The Not Happy Thread

I'm angry because Spotify won't let me put half of the songs on my Ipod, even though my bf's paying a tenner a month for it, it still expects you to pay for each of the songs!! I'm now back to needing somewhere I can download free music from - any suggestions would be welcome :\

 

IMO downloading it off Youtube is probably still the best way, not entirely legal but easy enough through converter websites- I use this one. I know it says it takes 3-4 minutes a go but 95% percent of the time it's pretty much instantaneous. If you're looking for something legal then I'm not really sure what there is out there, sorry :/

 

Thanks for the suggestion, I'm using that covnerter at the minute actually, it's just it takes ages. I think it's the only option though.

I really p**ses me off how expensive music is :\

 

The teachers winging over having to pay £100 more for their pensions is really irritating me. 'We can't afford it, we need all the money we can get, wah wah wah'.

There is a recession, and you people get a good wage as it is. Stop crying.

 

Why should it piss you off? You steal it, so what difference does the price make?

 

I "steal" it because otherwise I can't afford music - that's what pisses me off. I am aware downloading music is illegal, but I think the prices of cds/downloading from Itunes is ridiculous, and I like having music on my ipod.

 

Hmmm. Hey, there are lots of things I can't afford. Maybe I should steal those too. I like having them in my house or driveway. LOL

People who pirate music and books are going to do it, but at least be honest enough not to dress it up in excuses. The truth is, you don't care about the artist, you feel entitled to their work product whether you can or want to pay for it or not, and so you take it.

Strange viewpoint from other "artists," (which is what writers are), but there you have it. The human mind can rationalize just about anything, I guess.

 

Yea, fine, I can't afford to buy music, but I want it, so I steal in from online. No excuses. When Take That stops making billions of pounds from their tours, or Cheryl Cole stops being able to afford her holidays/designer clothes and everything else, maybe I'll care a little bit more. They are overpaid in the first place, so maybe that helps me feel less guilty about it.

I'm not trying to deny the fact it's illegal, but hey, most people do things they know they shouldn't at various points in their lives, consider music piracy my thing.

 

Well at least now you are being honest. If you ever make it as a writer of any sort, I do hope people have more respect for your property (e.g. copyright) than you've demonstrated.

 

SOoo... Piracy aside... I"m not happy because well.. frankly I'm not a happy person? I have a writing group that I participate in which is in another town. I drive over 25 miles to go to this thing, and the group as a whole can't or isn't comfortable critiquing. I'm seriously wondering what the point is. I mean I have learned from them, I'm not saying I haven't. However considering I critiqued for nearly everyone in the group (including a full novel) and I can't get a short story done... that's just ... ugh!

That's annoying enough but then work just seems 50 thousand times more irritating lately than usual. I think my biggest problem is that I'm just burning out on well... everything.

I know there are starving kids every where and so on and so forth, and that I shouldn't complain but geeesh...

 

o____o

Oh dear lord...

Um, for my sadness: Summer is almost over.

 

Yea, me too. When I had a job, I payed for music, but right now yea, I am willing to ignore my morals/what is legal in this situation.

 

You know, there's always just listening to music for free on Youtube....


And Corb, if you ever want a hardcore review partner, PM me, I've had the same types of experiences but am a hardcore writer and critiquer so maybe we can workshop together some time.

 

Yeah, you need to find a group where people are comfortable critiquing and know what they are doing, and where they rotate submissions among the entire group so everyone gets ample chance to comment on works, as well as to have their own commented upon.

If you can't find a physical group like that, try online.

 

^Yep, just frustrating. I emailed the group lead and suggested they do a workshop on critiquing being that it's extremely helpful and well.. necessary to anyone who plans on doing any serious writing. So we'll see what she says.

Mallory: Thanks, I'd love that. I just feel bad about always asking for critiques or resubmitting edited versions of things people have already read. Which would be the case for you and this story.

I just want to make sure as much of it is as good as it can be before I start submitting the story and what not. I can take a rejection if I know I've put everything I can into the piece before sending it off..

 

I actually find that most artists don't care about music piracy. If you look at their contracts, they don't make much from recording contracts anyway, and their payoff doesn't really change. The backlash to Napster stuff is from recording executives. Most artists make their money from selling tickets to shows and merchandise, actually, so the more people who hear the music is all the better for them, no matter how it is obtained. I heard Ben Folds the other day say that he actually wrote a lot of letters on Napster's behalf.

That said, I usually just get most of my music from podcasts. Above & Beyond put out a 2 hour podcast weekly, Tiesto puts out a 1 hour podcast weekly, Armin puts out a 2 hour radio show and a 20 minute summary podcast weekly... For the most part, I'm set. But I feel like the fact that artists don't have a problem releasing music for download via podcast for free reflects the fact that they don't really care how you hear it so long as you do. The only thing that could really hurt artists is their statistics when records stop going platinum because people stop buying them. They'll have to figure out a new popularity system.

Music has value, certainly, and stealing is considered wrong, but the market is changing (I think, for the better as consequence, not that stealing is better but that the music industry as a whole is improved as consequence), and you cant stop it. So pick your battles and manipulate that changing market so you come out on top anyway.

Anyway, I'm sorry math is so difficult for you, Ash. That really sucks about having to take an exam all for the sake of a cleaning job. It's unnecessary and silly. Perhaps it doesn't mean much and is just a formality. I bet if you wow them with your interview, whatever marks you get wont matter anyway. I have trouble with math too. I earned a D in Algebra 2, a requirement for high school graduation, the first time around. It is hard.

 

Every artist can make that decision for themselves. If they want to allow their work to be freely accessibly and shared among people, they certainly have the option to do so. But despite that sort of talk from a lot of artists, few follow through on it. They'd rather have the deal with the label.

 

I read an interesting article on piracy yesterday here which, while relating to games, made many of the same points- as long as people are playing or listening to their music or games, the artists seem to be happy enough. It also ensures that more people become aware of the quality products available by word of mouth, meaning that eventually, more people will buy them. Obviously this isn't always the case (especially for big names that are already in the public eye) but for smaller, less well-known musicians piracy can be a blessing in disguise.

Incidentally, I only pirate music if it isn't available to download from Itunes, Amazon or anywhere else online- apart from that I'm entirely above board. I've only illegally downloaded a few obscure B-sides that I'd only otherwise be able to find by paying way over the odds for the original CD's on Ebay. I'm not a large-scale music pirate, but music piracy isn't the evil, industry-destroying crime many people percieve it to be.

 

I understand that piracy is illegal, but I personally don't understand why music isn't available to download online for free. Afterall, if you can watch it on youtube and on music channels, then why can't people play the songs on their ipods/phones? I'm struggling to see where the difference is, especially as it is for personal use. As has already been mentioned, I think it can help spread the word of many artists which would have otherwise been unheard of. If you have to pay for your music, you're unlikely to spend £10 buying a new cd incase you don't like it. However, if you can get it for free, you can listen and enjoy, and would be more likely to buy a cd later on/buy other band merchandise or go to theier concert. Personally, there are lots of musicians who, if I enjoyed the album and have the money, I buy the cd.

Yes, I know this doesn't get away from the overall, it's still illegal factor, but I really struggle to see why it is illegal.

EDIT: I actually really like an idea presented in the article link pludovik posted - making 'demos' of things. Artists could do that with thier albums, make half of the songs on their album free to download, and if you really like it, you can choose to download the full album for a cost. I think many people would be quite happy having half of artists albums, and then the ones they really enjoy, would be willing to pay for the extra songs.

 

So she downloads music off the internet! Big deal - her and a billion other people. Give her a break.

All the other music discussion could probably do better in the music thread too. Stop crashing the emo thread!

Edit: Don't you just hate it when you say something a bit tricky, chicken out and delete it to save face, and find you got a load of +rep for it anyway? LOL

 

I've downloaded music myself. It's no big deal really.

I am getting really worried about the amount of work I'll have next year at university.

 

I'm sure it'll be fine - have you had anything to work on over the summer?

I'm getting worried about the fact I'm supposed to be moving to london in just over a month and have made no attempt at packing/organising anything . . . . :redface:

 

^ Not really. Just I've been researching for my dissertation a little bit.

 

What's your dissertation on? That's what you spend most of third year doing isn't it?

 

Yip. I'm hoping to do my dissertation on George Orwell, and his essays. Either that or poetry, and why it isn't as popular as it probably could be. You have to propose a subject, which can be rejected, so I have two ideas for it so far, just in case.