Since the advent of music download sites such as Limewire, Napster and Kazaa, along with the rising popularity of MP3 players from iPod and other companies, people have been moving away from purchasing CDs from stores and more to downloading music for use. There are several reasons for this, including people just wanting particular songs, thinking the price of a whole CD is too expensive and wanting music for free. A crackdown on free music downloads a few years ago has lead to people now searching for legal music downloads.

Legal music downloads came about because of several musicians pleading with the government that they owned their music, and it therefore should not be available for free downloading through shareware like Napster, which was the largest downloading site at the time. The government then decided that this would be illegal, and made it possible for companies to provide legal music downloads for a small fee, as long as it was not free or through shareware.

Sites began popping up online, with the most popular being iTunes with is associated with Apple and iPod. Even Napster tried to jump on the new bandwagon, providing legal music downloads for a monthly subscription fee. iTunes became increasingly popular mainly because they provided legal music downloads for a very nominal fee of ninety-nine cents per song. One didn’t have to purchase a costly monthly subscription if they just wanted one or two songs, and it was convenient to do. Now, there are hundreds of sites that offer legal music downloads ranging from small start up companies to Yahoo and iTunes. Each has their own method of payment and amount allowed for downloading.

In addition, there are a handful of international sites that are offering legal music downloads. The most popular and widespread are located in Russia. They are under much scrutiny as they offer songs for as little as five cents each, and the music companies and artists are not very fond of music being sold for that little. Since these companies are located in other countries, it has been difficult to crack down on them because other countries do not fully recognize intellectual property laws like the United States.

In conclusion, there are several ways to find legal music downloads. To play it safe, go through reputable and well known sites such as Itunes or Yahoo. You can take a risk and download your music through one of the international sites that currently offer legal music downloads, but you run the chance of a government crackdown or glitches in the site that may or may not allow you to fully download the music you pay for.

Unlimited MP3 Music Downloads

Tags: , , , ,