My Top 10 Music Downloads Sites

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By Daniel Dwase...

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...

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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 iPod Games Nike Sport Music iTunes Top Songs and iTunes Top Albums Format: AAC Note: Download the latest version of iTunes here [opens in new window].

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Audio Lunchbox is the home of independent digital music, with 100% compatibility with all players. Here, you'll find top quality MP3 files for subscribers and there are no DRM (Digital Rights Management) restrictions which means you can copy songs and burn them on CDs. Subscriptions starts from $9.99 a month to $250 a year and $9.99 each for albums. All new Audio Lunchbox subscribers get 50 free bonus MP3 music downloads from over 500,000 songs just for signing up. Audio Lunchbox is the internet’s #1 independent digital music downloads store and recently received a perfect 6 out of 6 stars from PC Pro Magazine and I can proudly claim Audio Lunchbox to be the only digital music downloads store apart from iTunes I would recommend outright. Format: Works on all portable music players including iPod and all operating systems. Audio Lunchbox is 100% cross platform and works on Mac, PC and Linux.

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Rhapsody.com [opens in new window]

Rhapsody has over two million tracks in its music downloads store, equaling iTunes, thus making Rhapsody the best choice for those who have WMA-compatible MP3 players though there is some limited support for iPods. At Rhapsody you get one of the best search interfaces for finding the music you want. If you have a compatible MP3 player, you can fill up your player with music for $14.99 per month; but if you cancel your subscription, your music disappears. You can also choose to play unlimited music online for about $12.99 per month. Tracks starts from 99¢ or $12.99 per month unlimited PC subscription / Rhapsody To Go: $14.99 per month. Format: MP3, WMA. Note: You can play tracks purchased from Rhapsody ($0.99/track, or $0.89/track with membership) on your iPod, can transfer your personal mp3s, as well as songs ripped from a CD, to your iPod but membership tracks accessed through your Rhapsody membership cannot be played on your iPod, but can be played with many other MP3 players.

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InSound.com [opens in new window]

InSound is the the premier content and commerce site for fans of indie rock, pop and cutting edge music. InSound features thousands of exclusive reviews, rare CDs and LPs, chat events and MP3s. Albums starts from as little as $5. Format: MP3

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Music.Yahoo.com/Unlimited [opens in new window]

Yahoo! Music Unlimited is a subscription music downloads service with over 2 million songs you can enjoy at a very low price. Subscription music downloads is like cable TV: as long as you maintain your subscription, your songs are playable; if you end your subscription, the songs are no longer available. You can play and save over 2 million songs to your PC, make playlists, share music downloads with friends using Messenger, take your music downloads with you on subscription-compatible portable devices Yahoo! Music Unlimited is available monthly or yearly. For a full year, the cost is just $5.99/month. Subscription music is an amazing, cost-effective way to discover and acquire all the music you love without laying out much cash. If you look at what you use music for -- playing at home, taking away on portable players (with the To Go option), sharing with friends -- you can do it all with subscription music, all for a low monthly fee. With Yahoo! Music Unlimited music downloads, you can try any and all available new releases, plus all the classics, sample what you like, keep what you love, and dump what you don't. If your subscription ends, the subscription tracks saved on your PC and on portable devices become non-playable. As long as your subscription is up to date, the songs are yours to use and enjoy. Format: MP3 (excluding iPods) Compatible devices: Creative Zen Vision: M, RCA H106, Nokia N91, Creative Zen V Plus, Palm Treo 680

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eMusic.com [opens in new window]

eMusic is a subscription-based service, allowing you to download tracks for substantially less than you would pay with other download services. Various pricing plans allow you to pay as little as 22p per track, encouraging you to sample new artists and as a result, purchase more music. Music purchased from eMusic is free from digital rights management software restrictions (such as expiration, copying or CD-burning limitations). Subscriptions in the USA starts from $9.99/month, UK £8.99/month and EU €12.99/month. Format: MP3 (iPod compatible)

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Wippit.com [opens in new window]

Wippit is the world's first legitimate P2P music subscription service, with a wide range of recordings for you to download, play and keep. Here, you get unlimited music downloads from 160 labels comprising of 60,000 tracks. You can purchase songs one at a time from as little as 29p, pay by SMS from your mobile phone (currently available UK users only) or credit card. Annual subscription is £50 for a year of UNLIMITED downloads or £4.99/month (that's the same as buying one CD every two months). With a Wippit subscription you can listen to music you've heard or read about without having to pay for the privilege of trying it out, compile your own favorites to listen to in any order you please, burn your tracks to CD or import to you MP3 player or mobile phone. Format: MP3

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MusicMatch.com [opens in new window]

MusicMatch has more than 900,000 tracks in its store from more than 60,000 albums and 650,000 available for streaming. With MusicMatch you can send your playlists via e-mail and if you’re a subscriber, you can e-mail playlists to friends without subscriptions, and they can listen to the first 20 songs three times for free. That's a great way to share music. If you don't have a subscription, you can still e-mail playlists, but your friends can only hear the first 30 seconds of each track. MusicMatch has a feature known as AutoDJ that automatically scours your library and more than 900,000 On Demand tracks to create a unique playlist of music that you're bound to love. Simply type in a few of your favorite artists, and AutoDJ does the rest. You can also fine-tune the results by setting playlist size, track popularity, release date and mix diversity. Discovering new music has never been easier. Musicmatch On Demand costs $5.99. Please note: Musicmatch On Demand is currently available to U.S. residents only and requires a broadband Internet connection. Format: MP3

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HMV.com [opens in new window]

HMV offers the latest music, videos and games for you to purchase online. HMV is based on OD2 (On Demand Distribution) platform, and will only work with WMA-capable player running on Windows machine. You can download tracks from as little as 79p and albums from £7. Format: WMA, PC only.

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WalMart.com [opens in new window]

Any song you download from WalMart.com is legally licensed for your use. What's more, you'll enjoy the same usage rights for all the music you purchase. Here you can search over 600,000 songs to find the music you're looking for. Each song has a 30-second music clip you can play to make sure you've found what you want. Downloads starts from 88 cents. Format: MP3 Please note: Music downloads from Walmart.com will not play on the Apple Macintosh or Linux operating systems.

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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.

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