SongBoom Get Your Music On!

While filtering your internet experience is illegal in many countries, sometimes ISPs do so without regard for the law (and risk losing "common carrier" status other places).

One possible solution is to change your DNS server to one that will point you to the correct place. To do this in Windows, try the following:

1. Open Network Connections
2. Right click your specific net connection (LAN?) and choose properties
3. Choose 'Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)' and click 'Properties'
4. Choose 'Use The Following DNS-Server Addresses'
   Default DNS-server : 208.67.222.222
   Alternative DNS-server : 208.67.220.220
5. Click OK
6. Click OK

On other platforms you'll have to find out where your DNS settings are and change them accordingly.

Make sure that you note your old settings in case you want to set them back. For more information on using OpenDNS, please see the OpenDNS Wikipedia page.

Webmoney is an online method of payment very similar to PayPal. You can use it to accept and make payments at thousands of places online, transfer money to other people, or even use it as a payment method on your own online store. You can have multiple accounts in different currencies that correspond with the US Dollar, Euro, Russian Ruble, and other currencies.

Several of the sites reviewed at SongBoom accept Webmoney as a payment option. To get started, go to the Webmoney website and sign up.

Most people that are familiar with conducting Bank Transfers will find Webmoney very easy to use, since a Bank Transfer is the easiest way to put money into your Webmoney account. However, not all people are familiar with making Bank Transfers; therefore, here are some hints on how to fill up your Webmoney account:

1) Bank transfer. I know it might sound scary (or difficult) if you've never done it before, but it's really not. Here in Europe it's such a standard thing that it really only takes about 2 minutes online to complete one. In the US, if you have an online banking service it might be easier - you can probably do the transfer in your browser rather easily. The only downside is that most US banks tend to charge crazy fees ($10-$30 or similar) for doing a transfer unless the account is at the same bank. Maybe you will be lucky and a transfer will be easy.

2) Get a CashU card (or if you're in the UK or Europe, check UKash or paysafecard). You can fill this card with a credit card and then transfer it to your Webmoney account here. This has the advantage that you can use your credit card, but you've got to go through an extra step to do it. This should work fine for people from the USA.

3) Transfer from a different e-currency. There are several websites that will exchange money from PayPal directly into Webmoney (for example, here here and here) - but you have to pay quite a high commission to do so. The exchange rates quoted on some of those sites are a hefty 13.9-17% when making the exchange using PayPal. I cannot personally attest to the service of any of those sites.

Usually payment is handled by third party with several of these sites; the reputation of that third party can easily be looked up on the internet.  For example, many sites use SWREG or ChronoPay as a payment processor - and you can be sure that your data is as safe with them as any other online payment method.

If the site handles credit card payment onsite, then your best bet is to see what others have said about the site online and here in the forums.  If you are unsure, please don't hesitate to post a question in the forums to hear what other people have to say about a particular site. 

Read the article "Beginners Guide: How to Pick the Right Store for You". It will give you a fast run-down of the most popular sites, as well as some of the services different sites have to offer.  You can also check the reviews shown on the navigation bar on the left for more detailed information on any site you are interested in. 

If you want to get a quick overview of all the sites at once, take a look at the comparison matrix - you can find links to the reviews from there as well.

If you use a site that doesn't have a download manager of its own, you'll want to install a what is called a download manager. If you order an entire album, for example, a download manager will automatically grab the links for each track and download them one at a time (or simultaneously, if the site supports it).

A download manager made specifically for downloading music is being developed at SongBoom, and we'll be releasing it soon.  For more information, please see the short article written about it. 

Several good ones exist and are completely free. Please see the forums under "Software->Download Managers" for an updated list of good choices.

In short, usually people are talking about 192kbps encoded MP3's when they say "CD Quality" (the higher the bitrate, the larger the file and usually the better the sound quality). However, what it really means to be "CD Quality" is somewhat more subjective.

Since MP3's use what is called lossy compression, it won't matter what bitrate you choose: you won't ever have a 1:1 copy of the orignal CD track (a 1:1 copy 5 minute song is about 50MB!). When an MP3 is made (or 'encoded'), some special tricks are used to make the music file smaller than the original 1:1 copy. When this done, the information that is lost isn't noticeable to a human listener if the bitrate is high enough. If a MP3 is created using a low bitrate, say 96kbps, you will be able to notice the loss of quality.

So the real question is: which bitrate sounds like CD quality?

And the answer to that is - for most people - 192kbps.

However, some sites use a different form of encoding called "Variable Bit-Rate" or VBR. Using this scheme, a MP3 is encoded using a bitrate that can dynamically change based on the content of the music. This provides a balance between CD quality and file size - which means you'll usually end up with a track that sounds the same as a 192kbps encoded file, but is smaller in size.

The short answer is probably nowhere - and definitely not at SongBoom.com.

The re-selling of codes/certificates/vouchers is certainly legal to do (depending on which country you reside in, of course), but the major music labels (and their RIAA/IFPI henchmen) put a lot of effort into threating people that chose to do so. However, this isn't the reason that you can't buy them from SongBoom.com - there is a much different reason.

Some time ago an agreement was made between the owner of SongBoom and representatives at AllOfMP3/AllTunes (MediaServices) in which PIN codes could be bought in bulk. However, instead of delivering the said PIN codes, the company representatives (namely Jack Uspehoff and Andrei Pica) kept the money and cut off all communication. You heard right: AllTunes violated a contractual agreement and stole thousands of dollars from a regular every-day joe.

This doesn't reflect well on a company that has been struggling with image problems to begin with. Although many users of AllOfMP3/Alltunes were very satisfied with the service, the fact that they so blatantly stole such a large amount of money from a normal consumer should serve as a warning to all Alltunes/AllOfMP3/MP3Sparks users: they just may take your money and run too.

So please be warned about dealing with these sites (AllTunes, AllOfMP3, MP3Sparks, MemphisMembers). I strongly recommend that consumers look elsewhere when making a decision about where to purchase music online.

First you'll have to register.  After you've done that and logged in, you can give an existing site a rating with along with your own comments by finding the link under the review titled "Give this site a rating". 

If you want to submit your own review of a website for consideration, please click on the link "Content" on the left navigation bar, and then "Create Content", and then "Page".  If you are already logged in, then you can simply click this link to get started.  Please note that your review will be moderated first, and may be edited.