Pay to Play sites:
Napster advertises "Unlimited Music On Demand". It has available software, which may or may not be required. You do need to have an active membership to play tracks downloaded from Napster. This keeps you reeled in to play the music. I guess if you don't mind that commitment...
iTunes is restricted to one computer,or one ipod, one library or computer. I think this format is too limiting. I'm not an Ipod person and this is one of the reasons. The other being no access to the battery(s).
Yahoo! Here again, you need to be subscribed to access played songs. Cost seems lower than Napster and no propietary software. You can use Media Player.
Rhapsody is like Napster with its own software, but nothing immediately about needing to stay current to play the music (Icould be wrong). Rhapsody also offers a limited free account that doesn't appear to be a limited time or trial offer. It also has an editors's choice rating from CNET.
Amazon sells MP3 files by song and album. Supposed to be compaticble with both iTunes andMedia Player. If you aren't interested in unlimited play or tunes and don't want to worry about maintaining a membership to play your downloads, this could be for you.
Free and Legal:
HCPL Digital Media is one source for free downloads. It does have a time limit for the "checkout". This is a good way to sample music to see what you like before buying it or to have a "library" available without useing a lot of your own storage.
Downloading:
Ease will depend on the site you use. I have found it to be easy myself. In some cases, it is simply click and drag to your PC, then click and drag to your MP3. A number of MP3s are treated as data devices by the PC, making it real simple.
Online Radio:
One of my favorite stations, KACC, has streaming radion online. They also offer occasional live band webcasts from the studio. Most cool. KUHF also offers online steaming. They both may be operated by colleges, but I get classical, news and rock covered. Take a look at your favorite station. It may be available online
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