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The best music download sites | This is Money
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The internet has transformed the way many of us listen to music: here are some of the best places to listen to and download music online
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The best music download sites
Adrian Thrills, Daily Mail8 September 2006
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Guide
The internet has transformed the way many of us listen to music. With singles such as Gnarls Barkley's Crazy topping the charts on their digital sales alone, and new sites emerging all the time, here are some of the best places to listen to and download music online.
STILL THE DADDY: iTunes still leads the pack, but its rivals are catching up
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iTunes
www.apple.com/uk/itunes
BEST FOR: With three million songs to choose from, there's something for everyone.
BACKGROUND: Launched in April 2003 and now Britain's biggest digital pop shop, Apple's iTunes music store is backed by all the major record labels and many independents. Of the 27 million tracks legally downloaded in the UK last year, an estimated 80 per cent came via iTunes.
But despite plans to start offering movie downloads, too, iTunes seems likely to come under increasing pressure from rivals hungry for a slice of Apple's digital pie.
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PRICE: Individual tracks at 79p each. Most albums at £7.99. Occasional special offers, one of the most notable being a 'digital boxed set' of every Bob Dylan album (almost 800 songs) - a snip at £169.99.
PROS: Stylish presentation, ease of use and compatibility with the iPod. Simple pricing structure, which Apple claims eliminates the 'hassle' of rival subscription services. Easily-assembled personal playlists are another attraction.
CONS: iPods don't come cheap, and some trend-forecasters are already claiming they are beginning to lose a little of their fashionable lustre. And while iTunes can be downloaded on to computers other than AppleMacs, the ubiquitous iPod remains the only truly compatible portable player.
VERDICT: Still the download daddy - but for how long? *****
Napster
www.napster.co.uk
BEST FOR: Mainstream pop fans with an eye for diversity.
BACKGROUND: The original download bad boy of the late Nineties. Napster was forced to close down in 2002 after legal action by record labels which didn't like seeing their music distributed free of charge. This was despite evidence that sales of a Radiohead album, 2000's Kid A, were actually boosted after it was illegally leaked on to the site.
Now re-launched as a commercial service, Napster is again enjoying substantial success.
PRICE: Single tracks at 79p. Subscriptions of £9.95 per month for downloading an unlimited number of songs on to a%. A higher-grade 'Napster To Go' rate of £14.95 allows transfer on to a portable music player.
PROS: A library of two million songs plus access to live sessions, band interviews and dozens of radio stations. Monthly subscription is ideal for heavy users. CONS: As with most non-iTunes sites, an incompatibility with the iPod.
VERDICT: Thriving poacher turned gamekeeper. ****
MySpace
www.myspace.com
BEST FOR: The bored teenager inside us all.
BACKGROUND: The social networking site that gave us Arctic Monkeys and Lily Allen is the best place for finding out about hot new bands.
MySpace offers musicians the chance to post their songs online for listening purposes. Many of its mind-boggling three million bands have gone further, however, and also allow fans to download material free for a limited period.
For its part, MySpace this week announced that it will soon be allowing artists to bypass record labels completely by selling their music on its site. The bands will decide on the price; MySpace will take a cut of the proceeds.
PRICE: Free - for now.
PROS: An exhaustive global guide to new music. Great vehicle for upandcoming British acts, such as The Klaxons, Fields and Jack Pen"te, to stimulate early interest in their careers. CONS: Can be addictive for teens who should be doing their homework.
VERDICT: Already integral to the British pop scene. ****
SpiralFrog
www.spiralfrog.com
BEST FOR: Those hopping mad at having to pay.
BACKGROUND: A new service set to launch in the UK next April, New York-based SpiralFrog has struck deals with Universal and EMI Music Publishing, two of the world's biggest music companies, which could allow it to bring acts such as U2 and the Arctic Monkeys to fans free of charge.
As with 'free lunches', however, there is probably no such thing as a completely free download, and subscribers will pay with their time by sitting through a series of online adverts.
PRICE: Free.
PROS: Will appeal to the millions who deem CDs too expensive.
CONS: The full extent of the music industry's support has yet to be confirmed. Which songs, exactly, will be made available? Are the other major labels, in particular Warner Music and SonyBMG, going to be involved?
Downloaded songs won't play on an iPod and can't be transferred on to CD.
VERDICT: Wait and see.
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eMusic
www.emusic.com
BEST FOR: Dedicated fans of indierock, modern classical and jazz.
BACKGROUND: An eclectic American-based portal, eMusic avoids the major labels to specialise in acts such as Arcade Fire and Forward Russia who don't get much of a look-in on the mainstream sites.
PRICE: A subscription service, it offers 40 songs for £8.99 a month (about 23p per song).
PROS: Compatible with iPods. A library of 1.5m songs.
CONS: Unlikely to feature many chart hits. VERDICT: Excellent site for the true collector. *****
PlayLouder
www.playlouder.com
BEST FOR: Downloaders with attitude.
BACKGROUND: Focusing on the cutting edge of mainstream rock and dance, PlayLouder is currently promoting acts such as Basement Jaxx, Franz Ferdinand and American troubadour M. Ward. From its punky graphics to its anarchic online reviews magazine, it is aimed squarely at a young audience.
PRICE: Individual tracks at 99p, albums at around £8. Occasional free singles club.
PROS: Alternative flavour. Highquality downloads compatible with all players, including iPods.
CONS: At 99p a song, rather expensive. Anarchic humour doesn't come cheap.
VERDICT: Pugnacious style will appeal to some, alienate others. ***
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The online High Street
www.hmvdigital.co.uk; www.virgindigital.co.uk; www.woolworths.co.uk
BEST FOR: The casual browser.
BACKGROUND: Traditional record shops, who stand to lose most from the download boom, now take an 'If you can't beat 'em, join 'em' attitude to the online retailers.
With Virgin and HMV leading the way, the sites tend to be fairly homogenous. The same albums and singles are generally featured, and the rates - both for subscriptions and individual buys - are roughly comparable.
PRICE: HMV and Virgin offer monthly subscriptions at £14.99. Virgin also offers a cheaper rate of £9.99, although this does not allow listeners to transfer music on to a portable player.
With just 300,000 tracks online at 79p a song, Woolworths has a smaller library and no subscription service, but does have a 'bargain bin' of recent chart singles at 59p each.
PROS: In the case of HMV and Virgin, vast stocks of popular material. The HMV site, upgraded a year ago, now offers an in-house 'jukebox' of two million songs, while both HMV and Virgin have a user-friendliness that rivals iTunes.
CONS: Once again, incompatibility with the iPod. That said, things may swing away from Apple and iTunes later this year when rival Microsoft launches its own digital player, the Zune. Dubbed the 'iPod killer' by some, it will be a direct competitor, with the added bonus of being able to connect with computers wirelessly.
An online Microsoft music store seems certain to follow.
VERDICT: An uphill struggle, but the High Street is biting back. ***
Band and label sites
Among others, www.subpop.com; www.ilovegoodbooks.com; www.simplyred.com
BEST FOR: Hard-core fans.
BACKGROUND: An increasing number of bands and independent labels now sell (and even give away) songs on their own websites. Among these are legendary Seattle label Sub Pop, the home of Nineties grunge, which offers free downloads of newer groups and deals on more established acts in a link-up with iTunes.
Rising British band Good-Books made their current single, Turn It Back, available as a free download via their site, while Mick Hucknall set up his own internet label after leaving the giant Warner Music.
PRICE: Varies. Simplyred.com sells individual tracks at 99p.
PROS: A direct link between bands and their fans. Also often compatible with iTunes. CONS: Sometimes pricey and, by their very nature, lacking in variety.
VERDICT: Thriving cottage industries and a pointer, perhaps, to the future. ***
Other stories: Free music site stalls in stand-off with Warner The free download revolution Nokia download store to take a bite out of Apple Do you need download cover? Download a £20 blockbuster First ruling on download pirates Music download price war First music download pirates face court Sgt Pepper is fastest selling download First legal way to download movies Download revolution rolls on Analysis: Music industry faces wake-up calls Why the web is rocking music Music downloads not covered by insurance Buy music from your radio Price cut sparks new online music war Free music won't work on iPods UK music hits high note Grokster ends music swap service Is this the end of cheap mail-order music? Yahoo joins music downloads battle IPod boom is music to retailers' ears Music fans targeted in eBay scam
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MTV to challenge iTunes
Napster squares up to iTunes
New free music from download website Qtrax runs into trouble (January 2008)
READER COMMENTS
Comments so far (6)
1.
1. Spiralfrog is vaporware. It doesn't exist yet and when / if it does launch it will available in the US only to give away 300,000 tracks only. 2. MySpace never gave us Arctic Monkeys. This is a fan site and has wrongly atributed to their rise. The band had built a strong following and one of these fans created the MySpace profile. The 'internet' related story is that to their credit they didn't discourage sharing of their recordings on MP3. 3. You seem to have totally overlooked the second most popular site Wippit. It outsells Virgin, HMV, Tesco and Woolworths combined and its DTO (look it up) subscription service for £50 a year leaves number 3 in the market, Napster standing.
- Ben D, London
Posted: 8 September 2006, 3:07pm
2.
The sound quality on MP3 type players leaves a lot to be desired. I subscribe to iTune and Napster and have tried downloading from them on CDs (via my PC), then play the CD on my hi fi which has much better sound. This is not totally satisfactory. Quite often individual tracks on downloaded PCs "collapse" after several plays. (The only way round it is to slow down the recording process, but I don't want to sit around forever waiting for tracks to download). So I have started buying CDS again but online.
- Hazelmary, London
Posted: 12 October 2006, 2:08pm
3.
I find itunes good but I've found rare music that I've been looking for elsewhere. I find that the choice is quite limited.
- Wendy, London
Posted: 3 August 2007, 7:46pm
4.
Wippit offer a terrible subscription service where they don't tell you it doesn't include most of the songs you'd actually want to download. But don't worry you can still download the popular songs for the special subscriber rate of 99p each. That's right about 20p more than other sites charge anyone. Waste of £50!
- James, Glasgow
Posted: 20 August 2007, 8:36pm
5.
I use Intomusic which gives me hassle free mp3 downloads much cheaper than buying single tracks and tells you exatly what you're getting.
- George, London
Posted: 11 September 2007, 10:46am
6.
I joined itunes which is a really easy site to navigate. Many tunes to chose from at 79p single and around £7.99 per album. That said...the download time at present takes over 3 minutes and rebuffs some 8 to 9 times to listen to a 30 second sample. I have bombarded them with emails to try to sort this out but weeks pass and still no better. Sort this massive problem out and the site for me will be worth sticking with.
- Frank, Lincolnshire
Posted: 28 October 2008, 10:43am
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