Soribada Opens English Site

[Shoujo Q]

For me I had to either download illegally, buy the album or pray it turned up on iTunes. Well according to AllKpop, Soribada is Korea's version of iTunes and they just opened an English site.



You can check the site out here. It's great if you REALLY love your Kpop or any other Korean music, but after the 7day trial with 10 free downloads you have to pay.



Either 5.99USD a month to download 40 songs or 9.99USD a month to download 120 songs.



I half way signed up, and song previews are really good, they let you listen to half the song but it's all DRM Free stuff so it's not crappy quality like iTunes.



But~ You need to download their player to listen to the songs. :x

[Ap2000]

I've made an account.



I'm looking into this, but I will probably not pay anything for now until I've checked out their payment methods etc.



EDIT:

I can't get my supposedly 10 free downloads to work. The site constantly tells me to log in, despite being logged in...

But~ You need to download their player to listen to the songs. :x

Oh, well, in that case this site is completely useless imho.

Guess I'll just have to wait for amazon to have a good deal on the SNSD albums.

[Shoujo Q]

I played guinea pig and signed up. After I paypaled it, Norton gave me hell but I went forward anyway because Norton yells at me everyday anyway for half the crap I do online. ;D



Anyway, I downloaded Jewlery's new single Back It Up (It was released today) and it appeared on my desktop and opened easily in my iTunes. I guess that program was just for the downloading part. So it's all good in the mp3 hood! ;D



And I can cancel in the next 7 days if I haven't fallen in love with the Trot section which is pure Love.

[moralar]

This seems like a good way to get download-only releases. I tried to navigate a Korean site to buy some OST songs once; that didn't work so well.



What bitrate are the MP3s encoded at?

[Shoujo Q]

[quote name='moralar' post='92685' date='Jan 26 2011, 10:33 PM']This seems like a good way to get download-only releases. I tried to navigate a Korean site to buy some OST songs once; that didn't work so well.



What bitrate are the MP3s encoded at?[/quote]



192kps

[Arichii]

This sounds cool, but even though it would be cheaper than Itunes, I hate subscriptions. Unless I can download 40 songs and then just cancel it later, actually can I do that? In the end I really don't download songs on a monthly basis :/

[Shoujo Q]

[quote name='Arichii' timestamp='1296435155' post='92984']

This sounds cool, but even though it would be cheaper than Itunes, I hate subscriptions. Unless I can download 40 songs and then just cancel it later, actually can I do that? In the end I really don't download songs on a monthly basis :/

[/quote]



You can cancel at any time it says. So you'd have to give them money once, download your 40 songs and then say. Opps don't want it and there ya go!

[neshcom]

[quote name='PKyu' timestamp='1296438477' post='92986']

[quote name='Arichii' timestamp='1296435155' post='92984']

This sounds cool, but even though it would be cheaper than Itunes, I hate subscriptions. Unless I can download 40 songs and then just cancel it later, actually can I do that? In the end I really don't download songs on a monthly basis :/

[/quote]



You can cancel at any time it says. So you'd have to give them money once, download your 40 songs and then say. Opps don't want it and there ya go!

[/quote]

If you have to use their player, they're probably riddled with DRM that will, in effect, kill the downloads. Some of these subscription services will give you a number of songs to keep (usually less than your limit if there is one), but it isn't always a lot.

[Shoujo Q]

You don't have to use their player. I put them on my iTunes just fine and then onto my ipod so they are mine forever and ever. D: (or until my ipod explodes)

[moralar]

After trying this service out a bit, I'm somewhat disappointed in the apparent arbitrariness of the selection. Some songs I looked for weren't available at all, and others were listed but were "not available in [my] country due to licensing restrictions." The Korean soribada site has a much wider selection, but isn't open to furriners like me.

[sadude]

[quote name='PKyu' timestamp='1296091923' post='92681']I half way signed up, and song previews are really good, they let you listen to half the song but it's all DRM Free stuff so it's not crappy quality like iTunes.[/quote]

Actually, iTunes lets you listen to 1:30 of the songs, is also DRM-free (which has nothing to do with the quality), and higher bitrate than this site and allegedly better quality format (256kbps AAC vs. 192kbps mp3).



Does the download program come in a Mac version?

[moralar]

As far as I can tell, the downloader is just Flash, so I presume it would work on a Mac.



I think downloadable songs are available at higher quality on Korean services (like, 320 kbps). The ethical question one might wrestle with is whether it is justifiable to get a legitimate (but low-bitrate) mp3 from Soribada and then "supplement" it with a higher-bitrate version obtained elsewhere. On the other hand, one might argue that, from a sound quality standpoint, mastering practices are so bad in K-pop that the precise bitrate of your mp3 pales into insignificance in comparison.

[AEUGNewtype]

I remember when Soribada was basically like the Napster or WinMX of Korea, and everything was free and VERY high quality MP3s, back in the early 2000s. I guess they felt the same fate as Napster, where they just became a pay-to-download site. Interesting to see they're still around, either way.