Buying music in the form of CDs or DVDs from retail stores have become passé. Unlimited music downloads from free music sharing networks like Limewire or Kazaa and from legal music download sites such as iTunes Store has become a popular way to acquire the latest music tracks. With gadgets like the iPod and the MP3 players becoming popular by the day, downloading and listening to music while on the go is one of the favourite pastimes of the younger generation. But, one should know exactly how and where from should the unlimited music downloads be sourced. Otherwise, a lot of hassles will come free with the downloaded music, especially viruses, malware and unintentional copyright violations on the user’s end. (more…)
Archive for July, 2009
Unlimited Music Downloads
Legal Music Downloads
Legal music downloads, or rather the lack of it in the mainstream music scene came to the fore when Napster gained notoriety almost a decade earlier. The website allowed users to download music, sidestepping the contemporary music copyright and royalty laws that had been established for the market. This was one of the first challenges that actually highlighted the fact that legal music downloads were nowhere as far as sales or popularity was concerned when compared to free (and often illegal) music download sites in the online music market! After the Napster fiasco, several authorities and government control agencies around the world set up a more stringent online regulation system – which curtailed the free-wheeling power of free music download sites to a great extent.
For an average user, legal music downloads seem a lot less tempting when compared to free music available online. This may not do entirely with monetary leniency, but also with the fact that paid download sites often need the user to register, subscribe or provide account information. Most online users are not comfortable doing so, with people downloading large content of music tracks online considering this a hindrance to fast transactions. But legal music downloads do have a lot of advantages as well, when seen through the eyes of a scrutinizing expert.
• They are secure and remove any risk of copyright or intellectual property rights violations
• Legal music downloads, especially from sites that allow you to subscribe for a year, actually provides you with music that is virtually yours to use – at affordable rates.
• The speed of downloading and the freedom of choice of music tracks in legal music download websites are far greater than those of free music downloads.
• Spyware, malware and other virus and malicious applications rampant in most free download sites and peer-to-peer networks are not present in legal music-sharing websites.
Today, a large number of legal music download sites have become as popular as free music sharing P2P networks like Limewire or BearShare. The iTunes store is one such legal music download portal which has become an ideal example of popular legal music tracks, with music tracks available for as low as 99-cents each! A number of Russian websites offer legal music downloads at as low as 5-cents, and have become one of the easiest yet the safest way for people around the globe to acquire their favourite music tracks.
Therefore, until and unless you would really want to get embroiled in a fiasco like Napster’s for downloading illegal music, try out the legal music sharing websites. You will not find it discouraging at all, as have been propagated by free music promoters around the world!
iPod Music Downloads
iPod as become the hallmark of the youth of this generation, and is also considered a fashion accessory, apart from being an MP3 player! And as more and more people buy this comfortably priced yet uniquely handy product to listen to their choice of music tracks, the demand for iPod music downloads has increased in leaps and bounds within the last 3 years or so. Consequently, a large number of websites have come up online that offer free or paid iPod music downloads for users who demand the same. The free ones are usually P2P (peer-to-peer) networks as well as online free music sharing websites. Most paid music download websites, on the other hand, feature some kind of payment plans before giving the user a permission to download.
A major percentage of people, especially, teenagers and young adults, avail of free websites that offer iPod music downloads without any overhead costs on each track. However, these may pose two possible threats for the user who is downloading the music. Firstly, most sites offer such free music downloads violating a lot of copyright and music distribution laws – exposing the innocuous user to criminal indictment. Secondly, audio quality as well as download speeds tend to get slower with such websites, exposing the user to spyware or adware and viruses as well. But all these factors have nevertheless been ineffective in discouraging online users to take copious advantage of free iPod music downloads from such sites and P2P networks.
However, iPod and its parent company, Apple, encourage users to buy iPod music tracks, citing better quality and platform compatibility. Most paid service providers either want you to sign up as a lifetime member (which is cheaper) or pay for each track that you download. However, even though paid iPod music downloads has got substantial amount of takers in the US and Europe, it hasn’t yet found many takers in the developing world. And with iPod sales in countries like India, China, Brazil or the Middle-East being as good as in the Western nations, the lack of interest in paid iPod music downloads has affected the music industry significantly.
But with surveys that bolster the fact that paid iPod music downloads provide a much better experience to listeners than freebies, times are about to change. But whatever may be the way by which you acquired your iPod tracks, enjoying your favourite rock band or that soothing jazz track while on your way to work is not going to fade out of fashion anytime soon!
Music Downloads
Music downloads from the Internet has become one of the trademarks of the 21st century. It has revolutionized the way the music industry functions and has also become one of the chief metrics to measure the success of an artist of a respective song or album! Music downloads have also shifted the mainstream attention of people wishing to listen to music or waiting upon the release of new albums to the Internet rather than the conventional media like radio or TV. But downloading music, even from the purported ‘free music download sites’ needs a lot of pre-meditated care and homework!
There’s a subtle difference between streaming music and downloading music. Streaming media is only available till you are online, while downloading the music copies the media file to your hard drive – allowing you to listen to it offline. However, music downloads often have limitations imposed upon them, where you cannot listen to downloaded music through your iPod or MP3 players. Apart from these, one should also understand the fact that free stuff might not be the best option available. Besides being liable to law and copyright violations that most free P2P networks and applications do not pay any heed to, you also have compromised music quality – something that is not accepted in professional deals.
Paid music downloads, however, differ a lot – from the perspective of payment plans, time period and extent of music downloads possible. Usually subscription fees and pay-per-download are some of the most common options available to interested individuals. However, a cheaper and much more convenient option for music downloads today is to become a lifetime member of a music sharing website. Overhead costs usually stay around $50, with an uninhibited access to a library of music files available on the site.
Music downloads, be it for the iPod or for professional purposes, such as background scores for films, digital media presentations, etc., have become the next best alternative to creating original music. A huge number of factors control the popularity of a website in the music sharing industry – from download speeds, to existent user reviews and terms and policies imposed upon the user. But with famous corporate giants such as Billboard and RIAA, ranking songs and albums according to online downloads and digital sales speaks volumes about the impact music downloads have had on the industry. And with bands and artists releasing digital-only or online-only ‘singles’ vindicates the actual potential of music downloads in the contemporary scene!
Download Christmas Music
Christmas is an occasion when you rejoice singing carols and hymns and often play them on your PC or MP3 player. However, listening to the original Christmas carols on your PC or MP3 player is not an expensive deal now. In the age of music downloads and free music sharing, it’s quite easy to download Christmas music from any of the websites. A lot of people share remixes and amateur renditions of their Christmas carols and festive songs in order to promote them over the Internet. Millions of users download free Christmas music online, which come in various formats and for varied platforms – such as the iPod, digital media, m4a, etc.
However, before downloading Christmas music, one should make sure that they are not trespassing upon the creator’s privacy or copyright laws. Moreover, holiday tunes and Christmas-themed songs are often subject to religious skepticism. Free music available online, often without paying heed to acquiring proper copyright or royalty rights, neglect such religious sentiments, posing a problem for many a user. Most paid downloads of Christmas music inject royalty fees into the prices, thereby, allowing users to avail a much more secure possession of the music tracks.
However, paid or free, downloading Christmas music tracks have caught on with the young generation. This is because most people cannot find the time to go shopping exclusively for Christmas music, which leaves no choice but to buy inferior choices of music tracks. The ease and feasibility to download Christmas music from websites, thus, not only saves time and energy, but also provides you the comfort of purchasing your favourite Christmas carol tracks sitting at home. While Christmas carols are often only a season-only feature at music stores, online Christmas music is available all year round. The subsidized prices or subscription rates for music sharing websites in the summers or off-seasons help you to maintain a small-scale budget while you download Christmas music.
Thus, if you had been nostalgic about last year’s Christmas party and been longing to hear that ‘Jingle Bells’ or ‘White Christmas’ in a sultry summer night, there’s an easy way out! Log on to a music-sharing website and you can have them all in the minimum price range possible!
Music Download Sites
Online music downloads have become one of the easiest and the most comfortable of ways to acquire new music, and have become a huge hit among the Internet-savvy, new generation of today. Music download sites, hence, enjoy one of the highest traffic volumes among other contemporary websites. While music download sites might not be the only way to download music tracks from the Internet with P2P (peer-to-peer) networks working as the other major source of music tracks and videos online, the former are the most popular in their own right. Music download sites, unlike P2P networks, usually charge for downloading music, with notable examples being Amazon, Realrhapsody, eMusic and Napster. However, there are other websites that offer free music track downloading – sidestepping numerous copyright and royalty rights in the process.
Paid music download sites often offer free trial for a pre-determined period of time, before charging the money for downloads. Many websites also employ a subscription strategy, which is actually cost-effective for users who download truckloads of music rather than the ones who buy select music tracks online. For the latter, a per-download payment is the ideal price strategy. Most music download sites, however, have a much larger inventory and catalogue, spanning music albums and artists worldwide. This is one of the core reasons for music download sites overshadowing real-world retail stores and music shops. Even corporate enterprises such as pubs, discotheques and amateur block party organizers purchase music online today.
Almost all music download sites, as a rule, offer music tracks in media file formats that are compatible on a variety of platforms and gadgets, including the oh-so-popular iPod, iPhone, PC, digital media players and others. A lot of such music sharing websites, including many official artists’ websites offers a variety of media files, apart from mp3 tracks and videos. These may range from e-books, AV presentations, audio books, films, etc. But, before downloading any music from a particular site, one should keep in mind the customer support quality and the range of music available on the respective music download site. Apart from this, another metric to measure the popularity or quality of music track downloads from such sites is the user review sections. Most user reviews give a fair idea about the quality and superiority of content present in the website.
So, before you start downloading your favorite tracks, check up on the features mentioned to make sure your time or money spent on the website is worthwhile.