Which online music store is best? When it comes to loading my iPod with new tunes, I’ve always gravitated toward Amazon’s MP3 store for downloads. The quality is reasonably high (256 kilobits per second), the selection is dandy and the interface is simple. Not only that, but no other store consistently offers the deals that Amazon does. (William’s Shatner’s entire Transformed Man album for 99 cents? I am so there.) Best of all, Amazon’s songs do not use Digital Rights Management (DRM), so they can be freely copied among your various devices and computers. And with Amazon’s album downloader (a free, required, plug-in), the songs can be dumped directly into whatever song-management program, you use, such as iTunes.

Speaking of iTunes, Apple’s music store is still far and away the most popular service. Following Amazon’s lead, iTunes is finally moving toward making all of its songs DRM-free. It also is boosting their quality by upping the bitrate.

Lately, the folks behind Zune (Microsoft) have been pushing the Zune Pass subscription service. For $15 a month, users get unlimited access to the site’s 5 million songs. The catch: You need a Zune player, and the sites are DRM-protected, so they go away if you get rid of the service. But the subscription includes 10 DRM-free MP3s per month that can be kept permanently and used on other devices.

There are also other services from Rhapsody, eMusic and Napster. If you’re confused by what they offer, check out PC World’s outstanding overview on the pluses and minuses of each one.  Don’t forget, too, that if you’re into classical music, there are several online stores that sell 320kbps MP3s (the highest quality), including the Classical Shop, Naxos’ Classics Online and the Classical Archives. The Classical Shop, run by the esteemed British label Chandos, even has uncompressed CD-quality tracks for a small upcharge and full, high-res liner notes.

When it comes to downloads, I’ll stick with Amazon for mainstream MP3s and the classical sites for orchestral stuff.  Don’t forget, too, that there are many cases where it’s cheaper to buy a used CD — try Half.com online for all genres, or Berkshire Record Outlet for classical — and rip it yourself. The original artist won’t get a royalty – as with any non-first-sale purchase, including books — but it’s perfectly legal.Â

This entry was posted on Friday, April 10th, 2009 at 10:22 am and is filed under Audio. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.