Music download site reviews: Features explained
Some sites allow you to stream music
File formats
The type of music files offered by music download sites varies. It’s important to note which file format you are buying, as some file formats won't play with all MP3 players.
The Apple iTunes store for example, uses the AAC file format, which will only work on Apple iPods. Many of iTunes' rivals tend to make their music available as Microsoft’s proprietary Windows Media Audio (WMA) format, which is more versatile and will play on most players.
Read the guide to .
The two classical sites and Wippit offer music in MP3 format, which is compatible with most players.
Digital rights management
Most digital music is protected by digital rights management (DRM) to stop other people from infringing its copyright. When you buy music you're paying for the right to listen to it, you don't own the music itself. It remains the intellectual property of the writer, artist and record company.
DRM is how the music industry seeks to protect its investment. DRM technology restricts what you can do with the song. This means that you can only copy a downloaded song a certain amount of times, you’re also restricted by how many times you can transfer it to a digital music player.
Bit rates
Music quality can vary from site to site. When music is in a digital format, the bit rate (amount of information per second) affects the quality of the track. A bit rate of 128Kbps is generally expected to be the lowest acceptable bit rate you can have without affecting quality.
Streaming
Some websites offer the option to stream music. This means that rather than downloading individual songs to your desktop computer or laptop, you listen to music while still connected to the internet. This is similar to paying to listen to a radio station where you choose the music.
For more, read our guide to the music streaming service Spotify, or check out our guide to online radio.
