Downloading music is one of the greatest advantages to owning a computer. A fast broadband connection gives you access to quick and easy legal music downloads.
Below is a summary of some of the many sites out there today that provide legal music downloads. Most sites give users at least a three-day trial, after which you’ll have to pay a monthly subscription fee that varies from service to service.
The Top 10 Digital Music Services
The following list is from About.com’s site, which lists the top 10 most used sites for legal music downloads.
- WinMX
- iTunes
- LimeWire
- Kazaa
- BearShare
- Ares Galaxy
- Napster
- Morpheus
- Real Player Store
- iMesh
Things to Consider When Choosing a Legal Music Download Site
- Subscription fee
- Is the music burnable? This feature is great, because non-burnable options are useless after the subscription burns out
- Song selection
- Some sites allow you to burn a song only once or twice, after which you’ll have to pay more money
- Not all songs on a site can be downloaded
Non-Burnable Sites
The following sites may be good choices for those who simply want to listen to the music downloaded, not create their own CDs.
- Pressplay offers unlimited streaming and unburnable downloads for $9.95 per month. You’ll have to download software to access music from the site.
- Rhapsody charges $9.95 per month for unlimited streaming songs. The music is not downloaded, however – you download a player that gives you access to the music for $.79 per song.
- AOL’s MusicNet charges $8.95 for unlimited streaming and non-burnable downloads.
Sites That Allow You to Burn CDs
Most of us want the option to create our own CDs from the music we download, or to transfer them to a portable MP3 player. The following sites allow you to do this.
- iTunes) No monthly subscription fees, and songs cost only $.99 cents each. You’ll have to own a Mac, but a Windows-friendly version is in the works.
- Pressplay You’ll pay a monthly subscription fee plus a package deal that allows you to download a certain number of songs. ($5.95 for 5 songs, etc.)
- MusicNet has a package for $17.95 per month that gives you unlimited and non-burnable downloads plus 10 burnable downloads. However, if you don’t use those 10 burnable downloads, you lose them.
- Rhapsody You pay $.79 for each burnable song in addition to paying a monthly fee.
Free Downloads
MP3.com, Peoplsound.com and Soundclick.com all offer free downloads – but the majority of songs are from unknown, unsigned artists.
