Music Download Subscriptions

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Do the terms DRM, AAC, MP3 and bitrate leave you completely confused? Here's a quick guide to all the technical jargon. Learn more

what is a subscription service?

With a subscription service, you pay a monthly fee (usually around $5-$10). In return, you get access to the site's entire music catalog (usually 1-3 million songs).

You can play these songs on your computer as often as you wish, but you cannot burn these songs to a CD.

For an additional fee (usually a few dollars more a month), you can also download all the songs you want to a portable music player. Compatible players include the Rhapsody Sansa and the Creative Zen Vision:M, but if you're an iPod user, you're out of luck. Subscription services won't work with an iPod.

Here's the catch...if you cancel your subscription, all the songs you downloaded to your computer and/or portable music player will disappear and will no longer play. If there are songs you want to keep forever (even if you cancel your subscription), you can buy them for around $.79-$.99 each. Unlike the subscription-accessed songs, purchased songs can be burned to CDs.

You'll also need to make sure you sync your portable device with your service every month, or the licenses on your songs will expire and you'll end up with a bunch of unplayable music on your MP3 player.

will a subscription service work with my portable player?

If you own an iPod... you're out of luck. There are no subscription services that are compatible with an iPod.

If you own a Zune... you can only get a subscription service from one place - the Zune Marketplace

If you own another player... like the Sansa Rhapsody or the Creative ZEN Vision:M or any other player, you'll need to check for compatibility. Rhapsody and Napster each have a list of compatible players on their websites.

If you only want to play your subscription music on your PC and not on a portable player... you can use any of the sites listed on this page.

Mac or Linux users... Most subscription services won't work with a Mac or Linux. One exception is Rhapsody.

music download subscriptions

	Rhapsody $14.99 per month gives you unlimited rental access to over 4 million songs which you can play on your computer or a compatible portable player like the Sansa Rhapsody by SanDisk (iPods aren't compatible with any subscription services). You can use your subscription on 3 computers and 3 portable devices. Rhapsody is the only subscription service that lets you share full-length tracks (25 per month) with anyone, including non-subscribers. Monthly subscribers also have the option of purchasing downloads at a 10% discounted rate, but most of the tracks they sell have DRM. You'd do better to purchase DRM-free MP3s from another store.
	Napster Napster's subscription rental system operates much in the same way as Rhapsody and has a similar pricing system. If you sign up for one year, you get a free 1GB Creative Zen V MP3 player ($59.99 value). You can use your subscription on 3 computers and 3 portable devices. With over 5 million songs, Napster's music library is larger than Rhapsody's 4 million song catalog. As with Rhapsody, if you decide to purchase a track, it'll have DRM on it, so you'll probably want to go elsewhere to purchase DRM-free MP3s.
	Zune Marketplace This subscription service only works with Microsoft's Zune players. One big plus- if you choose to purchase downloads from them, their 3 million song collection includes 1 million DRM-free MP3s.