title: Converting unicode characters from returned JSON in python
body: <p>I am trying to return JSON from the API service from musicbrainz, the returned data for some songs have unicode characters which I am having trouble converting them to regular symbols etc. Kindly let me know what I should be doing here.</p>
  
  <p>JSON:</p>
  
  <pre><code>{
      "status": "ok",
      "results": [{
          "recordings": [{
              "duration": 402,
              "tracks": [{
                  "duration": 402,
                  "position": 6,
                  "medium": {
                      "release": {
                          "id": "dde6ecee-8e9b-4b46-8c28-0f8d659f83ac",
                          "title": "Tecno Fes, Volume 2"
                      },
                      "position": 1,
                      "track_count": 11
                  },
                  "artists": [{
                      "id": "57c1e5ea-e08f-413a-bcb1-f4e4b675bead",
                      "name": "Gigi D\u2019Agostino"
                  }],
                  "title": "You Spin Me Round"
              }],
              "id": "2e0a7bce-9e44-4a63-a789-e8c4d2a12af9"
          }, ....
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Failed Code (example):</p>
  
  <pre><code>string = '\u0420\u043e\u0441\u0441\u0438\u044f'
  print string.encode('utf-8')
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I am using this on a windows 7 machine and have python 2.7 and running this code on a command line terminal.. I have the output I get below:</p>
  
  <pre><code>C:\Python27&gt;python junk.py Gigi DGÇÖAgostino Gigi D?Agostino Gigi D\u2019Agostino
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I am expecting the output to be <code>Gigi D' Agostino</code></p>