# Download music.. Where is best and legal. Willing to pay **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 12, 2003, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/download-music-where-is-best-and-legal-willing-to-pay/212806 "2003-11-12T14:28:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jillsjeeps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/90ced4/32.png) [@jillsjeeps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jillsjeeps)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/download-music-where-is-best-and-legal-willing-to-pay/212806/1 "2003-11-12T14:28:56Z")
I think the subject explains everything. I want to download music. I do not want to get arrested. So I am looking for a good place that I will not get in trouble. I am willing to pay per month, NOT per song. Any help would be great!! Jill ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/download-music-where-is-best-and-legal-willing-to-pay/212806/2 "2003-11-12T15:27:32Z")
- - - Well, uh, [MP3.com](http://MP3.com) wants rtegistration. They have a paid area but I have never tried it, and know nothing about it–but a fair number of first-run artists/songs to turn up there. You can stream all of them, some allow downloading but it not you can stil capture them (Note that the issue with trading music is the people who offer music for _downloading_, not the people who download it–also see “leeching”) * * * Other that, I dunno. But lemme get this straight: you want to be able to pay a small monthly fee, and download as much music as you want?.. ~ ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/download-music-where-is-best-and-legal-willing-to-pay/212806/3 "2003-11-12T15:46:53Z")
Dunno on monthly fees. Maybe “Yea, I wish”? ---
**Author:** ![jillsjeeps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/90ced4/32.png) [@jillsjeeps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jillsjeeps)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/download-music-where-is-best-and-legal-willing-to-pay/212806/4 "2003-11-12T15:50:23Z")
Yes, you are correct. I want to download music. I don’t want to get in trouble. So I know like Napster offers per month like 1.00 or something like that. But I would like to see what you guys say before I sign up. ---
**Author:** ![edwino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@edwino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwino)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/download-music-where-is-best-and-legal-willing-to-pay/212806/5 "2003-11-12T15:52:55Z")
I use [emusic.com](http://emusic.com) (as well as iTunes, but that is per song). Their deal is IIRC 50 free MP3 downloads, followed by $10 a month for 40 MP3s. No DRM, good quality MP3s. Their selection is not huge, but they are affiliated with a few record mostly independent record labels and have their entire catalogs, so you can find hard-to-find and rare stuff. For instance Matador – they have the entire catalog Pavement, Yo La Tengo, Pizzicato 5, Spoon (while they were on Matador), Steven Malkmus, and all the rest. Every single, every EP, every album. [http://www.emusic.com](http://www.emusic.com) ---
**Author:** ![shelbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@shelbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shelbo)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/download-music-where-is-best-and-legal-willing-to-pay/212806/6 "2003-11-12T16:04:19Z")
In the pay per song world, I think iTunes is the best bet. Extremely simple set-up, clean, intuitive interface, lightning fast servers, 500,000 song titles and counting. For a comparison, ask **Chefguy** how he likes Napster! ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/download-music-where-is-best-and-legal-willing-to-pay/212806/7 "2003-11-12T16:58:16Z")
See [The new (legal) music download sites. Which is best?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=221262&highlight=rhapsody) in Cafe Society. Peace. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/download-music-where-is-best-and-legal-willing-to-pay/212806/8 "2003-11-12T17:09:16Z")
So far I’ve tried Napster, Rhapsody and iTunes. Of the three, iTunes is the friendliest and Rhapsody is the cheapest (at .79 per song, BUT you have to pay a monthly $10 fee in addition). Napster and iTunes have no monthly fee. Napster has a monthly $10 fee only if you want to participate in chat, etc. I’ve had no luck downloading music (or, more accurately, successfully burning to disc) and have concluded that I have some sort of hardware compatibility problem. Nobody on SDMB has been able to come up with a solution (which boggles my mind). I was easily able to download the free sites before they became illegal and was able to play the music without problem. But the pay site music, once burned to CD, doesn’t play without some serious _fft, fft, fft, fft_ noise on the disc in the higher ranges. Also, be aware of the following: after doing the “free trial” with Rhapsody (they ask you for a credit card no.) and finding out the music wouldn’t play, I cancelled the service. After trying to delete the files from my computer, it developed a bug that I had a hell of a time getting rid of. Could have been coincidental, but who needs problems? Whichever site you choose, download a couple of songs and try it on your stereo _before_ you pay for a bunch of music you can’t use. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/download-music-where-is-best-and-legal-willing-to-pay/212806/9 "2003-11-12T17:47:11Z")
Napster has a “Premium Service” for $10/month. All the free downloads you want, you only pay the $1/song if you want to burn it to a CD or put it on an MP3 player. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Zagna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@El\_Zagna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Zagna)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/download-music-where-is-best-and-legal-willing-to-pay/212806/10 "2003-11-12T17:55:51Z")
Huh? How do they know what someone will do with it once it’s downloaded? Are the subscribers on the honor system? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/download-music-where-is-best-and-legal-willing-to-pay/212806/11 "2003-11-12T18:37:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diceman \* > \*\*Napster has a “Premium Service” for $10/month. All the free downloads you want, you only pay the $1/song if you want to burn it to a CD or put it on an MP3 player. \*\* Are you sure you have that right? Perhaps they will let you stream the audio for $10 a month, but once it’s downloaded, what’s to prevent you from burning it? Unless it’s in a proprietary format. Even so, someone will eventually come up with a way to beat it. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/download-music-where-is-best-and-legal-willing-to-pay/212806/12 "2003-11-17T06:56:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bnorton \* > \*\*Huh? How do they know what someone will do with it once it’s downloaded? Are the subscribers on the honor system? \*\* As much as when you buy a CD album. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/download-music-where-is-best-and-legal-willing-to-pay/212806/13 "2003-11-17T07:57:13Z")
Since this has been discussed recently in the Cafe Society thread linked to above, I’ll close this thread and direct further comment to the other one. bibliophage moderator GQ