then put it in iTunes?

[zbigner]

Posted: 6/29/05 at 10:30pm

You guys might want to read the fine print. With all the other subscription-based services the music goes away as soon as you stop paying the monthly fee. Record labels would not license their songs for unlimited downloads for a flat monthly fee if users are allowed to keep the songs forever.

There's no harm in trying the service out while AOL pays the 1st month's fee for you don't fool yourself into thinking you're getting something for nothing. If I weren't a Mac person, I'd try it out for myself.

This whole issue of renting music vs. buying it is at the core of a lot of the issues affecting the record labels and digital music right now. I think it will be serveral more years before it all shakes out.

Happy downloading,

Zack

[wickedbway]

Posted: 6/29/05 at 10:31pm

HEY! And then when you're done downloading them, you can send some to me! Just Kidding!

(PS: TOTALLY not kidding. I'm dying for Little Shop..)

[zbigner]

Posted: 6/29/05 at 10:42pm

Thenardier,

I don't know about this service specifically, but I can guess based on how every other similar service works. The short answer is No.

In order to make sure you pay the monthly fee to maintain access to your songs, they give them to you in a format (probably Windows Media Player) that contains Digital Rights Management (DRM). They aren't going to let you tranfer the songs into a format that strips the DRM away because that would defeat the purpose of the monthly fee. Songs bought from the iTunes Music Store use a similar system to control the number of computers you load the songs on.

If you have a portable mp3 player, you will also want to make sure it is compatible with the service. Many are, but some are not.

When you burn to a CD, the DRM has to be stripped away, so they charge you the extra fee at that point to compensate.

I don't mean to imply that AOL, Napster or any of the other subscription services are doing anything underhanded here. This is a perfectly legitimate model for providing access to music. I just think they could be a little more up front about the limitations.

Hope this helps,

Zack

[Thenardier]

Posted: 6/29/05 at 10:44pm

Thanks z!

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 6/29/05 at 10:46pm

Zbigner,

But you CAN burn all of the music to CD and then turn around and upload them to iTunes or whatever. It's an extra step and takes a little extra time but, for FREE why not download a few hundred CDs worth of music for 30 days?

And by the way, I won't ONLY be downloading cast albums -- far from it.

[Thenardier]

Posted: 6/29/05 at 10:48pm

Margo - that was my question.

If it saves such a file, then it causes problem.

I'll try it!

[Blucat5002]

Posted: 6/29/05 at 10:50pm

I'm excited!!

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 6/29/05 at 10:55pm

After the first thirty days, they charge you a "per CD" fee, over and above the $8.95/month. But, during the trial period, all downloads are free. Also, even during the trial period, certain "popular" albums and tracks are "listen only" unless you want to pay for them (ie, stuff from the top 40). Broadway music doesn't sell in those kinds of numbers, so there are no restrictions on downloading most tracks from cast albums.

Basically if you want to be able to keep what you're downloading and listen to it on your iPod, you have to burn it to CD and then upload.

Updated On: 6/29/05 at 10:55 PM

[zbigner]

Posted: 6/29/05 at 10:55pm

I read the original message to mean it costs $.99 per song to burn to a CD. If it's $.99 per CD, then that is a bargain and well worth the trouble.

I would want to do a couple to test the quality. There can be a difference in quality once the file has been compressed, downloaded, burned, and ripped back off the CD. I don't have sensitive enough ears to notice such things but some people do.

Since I do internet radio broadcasting, I really have to have the CD format for maximum quality and flexibility, but I think all these digital services have a lot to offer for pure consumers of music.

[WickedCatsontheRoof]

Posted: 6/29/05 at 10:55pm

Now I have a reason to put aol on my laptop.