I have a problem paying for music. Well, I shouldn’t say that I have a problem pay for music, so much as I have a problem when the prices are not set by the artists, while big business just sits there profiteering. With that in mind, I have compiled a list of what I think are the top five places to get music, some are free, some cost money, but all are fair and each are very helpful!
1) Pandora: Pandora is bar-none my favorite playlist sight to use. You either type in the artist, song title, or genre you want to hear and it organizes a station with your preferences. The best part is you can have as many stations as you want. Pandora also gives you the option to “like” a song or artist on a particular station and will then play more of the artist or sound. The frustrating aspect of using this sight is if you type in a song name, it won’t play the song first, just stuff similar to it which can be annoying when you really want to hear a song!
2) LastFM: This is a very new (I believe) and very cool sight. LastFM will sync directly with your iTunes and then play and recommend songs based on your preferences. It even takes into account what music you most play! It also has access to radio directly as well as information about upcoming concerts based on your preferences. It is a little temperamental and can stop to buffer a lot, but it is still a very cool idea.
3) iTunes: iTunes is the one program that is always running on my computer. Building your own playlists which can then directly be burned to CD as well as automatically synced to iPod is a great feature. However, the fixed prices for music are bogus, as the artist her/himself should be able to determine the price. That is probably the only reason I shy away from using it to purchase music.
4) Rhapsody: I credit my knowledge of rhapsody to Oakland University. I don’t remember exactly how it worked, but all OU students got a free rhapsody account so I decided to give it a try. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. While they offer a huge music selection, comparable probably only to iTunes, because of the way the music is formatted it is only compatible with rhapsody; thus the files cannot be moved, or burned to disc.
5) AmazonMP3: Amazon overall is one of my favorite websites because you can find everything you could ever need at insanely low prices! Now that they have an MP3 component, its stock continues to rise in my book. The files come compatible for any device so they can be moved directly to iPod, blackberry, etc. While I may be impressed with that aspect, there is no playlist building option so that will deter my usage.