Where Can You Get Legal Music Downloads?

June 3rd, 2007

Since the advent of music download sites such as Limewire, Napster
and Kazaa, along with the rising popularity of MP3 players from iPod
and other companies, people have been moving away from purchasing CDs
from stores and more to downloading music for use. There are several
reasons for this, including people just wanting particular songs,
thinking the price of a whole CD is too expensive and wanting music for
free. A crackdown on free music downloads a few years ago has lead to
people now searching for legal music downloads.

Legal music downloads came about because of several musicians
pleading with the government that they owned their music, and it
therefore should not be available for free downloading through
shareware like Napster, which was the largest downloading site at the
time. The government then decided that this would be illegal, and made
it possible for companies to provide legal music downloads for a small
fee, as long as it was not free or through shareware.

Sites began popping up online, with the most popular being iTunes
with is associated with Apple and iPod. Even Napster tried to jump on
the new bandwagon, providing legal music downloads for a monthly
subscription fee. iTunes became increasingly popular mainly because
they provided legal music downloads for a very nominal fee of
ninety-nine cents per song. One didn’t have to purchase a costly
monthly subscription if they just wanted one or two songs, and it was
convenient to do. Now, there are hundreds of sites that offer legal
music downloads ranging from small start up companies to Yahoo and
iTunes. Each has their own method of payment and amount allowed for
downloading.