Nowadays, almost every music service requires you to buy a subscription in order to listen to music comfortably. And if this is not done, then restrictions are imposed on users that many do not like. This is understandable... Who would like to listen to music for 30 minutes a day (hello, VK). That's why people are looking for free applications where they can download music in order to fully enjoy their favorite artist.
In this article I want to show not only applications where you can download music, but also useful life hacks on how this can be done without unnecessary hassles.
Compact Disc (1982)
CD - compact disc or optical disc - a disc 12 cm in diameter with a hole in the center.
The playback principle of a CD is very similar to its predecessor - a vinyl disc: information is recorded on a spiral-shaped track and then read out sequentially, only instead of a needle a laser beam is used, hence another of the outdated names for this medium - “laser disc”. The CD digital data format is PCM (pulse code modulation), two channels (stereo) at 16 bits with a sampling rate of 44.1 kHz. The volume of stored information is about 700 MB or 80 minutes of audio. The specification and manufacturing technology for compact discs was developed by Sony and Philips back in 1979, but the first “music” CD was released in 1982. Legend has it that ABBA's album The Visitors was recorded on it.
Later, in connection with the development of personal computers, CD-ROMs appeared - disks for storing data, as well as disks for recording at home: CD-R (Compact Disc Recordable) for one-time recording and CD-RW (Compact Disc ReWritable) for multiple recordings. . We should also briefly mention Video CD and SVCD (Super Video CD), as well as the numerous family of DVDs, but all these devices and formats are designed for storing and playing digital video, which is somewhat beyond the scope of this article.
Digital Audio Tape (1987)
DAT (digital audio tape) - this recording and playback format was introduced by Sony in 1987.
As we can see from the name and photo, DAT is a small cassette with 4 mm wide film, on which not an analog, but a digital signal is recorded, 16-bit, PCM, without compression, like a CD, only CD sampling frequency strictly 44.1 kHz, and DAT can work with frequencies of 48; 44.1 or 32 kHz.
DAT is a fully professional format for recording and storing digital audio, and its ability to re-record and easily copy data has made it the “standard” for recording studios. At present, of course, DAT has been “thrown off its pedestal” by more accessible and cheaper “computer” media HDD and Flash, but still in “decent” studios you will have no problems accepting material for mastering on DAT cassettes.
Lifehack on how to download music via Telegram
After Pavel Durov left Vkontakte, music on this social network became paid. But this is not a problem, as Durov made the new Telegram messenger, in which all music is completely free. The peculiarity of Telegram is that after listening to audio files for the first time, they are immediately downloaded to the phone. This means next time you can listen to them without the Internet.
QR Code
Telegram
Developer: Telegram FZ-LLC
Price: Free
Where to look for music on Telegram?
Teleger has special channels with music, where many modern tracks are uploaded every day. You can find such channels on various Telegram directories, for example: tgstat.ru , tlgrm.ru
MiniDisc (1992)
MD or MiniDisc is a small disk with a diameter of 6.5 cm in a plastic case that protects it from external influences. The mini-disc was announced by Sony in 1991 and is a magneto-optical storage medium, that is, the data is not “burned” by a laser, but only “magnetized,” which allows for repeated re-recording without any loss of sound quality.
But miracles do not happen - with a much smaller size and approximately the same playing time as a CD, the mini-disc uses ATRAC audio data compression technology, that is, lossy compression (approximately like MP-3). In addition, the “long play” LP2 and LP4 technologies allow you to store, respectively, up to 2 and 4 CD albums on one mini-disc.
However, due to ease of use and portability, the mini-disk was widespread in semi-domestic and semi-professional areas. A phonogram can be easily recorded onto a mini-disc from any (digital or analogue) media. Wide possibilities for editing, “trimming and gluing”, recording track titles and song artists. And the buffer memory of a few seconds allows you to instantly find the desired track on the disk and does not “jump” during playback, as with some music centers on CD. Because of these capabilities, MD was indispensable in the concert activities of singers and musicians in the 90s.
Why do you need a personal music library in the era of streaming services?
###Why Do We Need A Music Library For The Cloud Era? Gilles Poupardin
In the 90s, we learned about most songs by listening to the radio, a friend’s player, watching the charts on television, or reading special magazines. Once a song had truly captured our interest and captured our minds, the next logical step was to travel to our favorite music store and purchase the corresponding CD.
On the way home, we couldn't stop thinking about how nice it would be to open the precious box, smell and feel the cover of the disc before placing this piece of art on the wooden shelf of our record library and adding to our collection. Music spread from hand to hand at school during short breaks between friends or at home between acquaintances of music lovers who took music recordings from each other's priceless record libraries. Emotions and passion were born from physical interaction with real media.
In the late 90s, file sharing services between users dealt a serious blow to the music market. From now on, all the music we wanted was just one click away and a few kilobits of downloading via the Internet. For some people, the main goal has become to download as many songs as possible for free. This dealt a significant blow to the music industry, but provided a new opportunity for listeners: unlimited access to music.
There was no longer talk of any emotions, except, perhaps, a feeling of joy from watching how quickly the divisions filled the loading scale. All the music albums we illegally downloaded from strangers were saved to our silent hard drive. File sharing was accomplished via USB-output MP3 players, copy/paste/drag-and-drop, and moving audio tracks. This whole process was far from the poetic collection of music in a real music library.
After many lawsuits, file sharing services between users were finally closed. Then, in early 2001, Apple introduced the legendary iPod and its library of audio files, iTunes: a “clean” design, seamlessly integrating new capabilities for purchasing and listening to music from an audio device. People went crazy for the iPod, which replaced the convenience of CDs with the convenience of storage.
The phenomenon of fascination with fashionable portable audio players is directly related to the pleasure of listening to music on real media, but this is not a subcultural phenomenon and this hobby certainly does not contain the aesthetic component that collecting music recordings on real media has. — Jonathan Stern
However, connecting an iPod to an iTunes library comes at a cost: tying the user to the service, slow synchronization, and delays in file transfers.
In 2008, there was a transition from the system of downloading MP3 files to listening to music online. Spotify and Deezer offered a disruptive new distribution model that made it possible to create an on-demand list of 30 million music tracks from the catalogs of various labels. Never before has music been so accessible, and legally. Now there was no need to go to a music store or download files. No need to sync with iTunes anymore.
All music was now in the cloud, accessible from any computer and at any time, just make a request. Streaming services revolutionized access to music, but still failed to allow music lovers to experience the same emotions as interacting with a physical library, music on media, or a color iPod Nano.
I believe that streaming services are devaluing music simply because people are not investing anything, physically or emotionally, in listening to the songs - Elliott Jay Stokes
As a result, the development of music distribution models has gone much further than what was said above. 2014: The amount of new music that appears on the Internet and that we can discover is greater than ever before. The Internet is the largest source of music files and the most direct and effective channel for music distribution, as well as communication between famous artists and their fans.
Youtube and SoundCloud allow any band, artist, producer or beatmaker to post their compositions online. Social networks, while certainly not designed specifically for working with music, give users the opportunity to share what they have found on the Internet with friends and people with similar musical tastes. Music lovers have become music hunters, striving daily to find new, unknown and mysterious tracks.
We hear music everywhere, but we can't collect it on physical media, which is annoying because there's nothing like a well-organized home music library with the records you love organized in alphabetical order. But no one after the 90s could compile such a music library properly. — Eliot Van Buskirk
From a music lover's point of view, the problem is no longer about accessing music, but about building a music collection. Music files are scattered across the network and their location is not stable. Our favorite electronic covers are on SoundCloud and the latest music videos are on Youtube. We learn about new songs by reading artist posts on Twitter, Facebook, friends' Tumblr blogs, or just music blogs.
Everything happens in real time: after a couple of minutes, our favorite songs are already carried away along with a stream of short messages, photos and “videos with cats.” How can we collect music in the Internet era? Where should we store all the songs we like? Do we collect them in the same way that we collected tracks on physical media or MP3s?
The ubiquity of music uploaded online today is that our friends can post individual tracks via Tumblr, and we can then keep track of what they're listening to through their Facebook news feed, even though we may not be able to download those songs . This brief glimpse into other people's musical tastes is a wonderful opportunity and a source of inspiration, but it is fleeting. The problem with online music is that you never own it—it tends to elude us. MP3 discs, no matter how much they become outdated, remain with us. — Kyle Czaika
We music lovers need a platform that caters to our new habit of constant searching. The Internet has given every person connected to it the opportunity to discover new songs. Now someone needs to give us a dedicated place where we can collect, organize and share our favorite tracks among ourselves, no matter where they were found or what the search platform is.
Music is a part of us, so help us express our individuality, our emotions and communicate with each other. Audio file formats and the way we access music have changed over time (vinyl, CDs, MP3s, streaming), but our favorite tracks remain the most treasured things we own. We have a right to a place where they can be stored and properly shared with the world.
In the era of streaming, the new music library concept will help listeners become music collectors through the ability to organize tracks and personalize them, bringing back the emotion and sense of ownership of music recordings. Music libraries are changing, but will always remain our “home” for collecting and sharing found tracks in an atmosphere of comfort, inspiration and positive emotions.
Translation of Audioman
DVD-Audio (2000)
DVD - Digital Video Disc, a disc originally designed for storing digital video, but it allows you to record any information. DVD-Audio is a digital format for recording audio data on DVD media. Due to the large volume of a DVD disc (4.7 Gigabytes), it is possible to store and play back digitized audio information in very high quality, up to 24 bit 192 kHz and not only stereo tracks, but also multi-channel recording in 5.1, which allows you to position the sound in three-dimensional space.
Hi-MD (2004)
In January 2004, Sony introduced its improved format, called Hi-MD. Now the mini-disk form factor accommodates almost 1 GB of storage media (“the old” mini-disk had 140 MB). And on Hi-MD discs you can store up to 45 hours of music with ATRAC compression or any “computer” files (the disc is formatted in FAT-32 and is recognized as removable media).
By the way, “backward compatibility” is supported, that is, the Hi-MD player “reads” and plays “regular” 74-minute mini-discs.
Style Jukebox
This service is not as famous as the previous two, but it does its job well and automatically updates the library if the “shared” folders with music have been updated. Moreover, Style Jukebox has a convenient and intuitive interface, and also allows you to upload up to 250 tracks to the cloud for free. After subscribing for a year, at a price of $25, the user will have access to the function of downloading another 20 thousand tracks. The service works with all popular mobile platforms - iOS, Android, Windows Phone and Windows PC.
Those who chose the first service on the list should watch this video:
SlotMusic (2008)
SlotMusic - this is how we will conditionally call the “new” digital audio data carrier. It came to users and music lovers in connection with the spread and total reduction in cost of miniature flash cards and can well be considered as a “removable medium” for phones and portable MP3 players. The microSD format developed by SanDisk holds the palm.
Sony, as the flagship of digital technology, does not stand aside here, but the Memory Stick format promoted by Sony is less popular due to its high price and “closedness” to third-party developers.
Such a story. What to choose for storing information is up to users to decide.
Tags: computers, video, CD, audio, storage medium, sounds, recordings, music, technology, history
Organizing the Library
The first thing I had to do was organize my entire music library before uploading it to cloud services. I had to check that all my digital versions of songs were properly tagged. To tag music files, there are several convenient programs for setting tags. For example, an excellent tag editing program for Windows is Magic MP3 Tagger, which does the work automatically. For Mac, the best editing assistant is Metadatics, which works with the most popular music formats.
Next, I needed to find duplicate songs in my library. Naturally, I did not search manually and used the help of the excellent Duplicate Cleaner program. The only downside of this program is that it only works on Windows. But in a short time my library was cleared of duplicate tracks. To remove duplicates on a Mac, you can use the built-in function in iTunes, located in the “My Music” tab.
