I drift in and out of DJ subscription pools for my tracks, but sometimes there are tracks I want that aren't in the pools I subscribe to.

I've toyed with a few apps in recent times like Sidify, KeepBeats, Musify, iTubeGo, and so on to try and rip music. However, the only way I seem to be finding to get decent quality rips is by using the option to go via Spotify and to log into my account, which has resulted in a strike or two from Spotify in the past who've stopped my account until I contacted them.

When using options from YouTube or Soundcloud, they seem to mostly be ripping at 128kbps and 16 bit at most, and so aren't the best quality sounding tracks.

Is there any decent and (at least semi) reliant way to be able to rip 320kbps mp3 or even lossless tracks from anywhere, or is this the best there is for now?

 

I use Apple Music for this. It's lossless and sounds great, but AFAIK there's no way to just download them. I use a Mac app called Audio Hijack that allows me to easily record any output to wav files (or MP3, AAC, etc.). Audio Hijack would do YouTube and Soundcloud, but I don't go to them at all.

 

But there are apps to take out the DRM of the files, for all platforms

 

How about free - mp3 - download dot net?

 

Soulseek has never failed me. You can use search filters to specify codec / lossless format and bitrate too.

The only issue is that some people will share lossy transcodes so that's a gamble you'd have to take. But I've so rarely found this to be a noticeable problem in nearly 20 years of using SLSK.

 

Last edited: Dec 22, 2023

I use Deezer premium and Rolling Sampler for that purpose (and sometimes a Reaper installation I have already routed to record system output).

 

I second, the Apple Music with Audio Hijack. I also have it supplemented with Amazon Music mostly to stock the car's SD card for when I go through data dead zones where you either turn off you music or listen to whatever the locals have on offers.

Though as a DJ you might be looking for much esoteric stuff, just released and bleeding edge stuff that isn't always available on the mass media forward platforms.

You can do the same thing with Audacity/Loop back on a PC, you have to listen to the songs though. If you want to build a catalogue in fast-time this isn't going to be a good solution for you.

 

I'm running an instance of Reaper in the background all the time which EQs my monitors and all signals are routed through it by RME Totalmix, both on Win and Mac. So I can just hit record at any time and play any track in Tidal (lossless) to get a 1:1 digital copy of it. Just like recording from radio or vinyl back in the days. It's real time but so I focus on the tracks I really like.

 

As a DJ, the high quality of the file is essential: any massive PA playing a 128k mp3 will highlight the limits of the lossy codec (chirping, absence of frequency response above 16k) and this will seriously embarrass your performance. I don't recommend ripping from YouTube or platforms like Spotify, Apple music etc.. because they have a low quality stream (around 160k and even less).
You need flac files, or at least lossy 320k (don't go below that). Buy your music from Bandcamp (this is the most ethical option), or you can shop on Beatport. If you are a broke DJ and do free gigs just for fun, then you can find all the files you want (in flac or 320K) on the usual Russian sites.
The solution that some suggest - premium account from Tidal, to then press rec for every song you want in your djset - in my opinion would be crazy: for a DJ who plays dozens of different tracks a week, it would be too time consuming.

 

Primarily, I use Qobuz with QobuzDownloaderX-MOD and grab Hi-res FLAC or at the very least CD quality FLAC. Otherwise, if I can't find what I need there, I've got methods for both Deezer and Tidal and of course the usual Russian sites.

 

Apple Music can deliver lossless audio and has had that option for years. Beatport and Bandcamp are still good ethical choices and probably better karma though.

 

If I'm not mistaken, free streaming for Apple Music is AAC 160k, You can access to Apple music loseless streaming in premium mode only. If a DJ is willing to pay for a premium account then I think it is better to use Beatport which is in fact dedicated to the dancefloor

 

This is one of the options, bulk DRM free for your digital music collection, in a blink

https://www.drmare.com

Apple Music has lossless high resolution data, as a normal option, there is no free apple music, nor premium

 

You can try use SnapTube APP and save mp3 in best quality.

https://liteapks.com/snaptube.html

 

if you doin dj shows why waste time and risk it??? just buy the wav tracks from the artist or label direct and be done with it. if you do many shows and active on sm you can get on promo list for free. all these stream sites are the bullshit anyway. especially if they upcoming underground independent artist and label, support them directly so they can afford to make more music!

 

Just read some thread here about this matter. Guy had some premium tools to rip spotify. Spotify has a bot that recognizes if someone is "listening" the song fast to rip it. And the bot bans you, funny thing is spotify is only platform allowing that kind of listening. For complaining to spotify they unlocked the account or something and then the downloads continue

This one was pretty nice for occasional use but maybe the quality is not enough. Its 320kbs mp3
https://spotify-downloader.com/

 

Apple music is $11 a month, that's what I call it premium.

 

I think the focus is on 'there no free tier' of Apple Music. Beatport's cost structure is different it starts off more expensive, has better integration for professionals, is more ethical and. faster way to build sets, you still have to buy things on top of th $30 a month.

Now we. are splitting hairs though.

It's cool to have preferences and for a working pro. that is making money as a DJ 30 a month plus a bit here and there plus access to a bunch of other cool stuff Beatport is the better deal vs Apple Music where you are working around DRM, looping interfaces and wasting a bunch of time that could be better spent doing other shit. It pays for itself almost instantly.