| There are a great many online sites that offer digital music. Some services charge per online music download, whereas other websites require a monthly fee for an unlimited number of music downloads. It has been estimated that compact disc sales are declining (19% in the last couple of years), and online music download sales are rapidly escalating. Revenues from digital music sales are estimated to have nearly tripled last year, with iTunes by Apple accounting for over 85 percent of single song downloads. Yet, the figures do not make Apple the only seller of online music. These days, lawful music download websites account for about 6% of record companies' revenues, which is a boost compared to the situation observed a couple of years ago.
Music download services come in two types - 'rent' and 'buy' websites. 'Rent' websites are music websites based on a monthly fee that is paid to obtain access to all the music in the catalogue. 'Buy' sites charge per song, such as iTunes, where a song can be burned onto a CD provided that it is paid for. Then the CD can be ripped to the pc. Some online music websites offer to pay a monthly fee for limitless listening rights, but also charge to purchase a song.
Some digital music download sites are as cheap as 9 cents per average song. In addition, these sites have songs that can be downloaded in any format and quality. At times music download sites are so cheap and easy to use that a great many people prefer to download soundtracks from these sites instead of ripping CD collections onto the personal computer.
For any Internet user downloading music onto an iPod or iTunes, it is probably the optimal solution. For any music not intended for being downloaded onto an iPod, any other music source will work. When seeking the best quality music downloads, one should seek music download sites with the largest choice of music that is regularly updated, and excellent quality downloads. Ordinarily, the price directly depends on quality. Therefore, a question arises: Is it worth spending extra cash? The answer is positive. |
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