If you regularly download music to your iPod or MP3 player, you will find that it doesn’t take long for the costs to quickly add up. To save money. some people turn to illegal downloading, not necessary or ethical.
There are legal ways to get affordable music downloads without having to resort to illegal methods. Get great music for less. Check out these ideas for spending less on legal music downloads.
Amazon sometimes has lower prices than iTunes, and it is just as convenient to download music. Popular music can often be downloaded for $0.99, although some are a bit pricier at $1.29.
You can download current and popular songs for $0.99, For albums, prices vary, but they are usually under $9, unless it’s a deluxe album with extra tracks. Some albums are as low as five dollars.
When you first download from Amazon, you’ll need to download their Amazon MP3 downloader to ensure that your purchased downloads are automatically transferred to iTunes. Then, they can be added onto your iPod. This is free and you only need to download it once.
As well as generally being more expensive than its competitors, iTunes songs can only be played on an iPod or in the iTunes library, and you can only transfer tracks to other MP3 players if you burn the tracks to a CD, then import the CD into your MP3 software.
Options other than iTunes are often more flexible in this respect. Amazon is just one example.
- Take advantage of trial memberships
Some sites will offer a trial membership in which you can download songs for free or at a cheaper rate than normal until your trial expires.
After this, you’ll be charged for all downloads, and these usually aren’t cheap in comparison to other sites, so your best bet is to cancel as soon as the trial finishes to avoid being charged monthly fees for a service that you don’t intend to use beyond the trial.
For example, eMusic offers 25 free tracks as part of their 7-day trial membership, but they don’t include tracks from the big labels, so popular artist’s music won’t be available here.
- Check for inexpensive membership options
Rather than charging you on a track-by-track basis, some music sites will charge a membership fee and give you the freedom to download as many songs as you like.
Be sure to read the fine print carefully. Before giving your payment details, check carefully, because some of the sites with small membership fees might restrict the number of tracks you can download.
You’ll than be asked to upgrade your membership, in turn charging additional and sometimes high charges. Using a site like Napster is a good option, they only charge $5 per month for 5 downloads per month and unlimited listening.
If you’re only going to be downloading a maximum of 10 tracks per month, SuperPass would be a better option, because you can download, per month, $10 worth of tracks for free.
- Free Downloads and where to look
You won’t have to pay anything at all for some songs, because free downloads are available on various music sites.
For example, Amazon offers free downloads in their “Special Deals” section, this also includes albums. More often than not, most of these tracks will be from unknown or less popular artists, and you might have a hard time finding songs from current artists, especially popular ones.
Nevertheless, this can be a great way to find new affordable music, like free, who doesn’t like that?
Other sites that offer free songs include:
- iTunes (which offers one free track per day),
- eMusic (which also offers one free track each day),
- MP3.com (get free tracks like Vampire Weekend and Radiohead.
Be aware that while you can listen to the tracks, you may not be able to keep them.
Important Note:
There are many music sites that allow you to download current songs and albums for free or for a maximum of around $1.50 per album, but I’ve chosen not to include those sites in this post, because they are questionable, at best.
Most of these sites are based out of Russia (despite the URL’s being .com) and they use a legal loophole allowing them to disallow any cut of the profits to the artists whose songs they are selling.
The tracks are often much lower quality than you’ll get on iTunes and Amazon, which can explain why they can charge so much less for the song.
Be aware, that if you choose to use one of these sites, they rarely accept Paypal, so using a pre-paid credit card is the best option to ensure that you’re not handing over sensitive information attached to your main credit cards.
Source Attribution: Sally Aquire
Listen to great music on Youtube
This is a great song! One of my favorites, Travis Tritt sings this great remake with his daughter Tyler Reese Tritt.
Sometimes Love Just Aint Enough (Featuring Tyler Reese Tritt)
All Rights Belong To And All Credit Goes To Their Respective Owners
