There’s now a huge choice of websites offering legal music downloads for iPods and other MP3 players, but which offer the best value and sound quality. I’ve trawled the web to find the top 10 sites and put each one to the test. Here’s my verdict…
Top Tips
- Format: Check which formats the music will be downloaded in.
- Check what you’re getting: With the DRM (Digital Rights Management) record companies control what you can do with the music you download: whether you can copy it, move it, convert its format or burn it to CD.
- Online Security: Although all sites here use secure payment, it’s still worth being cautious. Credit cards tend to be better protected, but check with your card provider what protection you have and what your liabilities are.
iTunes.com [opens in new window]
Apple iTunes Music Store
The iTunes Store is a digital music revolution first launched in the US in April 2003. It has been a massive success ever since and up to date more than 1.5 billion songs have been sold worldwide. It’s the market leader in all territories.
iTunes has more than 3 million songs from all 4 major labels and hundreds of independents and the catalogue is growing every day - by far the largest legal music download selection across Europe and worldwide.
It has...
- More than 20,000 audiobooks
- More than 65,000 podcasts
- More than 3,500 music videos and the full Pixar shorts range.
- iPod games --> great cross promotion potential with the Applestore
- Exclusive content only available on iTunes is added every week!!!
iTunes is and still remains the default source of music for all those millions of iPod owners. With iTunes, you have to use a dedicated iTunes software , but in return you get a huge choice of music – along with podcasts, video clips, and TV shows.
Tracks from 79p (99¢), and albums from £7 ($9.99). It only works with Apple’s dedicated iTunes software, which runs on PCs as well as MACs, and works with other players.
Apart from regular music downloads from iTunes, you can also download
Format: AAC
Note: Download the latest version of iTunes here [opens in new window].
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