Digital Music Download Websites

There are a number of online websites that offer music downloads. Some websites charge per digital music download, while other websites offer to pay a monthly fee for an unlimited number of music downloads. It has been estimated that compact disc sales are declining (19% in the last few years), and digital music download sales are rapidly raising. Revenues from online music sales are reported to have increased almost threefold last year, with iTunes by Apple accounting for more than 85% of single song downloads. Still, this does not mean that Apple is the sole source of online music. At present, lawful music download sites account for about 6% of record studios' revenues, which is a boost compared to the situation observed two years ago.
Music download services come in two kinds - 'rent' and 'buy' websites. 'Rent' sites are music websites based on a monthly fee that is paid to gain access to all the music in the catalog. 'Buy' websites charge per soundtrack - iTunes, for instance - where a soundtrack can be burned onto a CD provided it is paid for. Then the CD can be ripped to the pc. Some online music websites offer to pay a monthly fee for unlimited listening rights, but also charge to purchase a soundtrack.
Most digital music download websites use the Windows Media Audio (WMA) format. ITunes uses the AAC format. It is essential to distinguish these two and to know which services support this or that format, because Apple iPods cannot play WMA files, and non-iPod devices cannot play the iTunes AAC format. Finding a site to download music from could greatly depend on this simple difference.
Some digital music download services are as cheap as 9 cents per average song. In addition, these services have songs that can be downloaded in any format and quality. At times music download websites are so cheap and user-friendly that a lot of Internet users choose to download music from these sites instead of ripping CD collections onto the computer.
For any Internet user downloading soundtracks 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 suit. When looking for the optimal quality music downloads, one should look for music download services containing the largest selection of music that is updated on a regular basis, and high quality downloads. Usually, the price directly depends on quality. Therefore, a question arises: Is it worth spending a few extra cents? The answer is positive.