Download Free Legal Music For Ipod - The Top Solution

The proliferation of P2P file sharing networks on the Internet makes it very tempting and easy for someone to get themselves into a lot of trouble with the Recording Industry Association of America. The increasing sophistication of technology has made it much easier for the RIAA to track who is illegally making songs available for download and the people who are downloading them.

Very recently a student of Utah State University was sued by the RIAA for doing just that. The RIAA is negotiating a settlement of about $3,000 dollars. In another case a 12 year old child was prosecuted for file sharing and the case was settled for $2,000. I'll outline a solution for acquiring legal free music downloads for iPods below which will keep you in good graces with the RIAA.

There are a number of Internet sites that offer free music that's legal to download to your iPod. Accessing these services will prevent law suits against you for illegally acquiring downloads from P2P file sharing networks. Additionally, a number of the file sharing networks will bombard you with popup ads and the files can include a number of viruses and trojans.

The Dilemma

A number of sites like Yahoo Music and iTunes offer music downloads at a per download fee of 99 cents. These sites are certainly legal and will keep you out of trouble with the RIAA. The only drawback about these sites is the songs are coded with DRM and will no longer play on your computer if you discontinue your membership with them. The aforementioned sites are two of the top music download sites available with iTunes being number one.

Another site that's ranked second only to iTunes is eMusic. Their advantage is all their songs are DRM free, in MP3 format and will play on any platform. They offer a monthly subscription which allows a limited number of downloads. But the drawback is they specialize in independent or "indie" music artists. Although you own the music you download, their selection of the major recording labels and music artists is very limited.

The Top Solution

A more economical solution for acquiring unlimited iPod music downloads of the major recording labels without the hassle of per download fees, is to sign up for a membership with one of the numerous iPod music download services. These services typically advertise free music downloads and for all intents and purposes that's true in most cases.

Because, for the most part, they offer a lifetime membership for around $35 to $45 dollars. This one time fee includes unlimited downloads of iPod tunes and the fee is basically to offset administration costs, customer service and to keep their server computers online.

The iPod music download sites typically offer more than just music downloads. Your membership generally includes access to music videos, TV shows, movies, iPod games and cheats, conversion software and other related software. Some require you to download free software you would use to access the music, movies and other downloads. And some offer a rich assortment of incentive software like DVD burners and the Google free software package.

In Summary

The very nominal one time fee required for a lifetime membership is really a no brainer compared to the major sites charging you about a dollar per download. Because, the cost of 35 songs with one of them, would pay for a lifetime membership, with unlimited iPod downloads of not only music but all the aforementioned files. The download speeds are very good, there's no DRM hassle and your tunes continue to play on your computer even if you discontinue your membership. Best of all, you won't get into trouble with the RIAA.

About the Author:
You can find out more about free legal music downloads for iPods at http://quickipoddownloads.ipodsid.com/. Sid Nelson is an avid iPod user and owns a Website with info about iPod music and other media at http://ipodsid.com/ There's also an http://amazon.com/ store featuring iPods, accessories and MP3s.

Amazon MP3 Downloads DRM Free

Amazon MP3 announced they are offering "Earth's biggest selection of a la carte, DRM-free MP3 music downloads"! That's quite a claim considering that Earth is a fairly big place... But, with over 2 million songs, more than 180,000 artists, and over 20,000 major and independent labels they must be at least near the top of online music providers.

Amazon MP3 complements Amazon.com's existing selection of over 1 million CDs to offer more selection of physical and digital music than any other retailer. Every song and album on Amazon MP3 is available exclusively in MP3 format, without Digital Rights Management (DRM) software. This means that Amazon MP3 customers are free to enjoy their music downloads using any hardware device, organize their music using any music management application, and burn songs to CDs.

DRM has been an obstacle to many users who want to purchase their music online, but were cautious of the music player restrictions caused by implementing Digital Rights Management. Amazon has taken a major step to relieve those restrictions. These songs can be played on ANY MP3 compatible device, which basically includes almost ALL music players!

At Amazon MP3 most songs are priced from 89 cents to 99 cents each, with more than 1 million of the 2 million songs priced at 89 cents. The top 100 best-selling songs are 89 cents (unless marked otherwise). Most albums are priced from $5.99 to $9.99. The top 100 best-selling albums are $8.99 or less (unless marked otherwise).

Every song on Amazon MP3 is encoded at 256 kilobits per second, which gives you high audio quality at a manageable file size of approximately 6meg depending on the song length. Songs recorded at 128 kilobits per second are more common and have a file size of around 3-4meg. However, the quality difference between 128 and 256 is substantial for music lovers. With songs encoded at 256 kilobits per second, you can definitely hear the difference in high frequency audio! Sounds made by instruments like cymbals, keyboards, flutes, and others have much more clarity and definition and will push your tweeters to the limit!

This service offering is a win for most music lovers! Low price, quality audio, and a large selection make Amazon MP3 a great choice for downloading music files!

Amazon MP3 Downloads

Consumer Victory over DRM Music Restriction?

EMI has announced a move to non-DRM Music format. The first big music label change to freely transferable digital music may set a new trend and benefit consumers! EMI has agreed to provide online music download through iTunes without the use of digital rights management (DRM). If you read our article titled Music Format Frustration you already know that DRM results in compatibility problems using various music players and download providers.

Beginning in May of 2007, EMI will release DRM-free music, encoded for a higher sound quality than current offerings, and selling on iTunes for $1.29 per track in the U.S.

Read the full article

The most universally accepted music format is currently MP3. Apple will offer DRM-free music from EMI in 256-Kbp AAC encoding, which has higher sound quality than current downloads using 128-Kbp AAC encoding with DRM. This can somewhat justify the expected higher price per download.

Unfortunately for iPod users, 256K file sizes will be nearly twice the size of current 128K AAC files with DRM, which will use up valuable storage capacity. But, the trade off is that you will be getting higher quality sound! With iTunes accounting for roughly 70% of legal paid digital music downloads, AAC may even become a future standard for DRM-free music.

Currently, it's estimated that about 10% of digital-audio players support AAC. If you have a player that doesn't support AAC, you will probably need to obtain firmware patches for your music player to achieve compatibility. Firmware patches are simply software downloads which update your player. Usually, they are provided free of charge by Manufacturers.

"The Good, The Bad & The Queen" is the first EMI album available for download in DRM-free MP3 format. You can download it directly from http://www.thegoodthebadandthequeen.com/

At this point, it's too early to determine if other music providers will follow the lead of EMI in removing the DRM requirement. Addressing DRM incompatibilities is one step in a positive direction for consumers wanting to legally download music, while still enjoying the flexibility to use whichever music software or music player they prefer!!