CNET is offering 75,425 MP3 songs for free, but are any of them good?
And will it still feel okay even though I’m not being a Pirate?
CNET is offering 75,425 MP3 songs (the counter has been stuck at that number for several months now which brings into questions it’s health) for free at their music site music.download.com. Yes I said it free as in FREE, all you have to do is get them 1 and at a time (which can be a pain) and of course you have to navigate their well laid out site while being shown with some minimally intrusive ads. Not a bad deal.
Here are the categories CNET is offering with this free MP3 service…
* Alternative / Punk
* Electronic & Dance
* Hip-Hop
* R&B & Soul
* Country
* Folk
* Blues
* Jazz
* Latin
* World
* Reggae
* Classical
* New Age
* Religious
* Children’s
* Easy Listening & Vocals
* Podcasts
* Comedy & Spoken Word
* Soundtracks & More
The REAL question is, are any of these songs any good, and is it worth the trouble?
First off I can only comment on categories where I’m a fan already. There’s no way I’m going to tell you how the New Age category is or how talented the Religious groups are. What I will tell you is the quality of the various Elecrtonic tracks that suit my taste by downloading and sampling 23 tracks from different artists.
Now one only has to look at my own Oomny Music category to see that I have the ultimate in un-matched taste for quality hip-hop and hip-hop artists (If you disagree with me you’re wrong). So everyone can agree that my judgment will be final and absolutely accurate as I’m a professional at this. Moving on.
Here’s who and what I chose as well as a quick judgmental and totally accurate 1-5 rating of the song.
own good. aphex twin rip off.
Nightmares On Wax - Flip Ya Lid — 4/5 — excellent trip-hop beats with
reggae influences.
Clark - Night Knuckles — 1/5 — no substance.
Squarepusher - Vacuum Garden — 1/5 — same one noise played at
different tones throughout the song.
DJ Drei - Get Your Hands Up — 1/5 — typical ‘happy hardcore’ style
bass beats, random angry voices, nothing special here.
The Hamster Project - Fucking Hamster Vol. 2 — 2/5 — weird voices,
good beat drops.
Chanticleer - i dropped the moon — 3/5 — nice jazz/irish influences
back by solid D’n'B beats and soothing chimes.
Mudville - The Hero Of The World — 1/5 — not enough keep me
interested, too slow/quiet, singer has nice vocal skills.
Moosefrog - Dreaming of Wings — 2/5 — nice funky rhythms, relaxing
downtempo beat.
Autechre - Iera — 1/5 — more random noise than anything, no real
defined beat.
Akasha - Twilight — 3/5 — nice uptempo breakbeat style, intricate
rhythms, smooth beat drops.
Nobuzaku Takemura - Cogweel — 1/5 — too minimalist for my taste.
interesting beats.
Landscape Dodger - Silence — 3/5 — nice d’n'b style beat, nice rhythms
walk under daylight - melody in my head/sundown — 2/5 — nice relaxing
rhythm, lots of synth use and reverb.
Joe Monica - no one really gives a !@#$ — 1/5 — minimalist, weird
vocals, crappy piano.
The Bass Factory - Radio Frequencies — 3/5 — jumps right into good
rhythm and bass beat, almost like a mix of psytrance and happy hardcore.
DJ-Ak - GoieMor? — 1/5 — it keeps saying the title over and over
through the song, cheesy synths and bass beats.
DJ Dragon Wolf - Zelda A Link To The Past Hyrule Castle Remix — 1/5 –
nothing really special here, a weird video game song remix.
angerfist - dance with the wolves — 1/5 — rap vocals in the background, nothing special that defines this dj. sounds like the same old candy coated happy hardcore BS.
TranceVisor - Atom-X — 2/5 — nice melody, too repetitive.
it’s me - it’s raining lsd — 1/5 — sounds mostly like 8-bit NES noises mixed with low quality synths, mixes down to a slow disappointing pile of digital crap.
Syner - Trip — 2/5 — horrible bass samples overpower any real melody
there could have been.
Basstard - Mad DJ — 1/5 — I think the ‘tard’ in his name describes it all.
Average Score: CRAP. While there were some potential stars among the sampling, the overall quality just isn’t there. This of course shouldn’t really matter, as the music is free and all you waste is your time if you end up with a crappy sampling. And if you find some artists you enjoy, the payoff can be very rewarding (assuming CNET music stays on the air and continues to foster growth for small artists)
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