The six best digital music download sites

Fewer people today are downloading music from the world-wide-web illegally than ever ahead of, in accordance with a report this week from Entertainment Media Research.

The study in part attributes this lower to consumers' fears that online service providers will reduce off their web access if they are identified to be illegally downloading or sharing songs.

That was excellent in case you owned an iPod, but not much aid if you utilized another music player - most songs sold by way of the iTunes Music Shop are encrypted with digital rights-management application (DRM) that prevents piracy and illegal copying, but also restricts the sort of devices tracks may be stored and played on.

Consumers were reluctant to spend for legal download solutions when the ways in which they could use the music had been so heavily restricted, and varied so extensively from service to service.

Added to this, music available on peer-to-peer filesharing internet sites was DRM-free, and playable on any MP3 player, so it really is not difficult to see why a great number of people today turned to illegal downloading.

Times are changing, even so, as record labels acknowledge that giving buyers with the music they want, in the format they want it, is really a much better way of encouraging men and women to spend for songs.

Quite a few on the internet music retailers have launched in current months that offer legal downloads from all of the "big four" record labels, as well as numerous independents, within a universal, DRM-free MP3 format that could be used on any device.

7 Digital, for instance, was the initial site in Britain to provide this type of legal music download service, although Amazon's similar digital download store has established a huge achievement in America. It is anticipated to launch in this nation next year.

One interesting truth the study uncovered is the distinction in attitude to downloads in between teenagers and adults. Even though 58 per cent of 13- to 17-year-olds surveyed stated they had been downloading songs illegally, over-35s were far more inclined to download a minimum of 1 song per month from a legal source.

Probably the challenge here is one of earnings as much as perception. Youngsters that have grown up together with the world wide web, and for whom peer-to-peer filesharing internet websites are second nature, have been made use of for the "cult of free" that exists on-line - that every thing from social networks to email to watching videos on YouTube is available at no charge - and apply a related mantra to music.

Young folks are also likely to dabble within a array of music genres, from hip hop to death metal, rather than maybe developing a committed music collection within the identical way someone over 35 may decide to do.

That is why numerous mobile telephone organizations, for instance Nokia and Sony Ericsson, have started to offer you shoppers the ability to download unlimited tracks to their phones for any flat monthly fee, and a lot of on the internet services also offer limitless downloads.

Napster

Napster provides many different music download services to suit just about every spending budget. It offers greater than six million tracks from each of the big artists, which customers can download on a per song basis (79p each and every) or album basis (starting at £7.95), and personal the music forever. Or for a flat charge of £9.95, customers can download unlimited tracks they are able to transfer amongst their Computer and compatible MP3 player, and own the music forever. Napster's service is compatible with greater than 75 music devices, such as these by Inventive, iRiver and Samsung. Not compatible with Apple's OS X operating program or iPod music players.

eMusic

Emusic, also at also at www.telegraph.co.uk/download, presents greater than 4 million tracks from greater than 27,000 independent record labels, along with more than 2,000 audio books. It's aimed at an older crowd of downloaders who love discovering new music or have eclectic tastes. It really is a subscription-based service, with packages starting at £10.99 per month for 30 song downloads monthly. Users 'own' as opposed to 'rent' their downloads, so you may continue to play the tracks even when your subscription with music comes to an finish. Songs downloaded from music are compatible with pretty much just about every MP3 player, like Apple's iPod range.

Tesco Digital

Supermarkets have extended been stocking the best-selling singles and albums on their shelves alongside cartons of milk and loaves of bread, so establishing an internet shop seemed like an apparent progression. Tesco offers greater than 3 million music and video tracks inside a mixture of MP3 and WMA format, so some songs are encrypted with DRM technologies, although Tesco aims to supply all tracks as MP3s by the finish of your year. You own any songs you buy forever, and if they are inside the MP3 format, they can be transferred to a host of compatible devices. In case you end up losing your digital copy with the song either simply because you have accidentally deleted it or your computer breaks, you could download it once more at no cost up to 4 times. Most singles cost 79p, and albums differ in price

PlayDigital

Play.com provides more than 3 million tracks from all the significant record labels along with a good amount of smaller publishers, and mainly because all of its tracks are accessible DRM-free within the MP3 format, they can be played on any device, including iPods. Rates vary from track to track and album to album, but a lot of songs cost about 65p, and albums start out at about £4.99. It functions on PCs and Macs for the reason that you do not must set up any software program.

7 Digital

There is more than 4 million songs to choose from right here, from an enormous roster of artists. All songs are DRM-free MP3s, so is usually copied to any music device, which includes iPods. Singles get started at 50p, albums at £5, along with the music is yours to maintain forever.

iTunes

Apple's download service, in spite of its restrictions, remains essentially the most common legal music download web page, promoting more than five billion songs since it went online in 2003. With the exception of a handful of "iTunes Plus" songs, that are no cost from DRM encryption, songs bought via the iTunes music store can only be played on Apple's selection of iPod music players. There's a flat pricing structure of 79p per song, while albums differ in price tag.

Yet another cause for the developing reputation of legal downloads should certainly be the amount of decent on the web solutions which are accessible.

Until pretty not too long ago, when you wanted to download music from the internet, the only alternative was Apple's iTunes Music Retailer.

Vist the site to check it out!