The market for downloads has grown as the popularity of MP3 players has rapidly expanded in the past few years. The best known place to download is ITunes , with around 70% of the market, with Napster.com a close second. On both sites you can download singles and albums, with prices starting at 79pence to £7 respectively.
Emusic.com provides downloads from independent labels and comes with a free trial where you can download 25 songs before cancelling your membership. The site doesn’t have as many mainstream or chart artists but is deemed to be a great alternative to CDs.
Prices between different sites don’t vary too much – it is the special deals and offers of credits for bulk-buying which differentiate from one site from another. A number of charities have also set up download sites, WarChildMusic and bignoisemusic, which is affiliated to Oxfam, with a percentage of each sale being given to charity.
Other sites:
Canadian website offering unlimited free downloads
Offers hundreds of free downloads from a range of well known and unknown artists with the aim of incentivising people to buy the full CD
Free downloads once the software is installed but cannot be transferred to an iPod
Free trial allowing users 50 free tracks which they can keep even if they cancel their trial
Free downloads of independent and unsigned bands – good if you want to expand your musical tastes
Unlimited access to music downloads with prices similiar to iTunes
Aims to be the world’s biggest social music platform with music and videos from well known and unsigned bands available to download
100% free music download site
Allows users to download music from unknown bands for free
Combination of internet access and music downloads – albums are priced by the number of songs with a maximum of £7.99. Also offers a monthly rate combining downloads and broadband services in one. Claims to be the worlds first "Music Service Provider".
Free downloads of mainly unsigned bands but a number of more well known artists are also affiliated
Canadian music website mainly featuring unsigned artists
