Rain - my daughter did an IOS upgrade on her Itouch.  (this was 2 or 3 years ago - maybe things have changed)
 
She did not do a back up to itunes on a PC of her itouch and of course when the IOS upgrade was done, all her data was gone, all her apps were still there at the itunes store, but the music was all gone.
 
She had downloaded a lot of music from the itunes store direct to her itouch and never synched with itunes on a PC.  Once downloaded that was it. 
 
She got on the phone in tears and apple did her a favor a restored them as downloads.  (there was like 300.00$ in music !)
 
JR

Sorry to hear that, and it shouldn't have been a favour they were doing.  She paid for that stuff and it is supposed to be available, always. It's hers.
 
In my experience, it has always worked as expected. Just recently, I realized that 2 albums my wife had worked on weren't in my library - I had purchased those way back in early 2010, on my last PC. I logged into the store and it was still all on the cloud for me.
 
As a matter of fact, even the The Cure singles I bought in 2008 - that the PC before my last PC before I switched to Mac - are still right there.
 
Recently, I've started replacing iTunes albums with ripped CD versions in 16 bits, deleting the compressed version. Ever since, when I hook up my iPhone to my Mac, I get a prompt telling me that I have some purchased albums on my iPhone (the compressed iTunes versions) which are not in my library and asking if I want to import them in my Mac's library. 

that is one downside with iTunes:the software is so stubborn.
I purchased some albums years ago,probably under the influence,found I didn`t want to keep them and deleted them but everytime I launch iTunes it tells me I have purchased albums ready to download!
reminding me not to shop online drunk!
ps:you can re-download them in lossless format if you have great hearing..  
 

I gotta second bitflipper, It helps in a live gig to have something as tangible as a well produced CD and other odds and ends for sale.
 
Sometimes it can help to enhance to nights take in especially in for the door or pay to play situations.
 
It also helps to give out a web page address with select free downloads to sign up fans to be alerted to the calender.

Should also mention that FLAC is becoming popular with some young folks who are just discovering this thing their grandparents are always going on about: high fidelity. A 2GB thumb drive (usually < $5) is big enough to hold your album in two versions: MP3 and FLAC. Could be a selling point.

bitflipper
Should also mention that FLAC is becoming popular with some young folks who are just discovering this thing their grandparents are always going on about: high fidelity. A 2GB thumb drive (usually < $5) is big enough to hold your album in two versions: MP3 and FLAC. Could be a selling point.

Good point Dave!  I bet you could find a company to send a bulk of thumb drives with laniards fairly cheap (actually you can come damn close to putting both versions, FLAC and 320kbps MP3, of a normal size album on 500Mb - so the usual 1Gb "promotional" thumbdrives would work perfect).  Then you could print some labels onto Avery stickers and put them on the thumb drives (or have a place supply both the thumb drives pre-printed still for under $5).

if you can sell them, yes.
 
if you gig, and can have them in front of customers to purchase one while they're getting into the show, yes.
 
otherwise, no.
 

Old55
As a fan(I'm not a musician), I like to buy a CD when I they're sold at a show that I enjoyed.  It's like a souvenir.  I don't think a download would have the same effect at a show and they can't be autographed.  So, it might be worthwhile to replicate a few CD's to sell at a gig. 

+1
 
Having an actual disc feels like having some connection to the artist.
 
 

Rain

paulo
if your computer / gets stolen or destroyed somehow you'll get a new pc, but you won't get your music back from itunes unless you want to pay again.

All content purchased from Apple can be re-downloaded at anytime - music, movies, apps like Logic. You can access them from any authorized computer and whatever you've purchased that is not installed or downloaded on that computer will automatically be listed as available downloads.

OK. I don't have itunes, I was just going by this statement from itunes store T&c's......
 
"Products may be downloaded only once and cannot be replaced if lost for any reason".
 
 

paulo
 
 
OK. I don't have itunes, I was just going by this statement from itunes store T&c's......
 
"Products may be downloaded only once and cannot be replaced if lost for any reason".
 
 

"Some iTunes Products, including but not limited to Content rentals, may be downloaded only once and cannot be replaced if lost for any reason. "
 
Rental is the only case I am aware of but there are probably other things. But albums aren't a problem.