I like to think I'm a fairy honest person. If you go through my extensive music library on my computer, you won't find any pirated songs. Really. I believe in playing by the book when it comes to downloading media.
There are 3 sources for most of my digital music purchases; eMusic, Amazon and iTunes.
By far my favorite method is Emusic. It's a flat monthly fee and for that I get 50 dowloads. It's extremely economical, but unless you have very diverse tastes, you may get frustrated with eMusic quickly because most artists are not mainstream. Though there are some that are, and for that reason I reccomend checking it out. I probably download 65-75% of my music from eMusic.
Next up is Amazon. I really like Amazon. It has a pretty good selection, about the same as iTunes, and they have bargains, and lots of free songs.
iTunes is the old standard. It's easy to use, great selection, but until yesterday, no bargains, and only a few freebies. It's big drawback was DRM protection. The stuff they spray on the file to make it tough to pirate also takes away sound quality. But yesterday Apple pretty much removed all the DRM, but is now allowing record companies to charge more if they choose. They have a new tiered pricing system; $1.29, .99, and .69 per song. I don't think this is necessarily a bad move. In fact, I like the idea of paying $.69 for some songs.
The point of this is, if you buy your music online, shop around.
Comments