A description of some of today's most popular music software, including Apple's iTunes.
Where To Find Digital Music
Since the MP3 became wildly popular as a music listening
format, there have been many different services designed to help people acquire
and listen to digital music. These range
quite a bit in price and selection, and it can be difficult to make a decision.
Many people use a particular service to
find mp3s and other digital music formats without looking at their
options. However, examining your choices
is always a good idea, and in this article I’ll examine a few of the most
popular programs used to download MP3s and other forms of digital music.
iTunes
iTunes is the most popular music purchasing site in the
world, and is one of the simplest to use.
You simply browse its immense library, listen to thirty second samples
of songs if you’d like to, and buy songs or albums, complete with liner notes
and artwork. In addition to music files,
iTunes allows you purchase TV shows, music videos, and audiobooks. Download times are fast and easy to keep
track of, and the software also sorts your existing music library, making it
easy to find a particular song, artist, or album. iTunes also allows you to transfer your music
to your iPod, although it doesn’t support any other MP3 players.
iTunes can be extremely convenient, but at 99 cents a song,
it’s also costly. Also, every file that
you download is protected with Apple’s encoding system, and you cannot play the
song on more than a set number of computers or burn more than a set number of
CDs. Still, this is a great, legal way
to easily acquire music, and definitely a worthwhile piece of software.
Napster, RealRhapsody, And Other Subscription Services
There are a few sites that offer subscription services, such
as Napster, RealRhapsody, and Yahoo! Music.
These allow you to listen to upwards of a million music files completely
legally for a low monthly rate (usually around $15). Many famous artists and classic albums are
available through these services, though perhaps not quite as many as iTunes. These music subscription services are legal,
they pay the artists, and they can be immensely fun to browse around on.
The drawback is that you don’t actually own any of the music
you listen to or download, you’re merely renting it. If you cancel your subscription, you don’t
keep anything you haven’t directly paid for.
The interfaces of these programs aren’t quite as nice as iTunes, and
occasionally you’ll experience some problems with streaming audio files if the
software’s server is having trouble.
However, the subscription format allows you to experience a great amount
of new artists, and you can even put subscribed music onto some digital media
player (although subscription services don’t work with Apple’s iPod).
P2P Services
Peer to peer services such as Bear Share, Kazaa, and
Limewire allow you to download mp3s and other types of media to your computer
from the libraries of other users connected to the network. Likewise, anyone on the network can access
your computer and download files.
The good part of these services is that you don’t pay
anything other than perhaps a fee for the software; the downside is that you’re
stealing music. The RIAA routinely
attempts to shut down these services and sues their users, and though the
chances of getting sued are extremely remote, it is a possibility. Also, the quality of the mp3s can vary. Often you’ll hear annoying hiccups and fuzz in
the audio, and downloading entire albums can be difficult. It’s also noteworthy to mention that peer to
peer services are notorious for spreading viruses, so run a virus scan on any
file you download. While these services work
for real cheapskates, they’re starting to become less popular due to legal
restrictions and the complicatedness of their use.
eMusic
Some sites such as eMusic allows you to download a set
number of mp3s per month from a variety of independent and small-label
bands. While the selection is nowhere
near as impressive as that of iTunes, you can still find performers such as The
Pixies, Tom Waits, Ray Charles, and George Carlin. eMusic also provides a free 30 mp3 trial, which
can be a great way to test the waters and get some free mp3s in the process.
Russian MP3 Sites
I do not endorse Russian MP3 sites, because while some of
them aren’t exactly illegal, they are
highly immoral. You basically pay money
to one of these services in the same manner as iTunes, except the sites are
based out of Russia or another foreign country
and therefore can avoid paying the record label or artists that made the music. This results in no overhead for them and
extremely low MP3 costs for you.
So, where does your money go? Er…nowhere good. These sites have been linked to Russian gangs
and drug trade, so though it’s tempting to download 20 albums for 5 dollars, it’s
best to avoid these types of sites. For
that reason, I will not provide any names of these sites, or links to them.
Purevolume.com
Some sites allow you to download MP3s to keep, completely
legally. Of course, this is provided
with the band and label’s consent, so as a result, you’re not likely to find
many famous bands on these sites.
The most popular of these is purevolume.com, which has
thousands of independent and local bands.
Some are good, some are bad, and some, well, are pretty laughable. But hey, it’s free music, so who are you to
complain? This is a great way to listen
to bands that you’d otherwise never hear.
Though there is a plethora of ways to download or listen to
digital audio files, it all comes down to a matter of taste. If you’re cheap, you’ll probably end up
stealing music using a peer to peer program, and if you appreciate an easy
interface, iTunes is your best bet. A
great in-between is Napster or another subscription service, and if you mainly
listen to independent bands, you should check out eMusic and
purevolume.com. With a little bit of
soul searching, you can be listening to digital music in a few minutes; here’s
to a happy, lawsuit-free listening experience.