Despite impressive offerings from 7digital, eMusic, and Lala, at the end of the day we have to go with Amazon MP3 as our iTunes competitor of choice. Amazon MP3’s selection, Mac-friendliness, frequent specials, and low prices make a greatest-hits compilation that catapults the store ahead of its rivals. If Amazon put some of the design savvy that went toward the last Kindle revision into the look and feel of its music store, Apple might have some serious competition on its hands. Until then, Amazon will have to settle for being second in our hearts... but sometimes first in our wallets.
(click to embiggen)
Stealing music is bad, mmkay, but if you're offered a free MP3 or two, it's okay to politely accept. Here's a handful of places you can find free tunes:
>> The iTunes Store has a Free On iTunes page with a small selection of rotating music and videos. Look for it at the bottom of the main iTunes Store page.
iTunes rotates a smallish selection of free music and videos.
>> Amazon’s free weekly downloads page is awesome. Go to Amazon.com/MP3 and look in the Browse MP3s sidebar for Free Songs & Special Deals. Or just navigate here and use the genre-selectors in the sidebar to narrow the search results.
>> Your favorite bands’ podcasts are free, and you already know you like them! Mouse over Podcasts in the black iTunes Store toolbar, click the down arrow, and select Music. Or use the store browser to get there.
>> Last.fm, in addition to its excellent free streaming, offers free MP3 downloads at www.last.fm/music/+free-music-downloads.
>> Insound.com has a page of free MP3s at www.insound.com/mp3/mp3s.php. The site specializes in indie rock and also sells MP3s, CDs, vinyl, and band merchandise.
>> A-M Classical (www.amclassical.com) offers free classical music tracks.
>> MP3 blogs post tons of songs every day. Check out aggregator Hype Machine (hypem.com), see a list of top blogs at hypem.com/toplist, and click around to find a few blogs that interest you. Then download Peel ($14.95, www.getpeel.com), a shareware app that monitors the blogs’ RSS feeds, grabs the new music, and even adds it to iTunes for you.
>> The Live Music Archive has lots of free live concert recordings. Head to www.archive.org/details/etree, and look for a link in the Browsing And Finding Shows section for “Browse artists with MP3s” to limit your search to MP3 files. We recommend the Del McCoury Band, the New Mastersounds, and Tenacious D.
Look at all those bands with free MP3s on the Live Music Archive!
pandora
May 12, 2010 at 7:22pm
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loveyourmusic
January 20, 2010 at 12:17pm
There seems to be an unstated assumption that buying MP3 downloads is the only game in town for getting digital music. I guess if you're on an iTunes user it is, which is why this article is written the way it is (seeing as this is on a Mac-focused site). Streaming music on demand and taking subscription music with you are both awesome options that you can't do with iTunes. The way this articles is written it's like having a car article that says all other cars are terrible compared to the Pontiac Aztec -- because the Aztec is the only car that turns into a camper. So you focus on one feature, while ignoring everything else. Are you interested in this new Porsche? Not unless it turns into a camper!
I agree with the article's assessment that both Napster and Rhapsody are very poor competitors to iTunes if all you want to do is download MP3s. But these services best features are not MP3 downloads. MP3 downloads are a minor add on. Where they shine is in streaming tracks on demand and taking subscription music with you. You can stream most songs in their catalog whenever you want starting at $7 (Napster) and $12 (Rhapsody). With their To Go plans and a capable portable media player you can take all the music you want with you for $15/month. The MP3 downloads are just a little extra benefit. These are features that iTunes doesn't support. It also doesn't mention Zune, which has very similar capabilities and price points (but is only available for PCs).
I also like how the review of eMusic doesn't mention perhaps its biggest asset -- it's so damn cheap! Even the summary at the end just says "monthly plan," where the others have prices. Depending on the plan, eMusic's tracks end up costing 40-60 cents each. That's one third to a half the price of iTunes. Think that might be worth mentioning?
So yeah, if you want to download MP3s, nothing blows away iTunes. But if you are open to more options like on-demand streaming and taking subscription tracks with you, there are way better options for getting music than iTunes.
What do you think? Maybe I'm the one who doesn't get it. Is it me, or does this article not give other sites a fair shake?
__________________________________________________________________________
LoveYourMusic.tv -- helping you love your music more, one blog post at a time.
surf243
January 20, 2010 at 11:35am
Interesting review... However, I did find this site awhile ago, but I don't know if it's legit or not. Songs are typically $.14/each and albums are usually around $2-$3.
http://www.soundsbox.comHas anyone ever used it before?
jeffhendricks
January 19, 2010 at 8:27pm
Interesting.. Too bad the apple itunes works better than any others. Too bad they didn't invent the e cig or apple would have taken over the world.
