Fortunately,
there are several options for finding legally-available
music on the Internet. The bottom line, however, is
that most of them will cost you money. Click
the links below for more information about legal online
music options:
1
Legal but Brief: 15-20 Second Tune-Teasers
2
Listen Only: Internet Radio
3
Songs a la Carte
4
Musical Buffet: Monthly Subscription
Services
5
Options Summary
Legal
but Brief: 15-20 Second Tune-Teasers
At the very least, you can
legally listen to music through your favorite artists’
Web sites. Most popular artists will offer 15-20 second
previews of their songs to encourage you to purchase
their CDs. You can also listen to and download
entire songs from selected featured artists (which
change from week to week) on the Web sites of popular
music channels, such as BET
and MTV.
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Listen
Only: Internet Radio
Many mainstream artists offer
their songs to Internet radio stations for listening
only. LAUNCH
Music on Yahoo offers an online radio station
that streams music from the genres you select as your
favorites. Live365
allows you to listen to a more eclectic variety of
music. Like LAUNCH, the music is organized
by genre; however, Live365 is unique since its music
is not programmed by the site owners, but plugged
in by listeners just like you who post their own playlists.
Of course, neither of these radio options permit downloading,
but they do offer free exposure to new music and serve
as an alternative to traditional radio, which tends
to play the same songs over and over again.
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Songs
a la Carte
If you’re willing to
open your wallet, the Internet has many great services
that allow you to purchase music by popular artists
for very low prices. To get started, check
out Bumbles
MP3s which provides a guide to over 40 legal
MP3 download sites on the Web today.
Most services offer songs for under a dollar, with
Napster,
iTunes
and MusicMatch
charging ninety-nine cents per song. Some
sites, such as BuyMusic.com,
allow you to preview a 15-20 second clip of the
song before you download it.
An important caveat for a la carte buyers who transport
files to a digital music player, such as an iPod:
make sure your music files are compatible with your
player. MP3 is not the only file format (there
are others, such as .wma and .aac), and not all
players support all formats. MusicNow
claims that its downloads are compatible with 40
different digital music players.
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Musical
Buffet: Monthly Subscription Services
For a small price per month,
subscription services like Rhapsody
provide the option of streaming music for only $9.95
per month. You get access to a large legal
collection of albums and can select the songs you
want to hear, but you can’t download them
to your computer. You can, however, save your playlists
and access them from other computers. Even
better, a majority of the songs can be burned onto
a CD for just ten cents per song. Rhapsody
offers a 7-day free trial.
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Options
Summary
As you’re choosing
which option best meets your needs and your finances,
just remember that all of these choices are a lot
cheaper than hiring a lawyer or paying a $12,000
settlement to the RIAA.
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