Welcome to the best guide to legal free MP3 downloads

Online Music Services Comparison

Friday, 19 March 2010

  
 

It's taken the music industry the better part of ten years to finally devise some legal alternatives to the illegal P2P file-sharing networks, and now there are well over a dozen online music services legally offering a wide range of genres to satisfy most musical palettes.

Aside from one service's downloads being three cents cheaper than the next, what sets them apart? Which one gives you most flexibility about how you enjoy your music? And which one really gives you the most of what you want for your money?

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.

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

 

  
 
 
  Music Match Emusic iMp3download Napster DownloadPro iTunes
Catalogue 2,000,000 songs 1,000,000 songs 1,500,000 songs 1,000,000 songs 2,000,000 songs 2,000,000 songs
Subscriptions n/a xBasic:$9.99 per month

Plus: $14.99 per month

Premium: $19.99 per month		 n/a Premium subscription: unlimited downloading for $9.95/month. n/a n/a
Price per song $0.99 $0.22-$0.25 $0.20-$0.30 $0.99 $0.22-$0.25 $0.99
Price per album $9.99 n/a $2.00 - $3.00 $9.99 $2.22 - $2.50 $9.99
File format WMA 160 kbps MP3 VBR MP3 WMA 128 kbps MP3 AAC 128 kbps
  Music Match Emusic iMp3download Napster DownloadPro iTunes
DRM yes yes no yes no yes
Audio CD burning Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited limited to 5 burns per playlist Unlimited Unlimited
Burning program MusicMatch Jukebox only Any Any Napster only Any iTunes only
Audio player MusicMatch Jukebox only Any Any Any Windows programs that support secure WMA Any iTunes only
Portable digital music player player must be WMA DRM compliant you can use any player you can use any player player must be WMA DRM compliant you can use any player iPod only
Available U.S. only Worldwide Worldwide U.S. only Worldwide U.S. only
  Music Match Emusic iMp3download Napster DownloadPro iTunes
Payments Credit card Credit card Credit card Credit card, Napstercard Credit card Credit card
Preview Yes 25 free mp3s Yes Yes Yes Yes
Special Musicmatch Radio is a free streaming music service you access using Musicmatch Jukebox. Get 25 free mp3 downloads and cancel your account, then you will be offered half price on the subscription. ( You can still cancel.)   Napster offers the only 'radio' service that lets you skip forward and back within and between songs. Not for the avarage mp3 user
Price Level emusic itunes
Service Quality itunes
Homepage Music Match Emusic iMp3download Napster DownloadPro iTunes