Online music store

An online music store is an Internet service that sells audio, usually primarily music, on a per-song and/or subscription basis. The realization of the market for these services grew widespread around the time of Napster, a music and file sharing service created by Shawn Fanning that made a major impact on the Internet scene during the year 2000. Some services have tethered downloads, meaning that playing songs requires an active membership.

Compared to file swapping

Much controversy surrounds this issue, so many or perhaps all of these points are disputed.

Advantages

• More respectful to copyright law as interpreted by groups like the RIAA.
  • Decreases chances of legal disadvantages.
  • Avoids some social stigmas and moral regrets that some people have.
  • Arguably promotes creation of music.
• More consistent and higher quality meta-data, because the entering of the meta-data is more centralized and done by groups with financial interests.
• Companies sometimes feel more accountable to users than other users.
• Higher audio quality for similar reasons as meta-data.

Disadvantages

• Decreased selection, because of more attention paid to copyright concerns.
• Increased price.
  • Some file swapping advocates claim that music stores charge an infinite number of times more because of division by zero complications.
  • Notably Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs claimed in his introduction of the iTunes Music Store that file swappers get paid less than minimum wage for the work required to download audio.
• Digital Rights Management sometimes irritates consumers. The restrictions vary with the service sometimes within songs of a service.
• Doesn't support record labels. Criticisms of record labels include overpricing, monopolies, and lack of support for artists.

Stores

Along with those mentioned, companies like Microsoft, Wal-Mart, and Coca-Cola have plans for paid services as well.

Audible.com

iTunes Music Store

See iTunes Music Store.

• Pricing: Cost to download: all songs cost 99 cents, most albums cost $9.99
• Platform(s): Mac OS X (not Mac OS Classic), Windows 2000 and Windows XP
• Downloading: Yes
• Burning/Copying: Yes
• Streaming: No
• Radio: Yes, built into iTunes
• Format(s): AAC/MPEG-4
• Digital Rights Management: Up to 5 computers, unlimited CDs (7 with an unchanged playlist), [recently updated from 3 computers, unlimited CDs (10 with an unchanged playlist)] unlimited iPods
• Preview: 30 seconds
• Trial: N/A
• Catalog: 700,000+ songs; includes audio books
• Features: Allowance, gift certificates

Rhapsody (aka Listen.com)

See Rhapsody.

• Pricing: Subscription
• Platform(s): Windows 98 and later
• Downloading: Extra cost
• Burning/Copying: Extra cost
• Streaming: Unlimited with All Access Plan
• Radio: Unlimited
• Format(s): Windows Media (proprietary)
• Digital Rights Management:
• Preview: 30 seconds
• Trial: 7 days
• Catalog: 20,000 albums; 9,000 artists
• Features:

AllOfMP3.com

See AllOfMP3.com.

• Pricing: By traffic - 10 US dollar for 1 gigabyte
• Platform(s): any (Microsoft Windows for AllOfMP3.com Explorer utility)
• Downloading: Unlimited
• Burning/Copying: Unlimited
• Streaming: Samples
• Radio: No
• Format(s): MP3, Ogg Vorbis, Windows Media, MPEG-4, MPC, various EMusic.

• Pricing: Subscription
• Platform(s): Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, Linux
• Downloading: Unlimited
• Burning/Copying: Unlimited
• Streaming: No
• Radio: No
• Format(s): MP3
• Digital Rights Management: No, impossible with MP3
• Preview: 30 seconds
• Trial: 50 MP3s
• Catalog: 250,000 songs
• Features:

MusicNet

See Microsoft Windows with AOL

• Downloading: Yes, tethered
• Burning/Copying: Premium Plan only
• Streaming: Yes
• Radio: No
• Format(s):
• Digital Rights Management: Yes
• Preview: 30 seconds
• Trial: 30 days with AOL sign-up
• Catalog: 250,000 songs
• Features:

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BuyMusic

See BuyMusic.

• Pricing: Cost per download: 79 cents-$1.29 per song
• Platform(s): Windows 98 and later
• Downloading: Yes
• Burning/Copying: Yes
• Streaming: No
• Radio: No
• Format(s): Windows Media
• Digital Rights Management: Yes
• Preview: 30 seconds
• Trial: N/A
• Catalog: 304,000 songs
• Features:

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pressplay

See pressplay. pressplay has rights to the name Napster, despite costing money.

• Pricing: Subscription
• Platform(s): Windows 2000, Windows XP
• Downloading: Unlimited tethered, extra cost for non-tethered
• Burning/Copying: Extra cost
• Streaming: Unlimited
• Radio: Unlimited
• Format(s): Windows Media
• Digital Rights Management: Yes
• Preview: 30 seconds
• Trial: 3 days
• Catalog: 300,000 songs
• Features:

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Musicmatch Downloads (aka Dell Music Store)

See Windows 98 and later, Mac OS

• Downloading: No
• Burning/Coping: No
• Streaming: Platinum Plan only
• Radio: Unlimited
• Format(s): MP3.com.

• Pricing:
• Platform(s):
• Downloading:
• Burning/Coping:
• Streaming:
• Radio:
• Format(s):
• Digital Rights Management:
• Preview:
• Trial:
• Catalog:
• Features:

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Pricing

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Per-song

• BuyMusic
• iTunes Music Store
• Musicmatch Downloads (aka Dell Music Store)

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By volume

• AllOfMP3.com

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Subscription

• EMusic
• MusicNet
• pressplay (which has rights to the name Napster, despite costing money)
• Rhapsody (aka Listen.com)

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Platform

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Linux

• EMusic

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Macintosh

• EMusic
• iTunes Music Store - Mac OS X, not Mac OS Classic
• Musicmatch Downloads (aka Dell Music Store)

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Windows

• BuyMusic - Windows 98 and later
• EMusic
• iTunes Music Store
• Musicmatch Downloads (aka Dell Music Store) - Windows 98 and later
• MusicNet - with AOL
• pressplay (which has rights to the name Napster, despite costing money) - Windows 2000 and Windows XP
• Rhapsody (aka Listen.com) - Windows 98 and later

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