Let's face it: the music industry is finally moving into the digital age. Like never before, the internet has taken on the new digital revolution with great haste, taking the illegal peer-to-peer MP3 sharing of the past and finally making it a legal, acceptable way to purchase and discover new music.
Most likely you, a friend, or your child/nephew/niece (et cetera) will get a brand new portable MP3 player for the holidays this year. Whether it's the ever-popular Apple iPod, Microsoft's under-appreciated Zune, or some other variant from Sandisk or Creative, the mp3 player is here to stay.
So where do we find MP3s to fill our new Christmas gadgets? The obvious places are Apple's iTunes store and Microsoft's Zune Marketplace, but these two sites have problems. For one, they both lock consumers into their own products using Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology. This encodes your MP3s in such a way that inhibits portability; for example, iTunes purchased songs only work on up to five computers at one time, require passwords, and can only be synced to an iPod or iPhone product. Hardly a digital revolution if you can't put your music on a competitor's MP3 player.
Luckily, there is hope, and I will attempt to show you the DRM-free alternatives to MP3 shopping. These web sites provide completely legal (sometimes free), unlocked MP3s that you can use anywhere, at any time, and with any device. Let's take a look at the top five best sites to find new music for your holiday shopping.
1. eMusic: The second most popular music download web site (second only to iTunes), eMusic provides a wonderful collection of some of the best music out there right now. Thanks to some clever marketing, the site has become a hot bed for independent artists, jazz musicians, and audiobook collectors. eMusic gives out 50 free MP3s to new users, but unlike some of its rivals, it requires a subscription (check out their monthly rates). eMusic has an amazing collection of music, but doesn't include any music from the major record labels because of licensing issues. However, some of the best bands out there right now aren't on major record labels, and you can find many re-issues and older music (practically every jazz musician since music was recorded, for example), plus the latest popular albums from bands like Arcade Fire, The New Pornographers, and Spoon. eMusic also has a collection of freebies, such as music samplers from record labels, available for download. This is an excellent way to discover more music.
Article comments
1 - wyly
Kevin:
You said this about Napter: "While Napster's not the best choice out there, it's a good choice for music lovers who mainly stick to the pop charts and radio top 20 hits."
How did you come up with this? Napster's music library is over 5 million songs. Top 20? Gimme a break! I subscribe and I can tell your readers it is well worth the price. You have no idea what you are missing until you try it. Of course, if you just listen to the same 20 songs over and over it's not for you. Exactly the opposite, though, of what you just wrote in your blog.