Best MP3 Music Sites

Answer 1

Downloading music was once nearly always an illegal activity, but that has all changed in the past five years. Options abound for listening to and downloading music from the internet legally. Some websites specialize in selling music one track at a time while others pursue a subscription model, and still others operate as ad-supported free radio. Finding the right website depends on finding a solution that meets your specific needs.

Free music

Pandora was the first and most popular free music site. Boasting a massive collection of music, the stations are controlled by a well-designed algorithm that tunes itself to your specific tastes, using your listening habits and ratings. This makes Pandora a powerful music discovery tool, as the algorithm offers up music it thinks you might like but have never heard. However, this effect can sometimes become too precise, leading to stations that end up playing music that all sounds very similar. Another site, Slacker Radio, has manually-curated play lists to avoid this issue. The site hosts a wide variety of music with expert-designed play lists, but, as with most traditional radio, certain repeats are unavoidable. GrooveShark is the ultimate in free music, as it is the only option that allows you to design your very own play list. It is the only free option that gives you this ability, making it closer to a personal music library than a radio site. However, the interface is often clunky, and you cannot save play lists without paying for premium membership.

Use Pandora for discovering new music, Slacker Radio as a substitute for traditional over-the-air radio and GrooveShark for mixing play lists at your next party. Paid music

Outlets such iTunes, Napster and Amazon are all available if you are seeking to download music one track or one album at a time. These sites also offer persistent profiles so that you can re-download your entire library if you get a new computer. However, purchasing tracks for about $1 a piece can rapidly add up, making costs a serious concern. A new breed of paid sites, such as Spotify and Rhapsody, allow users to pay a monthly subscription to listen to whatever music they like, as well as transfer a limited number to their music players. These sites have a similar appeal to Netflix in that they keep costs predictable while offering access to tremendous music libraries.

Many options are available if you are seeking to listen to a wide variety of music from the internet, with costs ranging from completely free to modest subscription fees or per-track purchases. Using a combination of websites provides the best service, since they all have their own strengths and weaknesses.