Pallydou Posted June 17, 2020 Posted June 17, 2020 Hi guys, do you have experience in buying music in HDTracks.com. They have a lot of music but unfortunately most music is not available in Australia (probably due to copyright/distribution reasons). I tried to use VPN to pretend myself residing in certain countries but no luck in some cases. Do you have a faster way to know which albums or artists are available for Australia store, and if it is not, which country store we can buy the songs?
Dolphy Posted June 17, 2020 Posted June 17, 2020 (edited) Use a VPN and it will work. I bought Tool's Fear Innocullum without issue. Just re-read your post, I'm using Torguard. Make sure the VPN is running when making the purchase and when you download the file. Hope this helps! Edited June 17, 2020 by dolphy 2
mjs Posted June 17, 2020 Posted June 17, 2020 If one wanted to access files from HDTracks, one needs to use a VPN accessing a server in the US, should be no problem. One may have to provide a US address to sign up, but it's bona fides will be irrelevant. There are a number of earlier threads about alternative sites that don't have geo-blocking, but tbh, HD Tracks is one of the best imo.
Guest Posted June 17, 2020 Posted June 17, 2020 Easiest is to use Opera and use its built-in VPN set to the Americas.
Pallydou Posted June 17, 2020 Author Posted June 17, 2020 10 hours ago, Snoopy8 said: Easiest is to use Opera and use its built-in VPN set to the Americas. Good idea. Thanks @Snoopy8. See whether I can get latest Norah Jones album in HiRes.
JukKluk2 Posted June 18, 2020 Posted June 18, 2020 You might also need to set up a PayPal account to hide the (I assume) fact that you are using an Australian credit card. Not absolutely certain about that with HD Tracks, but am sure that it's a step I had to take to be able to access Qobuz.
Guest Posted June 18, 2020 Posted June 18, 2020 50 minutes ago, JukKluk2 said: You might also need to set up a PayPal account to hide the (I assume) fact that you are using an Australian credit card. Not absolutely certain about that with HD Tracks, but am sure that it's a step I had to take to be able to access Qobuz. Don't know whether things have changed (been a while since I used them), but the only geo check done is only for displaying price and adding to cart.
Ittaku Posted June 18, 2020 Posted June 18, 2020 I just checked with an anonymising proxy in the US I set up and my existing account from the past (from before they started blocking) refused to work, but a new account using the proxy and firefox in private mode worked fine. They still have their bizarre one download only rule and I "purchased" their free sampler disk only to accidentally not download one file (using the web downloader) by pressing cancel after it had finished downloading, and then couldn't download the file any more! So I had to repurchase the entire album just to get that one file again. eclassical (best value) and prestomusic are light years better if you are into classical highres I recommend them by far and away over hdtracks. 2
Ittaku Posted June 18, 2020 Posted June 18, 2020 By the way, if this is all too overwhelming for someone who just wants to buy an album, feel free to private message me, and I can buy it on your behalf and send it to you. 4
extract Posted June 18, 2020 Posted June 18, 2020 Use Google Chrome as your browser and install the extension Browsec (https://browsec.com/) select United States and it should work. 1
Guest Posted June 18, 2020 Posted June 18, 2020 (edited) 10 hours ago, JukKluk2 said: You might also need to set up a PayPal account to hide the (I assume) fact that you are using an Australian credit card. Not absolutely certain about that with HD Tracks, but am sure that it's a step I had to take to be able to access Qobuz. Ive bought many a restricted album from HDTracks with an Australian CC on paypal. Setup correctly, all albums are accessible on HDTracks. Chrome Browser, Hola plugin, set to USA, 100% free. Edited June 18, 2020 by Sime
JukKluk2 Posted June 18, 2020 Posted June 18, 2020 5 hours ago, Sime said: , Hola plugin, set to USA, 100% free. I use Firefox, but otherwise that's it.
PKay Posted July 3, 2020 Posted July 3, 2020 On 17/06/2020 at 9:56 PM, Snoopy8 said: Easiest is to use Opera and use its built-in VPN set to the Americas. The advantage is it's free but Chinese owned. I looked at it and then decided to purchase a Nord VPN for 3 years which was good value. I haven't noticed any issues with speed of download or streaming netflix. 1
Ittaku Posted July 3, 2020 Posted July 3, 2020 I felt like buying a whole swag of albums I used to have decades ago now in hires and I ended up buying them from anywhere except hdtracks because of how inconvenient it is. Acoustic sounds use a downloader as well which is annoying but at least it works under wine on linux, but you have to fool it into thinking you're in the usa as well. HDtracks' current downloader doesn't install. Vinyl Records, SACDs, DVD Audio, Audiophile Equipment|Acoustic Sounds And 7digital have a .au presence and just let you download freely from their site as many times as you like once you buy something which is by far my preferred option, though they didn't have everything. zdigital Australia | High-quality Digital Music Downloads 1
Guest Posted July 3, 2020 Posted July 3, 2020 8 hours ago, Ittaku said: how inconvenient it is. How inconvenient is it really, seriously?
Ittaku Posted July 3, 2020 Posted July 3, 2020 (edited) 6 minutes ago, Sime said: How inconvenient is it really, seriously? I don't have windows, so I'm stuck naming folders myself and downloading one file at a time. That's pretty inconvenient. Try downloading an album with many files using the webdownloader and see for yourself. Edited July 3, 2020 by Ittaku
Guest Posted July 3, 2020 Posted July 3, 2020 1 minute ago, Ittaku said: I don't have windows, so I'm stuck naming folders myself and downloading one file at a time. That's pretty inconvenient. Context makes a difference As for the one time only download, if you email them, they let you download what you need again.
firedog Posted July 4, 2020 Posted July 4, 2020 On 18/06/2020 at 4:54 AM, Ittaku said: I just checked with an anonymising proxy in the US I set up and my existing account from the past (from before they started blocking) refused to work, but a new account using the proxy and firefox in private mode worked fine. They still have their bizarre one download only rule and I "purchased" their free sampler disk only to accidentally not download one file (using the web downloader) by pressing cancel after it had finished downloading, and then couldn't download the file any more! So I had to repurchase the entire album just to get that one file again. eclassical (best value) and prestomusic are light years better if you are into classical highres I recommend them by far and away over hdtracks. I've used the online contact page for issues like that and they've given me the ability to download again.
firedog Posted July 4, 2020 Posted July 4, 2020 On 18/06/2020 at 3:22 AM, JukKluk2 said: You might also need to set up a PayPal account to hide the (I assume) fact that you are using an Australian credit card. Not absolutely certain about that with HD Tracks, but am sure that it's a step I had to take to be able to access Qobuz. Once you place the order, the VPN doesn't matter. You can download it without the VPN.
Guest Posted July 4, 2020 Posted July 4, 2020 51 minutes ago, Pim said: Buy CD. Rip it. Forget about high res BS. I only buy the CD if the online 44/16 or higher isn’t available. Buying online saves the trip to the shop.
Ittaku Posted July 18, 2020 Posted July 18, 2020 On 18/06/2020 at 4:01 PM, Ittaku said: By the way, if this is all too overwhelming for someone who just wants to buy an album, feel free to private message me, and I can buy it on your behalf and send it to you. As a followup to this, for those who I've done this for, I simply create a new account for the person to use, buy the albums they want, then give them the login credentials. They can then download them fine using the HDtracks downloader directly to their PC, and I never see any of the music myself since it's a one-time download only technique. The downloader doesn't care where you are; only the shop will refuse you doing the initial purchase if you're outside North America.
cazzesman Posted July 19, 2020 Posted July 19, 2020 On 04/07/2020 at 6:08 PM, Pim said: Buy CD. Rip it. Forget about high res BS. CD's from OS = Postage fees and exchange rate fees. $25 CD become $50. I love my music but there is a line in the sand somewhere and it is infront of my bank account. Regards Cazzesman
Ittaku Posted July 19, 2020 Posted July 19, 2020 38 minutes ago, Sime said: I only buy cd’s if the online version is non-existent. I’m trying the buy Dizzy Mizz Lizzy’s lastest album and I can’t find it anywhere to buy. Do you mean this one? https://www.amazon.co.jp/Alter-Echo-ディジー・ミズ・リジー/dp/B08536J6ZL/?language=en_US
DSD_Fan Posted August 12, 2020 Posted August 12, 2020 I find geo blocking in this day and age just sad. I mean it stops up from wanting to buy legitimate releases, and can turn some into looking at pirating it instead. Same with say, releasing an album in the US and then 2 months later release it here. Distribution needs to 'grow up' and adapt to the 'now' It can't be hard to detect where we come from and say the studio gives the Oceania side of things their cut. Just look at Emotiva pulling out of the Australian market and going back to selling direct (and will be cheaper in time) C'mon, let us buy what we want and not have to use some dodgy method to do so or worse and pirate. I'm lucky to have a US address and a US prepaid Visa (along with a VPN) to be able to buy what I want. But would be nice to just not have to worry about it 2
Recommended Posts