Surely gifting music -- really gifting -- isn't impossible?
May 8, 2023 6:07 AM Subscribe
I think my neighbor would enjoy music by Einaudi. Without doing any interrogation of her, or making her sign up for something, or buying a music player myself, or ideally without making her download it even -- is there _any_ way I can just buy some Einaudi music and give it to her? I'm imagining buying and downloading some MP3s and putting them on a thumb drive, but also purchasing a license for her, so it's legal.
- Just copying the files I bought for myself seems illegal.
- Just buying another copy and paying normally seems to assign the license to me, again.
- I'd buy a CD, but does anyone still have CD players? (Also, a lot of nice music isn't on CD).
- Just copying the files I bought for myself seems illegal.
- Just buying another copy and paying normally seems to assign the license to me, again.
- I'd buy a CD, but does anyone still have CD players? (Also, a lot of nice music isn't on CD).
Unless this is a weird situation with dimensions I'm not seeing, I'd just ask.
"How do you listen to music" is not an interrogation.
but, to be a good mefite and actually answer the question instead of challenging your premises ... I think the lowest-friction thing to do is to send her a Youtube link, because:
* pretty much every device made in the last decade can do youtube
* pretty much everyone knows youtube
* no signup.
* the artist has an official channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQxsahIsaO7_nDwVlFRMQiA
* no question of legality
* it's free
The only downside I see is that youtube's advertising has been really shitty and intrusive of late.
posted by Sauce Trough at 6:49 AM on May 8, 2023 [5 favorites]
"How do you listen to music" is not an interrogation.
but, to be a good mefite and actually answer the question instead of challenging your premises ... I think the lowest-friction thing to do is to send her a Youtube link, because:
* pretty much every device made in the last decade can do youtube
* pretty much everyone knows youtube
* no signup.
* the artist has an official channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQxsahIsaO7_nDwVlFRMQiA
* no question of legality
* it's free
The only downside I see is that youtube's advertising has been really shitty and intrusive of late.
posted by Sauce Trough at 6:49 AM on May 8, 2023 [5 favorites]
If you really, really want to make sure you are not violating the Amazon Music terms of use, you can sign up for a family unlimited plan and put her on it. They don't specify what adults can count as family members, and I believe you can do most of the signup process on her behalf, so that she'll be sent a link to access her account.
Amazon Music Unlimited members can listen to music online or download it, and unless this has changed recently, downloaded copies are DRM-free, so she'll really own it.
posted by nebulawindphone at 8:06 AM on May 8, 2023
Amazon Music Unlimited members can listen to music online or download it, and unless this has changed recently, downloaded copies are DRM-free, so she'll really own it.
posted by nebulawindphone at 8:06 AM on May 8, 2023
I'm not sure how technically legal you need your purchase to be. I like to think I'm a fairly scrupulous person, but, if I paid for another set of files, I would not feel the slightest ethical qualm about transferring them to another person even if I technically held the license. I couldn't even tell you whether the license was transferrable without close scrutiny of the t&cs. They got their money. Every stupid restriction they impose is towards securing that end.
posted by praemunire at 8:49 AM on May 8, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by praemunire at 8:49 AM on May 8, 2023 [4 favorites]
I think my husband got me a record player almost entirely so he could buy me records. As far as I can tell this is basically the only way to "gift" music anymore in the sense of "wrap it up as a present".
posted by potrzebie at 9:17 AM on May 8, 2023
posted by potrzebie at 9:17 AM on May 8, 2023
I'm imagining buying and downloading some MP3s and putting them on a thumb drive, but also purchasing a license for her, so it's legal.
Unless I'm missing something, once you've purchased mp3s to download, you don't need a "license" and they shouldn't have any sort of DRM a.k.a code that prevents you from copying them. Just like buying a CD, once you've paid your money, you're allowed to make copies of the music. Theoretically they're supposed to be "personal" copies for yourself, but there should be nothing preventing you from putting the tunes on a thumb drive or burning a CD. This is all fine and legal, you've paid for the music.
The possible wrinkle is you want to make sure you're actually purchasing mp3s for download, not just adding the music to a streaming library or playlist.
Also seconding the idea that you can casually ask how she listens to music, CD, or vinyl, or streaming, or whatever, without being interrogative. Unless you intend this to be a complete and utter surprise to her - but you might have to give that idea up, and just live with the fact that she knows you're planning on giving her some music, just not exactly what.
posted by soundguy99 at 9:58 AM on May 8, 2023
Unless I'm missing something, once you've purchased mp3s to download, you don't need a "license" and they shouldn't have any sort of DRM a.k.a code that prevents you from copying them. Just like buying a CD, once you've paid your money, you're allowed to make copies of the music. Theoretically they're supposed to be "personal" copies for yourself, but there should be nothing preventing you from putting the tunes on a thumb drive or burning a CD. This is all fine and legal, you've paid for the music.
The possible wrinkle is you want to make sure you're actually purchasing mp3s for download, not just adding the music to a streaming library or playlist.
Also seconding the idea that you can casually ask how she listens to music, CD, or vinyl, or streaming, or whatever, without being interrogative. Unless you intend this to be a complete and utter surprise to her - but you might have to give that idea up, and just live with the fact that she knows you're planning on giving her some music, just not exactly what.
posted by soundguy99 at 9:58 AM on May 8, 2023
Response by poster: you can sign up for a family unlimited plan and put her on it
"How do you listen to music" is not an interrogation.
youtube's advertising has been really shitty and intrusive of late.
I think my husband got me a record player almost entirely so he could buy me records
Theoretically they're supposed to be "personal" copies for yourself
Unless you intend this to be a complete and utter surprise to her - but you might have to give that idea up
I am familiar with all the ways to "give" someone music while also inconveniencing them or being non-spontaneous and non-surprising, or being non-strictly-legal.
I was hoping the world hadn't made true, delightful, spontaneous gift giving of music impossible.
posted by amtho at 1:53 PM on May 8, 2023
"How do you listen to music" is not an interrogation.
youtube's advertising has been really shitty and intrusive of late.
I think my husband got me a record player almost entirely so he could buy me records
Theoretically they're supposed to be "personal" copies for yourself
Unless you intend this to be a complete and utter surprise to her - but you might have to give that idea up
I am familiar with all the ways to "give" someone music while also inconveniencing them or being non-spontaneous and non-surprising, or being non-strictly-legal.
I was hoping the world hadn't made true, delightful, spontaneous gift giving of music impossible.
posted by amtho at 1:53 PM on May 8, 2023
Yeah, I see what you mean.
So okay. External CD drives can now be had extremely cheap.
It's ridiculous that this is something I'm suggesting, but for $30, you could hand someone an Einaudi CD and a CD drive to rip it from, and for $45 you could hand them a Diskman knockoff with an Einaudi CD inside. This is awkward, wasteful, and bizarre. But it is strictly legal, you can surprise someone with it, and it does not require them to sign up for anything.
The modern world is bullshit. But there you go, that's the option I see.
posted by nebulawindphone at 3:17 PM on May 8, 2023 [3 favorites]
So okay. External CD drives can now be had extremely cheap.
It's ridiculous that this is something I'm suggesting, but for $30, you could hand someone an Einaudi CD and a CD drive to rip it from, and for $45 you could hand them a Diskman knockoff with an Einaudi CD inside. This is awkward, wasteful, and bizarre. But it is strictly legal, you can surprise someone with it, and it does not require them to sign up for anything.
The modern world is bullshit. But there you go, that's the option I see.
posted by nebulawindphone at 3:17 PM on May 8, 2023 [3 favorites]
I assume most people still have a DVD and/or a Bluray player even if they're heavily into streaming so ... they have something that can play CDs.
If someone handed me a CD because they thought I'd like it, I'd figure out a way to play it.
I didn't have a dedicated CD player for a long time but bought a cheap one last year (it's also a radio and Bluetooth speaker).
posted by edencosmic at 6:07 PM on May 8, 2023
If someone handed me a CD because they thought I'd like it, I'd figure out a way to play it.
I didn't have a dedicated CD player for a long time but bought a cheap one last year (it's also a radio and Bluetooth speaker).
posted by edencosmic at 6:07 PM on May 8, 2023
I would have zero qualms about buying a CD and including with it a USB stick with ripped MP3s of the album on it alongside it. If you're doing this as a one-off gift to this friend and you're not keeping a copy of the MP3s yourself, no one will know or care that you're the one that did the backup instead of your friend doing the backup themselves. And backup rips of CDs for personal use are completely legal regardless of what the RIAA would have you believe.
I'd be a bit more cautious of sharing MP3s downloaded from Amazon or similar services, since while they are DRM-free, they do embed the account information of whoever purchased them, so if you don't remove that metadata, and the friend further shares these files without your knowledge, that could possibly become a problem for you. Unlikely, but the possibility exists. Ripped files don't typically have this problem.
posted by Aleyn at 7:49 PM on May 8, 2023 [1 favorite]
I'd be a bit more cautious of sharing MP3s downloaded from Amazon or similar services, since while they are DRM-free, they do embed the account information of whoever purchased them, so if you don't remove that metadata, and the friend further shares these files without your knowledge, that could possibly become a problem for you. Unlikely, but the possibility exists. Ripped files don't typically have this problem.
posted by Aleyn at 7:49 PM on May 8, 2023 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Well, this is just sad.
I mean, thank you all for taking the time, but...
Also, I would like this impossible thing to involve not consuming more plastic...
If anybody wants in on my extremely hypothetical music gifting startup, and is willing to do more of the work than I can by myself, hit me up.
posted by amtho at 8:20 PM on May 8, 2023
I mean, thank you all for taking the time, but...
Also, I would like this impossible thing to involve not consuming more plastic...
If anybody wants in on my extremely hypothetical music gifting startup, and is willing to do more of the work than I can by myself, hit me up.
posted by amtho at 8:20 PM on May 8, 2023
Response by poster: Maybe we can put Ticketmaster out of business, too, while we're at it.
posted by amtho at 8:20 PM on May 8, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by amtho at 8:20 PM on May 8, 2023 [1 favorite]
The only thing I can think of that's purely digital is a gift card plus link to the thing that you want them to download. Given the state of music consumption these days I don't think there's any way to buy a gift digital download of the music (unless the artist happens to be on Bandcamp, which doesn't appear to be the case here). Since it's also extremely easy to legally listen to most music without paying anything at all if you're willing to sit through some ads, I don't suspect there's much interest in making this scenario work. If you want to give the gift of this specific music, a CD is really the only way I can think to do that.
That said, if they are signed up to a subscription service and they typically listen to music that way, it may be difficult or impossible to add this music to that service if it isn't already there, even if they have the MP3 files. As far as I'm aware, Apple Music and Youtube Music are the only ones that allow for bringing your own music into your collection at all, leaving aside the issue of getting the files in the first place.
These days, most people that want to share music they like with friends tend to share a youtube or spotify link to the music so they can listen themselves rather than trying to go the gift angle. Without knowing more about their setup, you're pretty likely to be giving the gift of inconvenience otherwise.
posted by Aleyn at 12:43 PM on May 9, 2023 [1 favorite]
That said, if they are signed up to a subscription service and they typically listen to music that way, it may be difficult or impossible to add this music to that service if it isn't already there, even if they have the MP3 files. As far as I'm aware, Apple Music and Youtube Music are the only ones that allow for bringing your own music into your collection at all, leaving aside the issue of getting the files in the first place.
These days, most people that want to share music they like with friends tend to share a youtube or spotify link to the music so they can listen themselves rather than trying to go the gift angle. Without knowing more about their setup, you're pretty likely to be giving the gift of inconvenience otherwise.
posted by Aleyn at 12:43 PM on May 9, 2023 [1 favorite]
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