Downloading music limitations

[cazzer_1]

I want to download mp3s legally but am concerned about all the small print. Some sites seem to only allow u a limited amount of plays, others you can only play on 2-3 computers, some only allow certain number of burns to a CD. Is there a website that lists all of the sites that you can purchase songs from (I want to buy songs individually) with a comparison table of prices, and all of these other factors? Or can someone give me a quick run down? And can u play songs from iTunes in winamp? I'm new to this and concerned about getting caught out by factors I'm not expecting! Thanks!

[WoWo]

I don't know about all of them but heres my thoughts on the main 2.

iTunes is simply a case of you purchase the track for 79p, and you can do pretty much what you like with it in terms of moving around computers copy onto CD or onto an iPod/MP3 player.

Napster can work either as a full download service like iTunes where you pay for the track and it's yours to do as you like. Or you can pay �10 a month which lets you download as much as you like but only plays those on 3 different computers. For �15 you can then copy onto an MP3 player also but there are only a limited number of players that are supported (and iPods aren't one of them). If you decide that after a while you don't want to pay �10 a month then all the music you have downloaded will no longer play.

There are various other services but they all fall into one or 2 of the above categories.

Personally I'm on Napster and it does me fine.

[cazzer_1]

Thanks Wowo, don't like the sound of Napster! Wouldn't like all my music to stop working because I decide not to buy any more! But it may suit some. iTunes don't do mp3s tho, do they? I think I read that they are wmv.s or something. No good if they won't play on an ipod. Are there any more sites about?

[fo3nix]

iTunes Music Store sells aac's. This is an open standard, but it seems that the only popular portable player that supports it is the iPod.

With iTMS you can only use the music on 5 machines. As far as I know, almost all of the legal online stores do something like this (like Microsoft's Digital Rights Management in their wma's.)

This is why I won't buy online. I want something I can do whatever I want with. If i've paid for it, i'm not going to be restricted to using it. Until the record industry realised this, there are going to be many, many people downloading illegally.

I just buy the CD if I like it then rip it.

[WoWo]

In fact it's Napster that has WMA's and iTunes use AAC so neither actually have MP3.

The thing with Napster is that you can if you know what your doing (a 2 second search on google) get around the copy protection and therefore keep the tracks and do whatever you like with them.

I'm not saying you should do this and you would be on iffy ground with regards to the law. Having said that check out this site which disusses the legality of such things.

http://www.tunebite.com/