Introduction to Music Download Sites

Music download sites are, to music-lovers like me, just about the most exciting thing on the Internet.

They're a place to download cheap or free music, to learn more about their favourite artists - and to build a massive catalogue of their favourite tracks!

By the way, before we get into the swing of things, and yes I know I mentioned it on the homepage(!), but if you haven't already joined, you really could do a lot worse than subscribing to my free monthly Music Download Sites newsletter.

In it I try to offer valuable, ad-free information and advice based on my own experiences. I answer subscribers questions. I review music download sites. I look at new software. You name it. Like I say, it's free to join, and you can unsubscribe easily at any point if you find it's not to your liking - there's an easy unsubscribe link at the bottom of every issue I send out...

I suppose before we start we should get right back to grass roots and explain exactly how music download sites work.

It is possible for music from standard sources (such as CD's, cassette or vinal) to be turned into an electronic version of the same.

That is to say, anyone, with the right piece of mp3 editor software, can put a CD into their home computer and "rip" (as it is often termed) tracks off the CD, turning them into an electronic version on their computer.

So firstly - if you hear someone talking about "ripping off" an album, they may not mean anything negative!

Now, it also goes without saying that there are many, many legal restrictions on what you can and can't do with these tracks. I mean, potentially, these tracks you'd "ripped" could be sold or given away to millions on your website and so the record company that owns the copyright, and the artist that wrote/ performed the tracks, would lose considerable revenue.

Hence the reason for sites like Napster getting closed down - and rightly so in my humble opinion.

Sure, we all like to get something for nothing, or at least a bargain, but I believe in credit where it's due.

I personally feel that talented, hard working musicians and songwriters do deserve credit for their work.

So another minefield in the field of downloadable music and music download sites is that one needs to be very careful about staying within legal guidelines.

This is one of the reasons that I personally prefer to stick to the better-known, subscription-based music download sites than the free music download sites.

After all, I figure, if a site is heavily marketed, supported by a viable business model, and is professionally done, then there is far less chance of legal problems. After all, they'll have a reputation to defend, whilst some spammers, scammers and fraudsters may be willing to put a few "pirate" tracks on their website and try to get away with it.

Don't get me wrong - it's not always the case - but if in doubt, I personally would only recommend the sites listed on our music download sites reviews page.

I, for one, don't fancy a law suit against me ;-)

(If you'd like to read more about the legal issues, visit the following music download sites report.)

Anyway, back to the music itself.

Downloadable music comes in a number of file types - you know like you get .doc files from Microsoft Word and .html files for webpages.

The most common of the music formats by far, however, is the MP3.

MP3 is short for Motion Picture Group audio layer 3 - remember that one and impress your friends in the pub!

What's that? You never go to the pub? Ha! Yeah, I believe you ;-)

Basically, there are two real bonuses of using this format of downloadable music. Firstly, it reduces down the size of the track by taking out sounds you don't normally hear from the track, and so takes up far less space on a computer.

This being so, the files are quick for you to download over the internet, you can save loads on your computer or onto one of the wide range of mp3 portable players available now, and you get very little loss of quality.

As this is the case, this leads consequently to the second benefit which is that due to the above features, mp3's are the most common type of downloadable music, so you'll find lots of resources around.

There are tons of music download sites featuring them, and you can even download free mp3 players from the Internet which will allow you to listen to these tracks on your PC at home.

So at it's cheapest, a free mp3 player and a subscription to a high-quality music download site and you're away!

However, it gets even better.

For one thing, a low monthly fee (and we're talking less than $15 a month) gets you full, unlimited access to pretty much as much music as you can handle. I'm not exadurating - my all-time favourite music download site gives you access to over 200,000 tracks, with new ones being added all the time.

If you never had to work again, I think you'd be hard pressed to download and listen to all the music available there - let alone save it all for later listening.

How does a single cost in your local record store? $3? $4? $5? $6? Just multiply that by 200,000, and compare it to $15!!!

Finally, you can get your hands on all the music you have time to listen to for the price of a slap-up meal for two. Fantastic!

Secondly, these tracks you download don't just have to sit on your PC. Sure, if that's all you want, great.

But you can also save them onto mp3 portable players, or my favourite, save them onto CD.

As an aside, and at the risk of sounding like a killjoy, you can't legally distribute the tracks you download in any way, shape or form. You can't email them to your friends, you can't give away or sell multiple copies of the CD you just made. Or more correctly, you can, but don't come crying to me when the police storm your house one of these days!

OK, back to the CDs. With a low-cost CD writer for your PC (which you can get for $100-$150) you can record as many of your own CDs as you like.

Save entire albums onto CD to bolster your collection. Or even pick and choose individual tracks to create your own CDs. Your own Chillout CD. A CD for listening to in the car. One for listening to before you go out on a Saturday night to get you in the mood. The options are endless.

And there are even pieces of MP3 DJ software you can buy very cheaply to mix your own CDs. I haven't tried them myself yet as I dread to think what I'd come up with, but to anyone interested in DJ'ing the sky's the limit for your creativity.

So there you have it. A basic introduction to the exciting, addictive world of music download sites.

Now, make sure you get some sleep over the next few weeks won't you?!