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Here is a list of the very best places to listen to music online, free and legally.
Also the very best places to download mp3 music tracks or albums legally. This is also
a review of some not so good music sites.
To customize the links on this page enter the name of the music artist
you are looking for and
click on the Go button:
| Point System |
|---|
I will rank the value or quality of each item
with a point from 0(worst) to 10(best).
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|
| Key |
|---|
DRM Offers Digital Rights Management Downloads
DRM-FREE Offers DRM-Free Downloads
 Offers Videos
 Offers Radio Stations
 Preview Full Audio Songs
 Preview 30 second audio clips
 Offers Personal Playlists
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Sites to Download Music Legally
rhapsody.com vs amazon.com vs. mp3.walmart.com vs
lala.com review vs qtrax.com vs itunes.com vs dada.net vs
ruckus.com vs ez-tracks.com vs emusic.com vs mp3fiesta.com vs
last.fm vs Yahoo Music Launchcast vs pandora.com vs imeem.com vs
deezer.com
| 1 |
Amazon -
http://www.amazon.com
DRM-FREE
You can listen to 30 second track clips at amazon for free and buy
single MP3 tracks for $0.99 to $1.29 and some are free!
Mp3 Albums are $14.99 or less.
Buy , , , , , , ,
, , , , readio, , , , ,
, , , , , , fiesta, ,
lala, , vs, , , s music at Amazon
|
|
| Audio Quality |
| 220 to 256 kbps MP3 |
|
| 2 |
iTunes - http://www.apple.com/itunes/
DRM-FREE
You can listen to 30 second track clips at iTunes.
The price
is $0.99 to $1.29 per song. Web albums are from $9.99 to $14.99.
The quality used to be 128 kbps AAC format, not the popular MP3 format. Now the quality
is 256 kbps AAC.
|
|
| Audio Quality |
| 256 kbps AAC |
|
| 3 |
Walmart -
http://www.walmart.com/cp/music/4104
DRM-FREE
You can listen to 30 second track clips at Walmart for free. As of 2011 you can no
longer download MP3 music from Walmart.com. But you can purchase actual audio CD albums
for $9.00 to $20.00.
Purchase , , , , , , ,
, , , , readio, , , , ,
, , , , , , fiesta, ,
lala, , vs, , , s Audio CD Albums at Walmart.com
|
|
| Audio Quality |
| 256 kbps MP3 |
|
| 10 |
Mp3 Fiesta -
http://www.mp3fiesta.com
DRM-FREE
You can listen to 30 second previews.
Then you can download full 192 kbps mp3 songs
for .20 cents or albums for $2.00. However,
here is the problem: The site and others that
offer songs this cheap are in Russia. They have
different copyright laws in Russia. But from what
different people on the web are saying it looks
like when you download a song from these websites
the original artists do not receive any royalty fees.
So do not use these sites.
|
|
| Audio Quality |
| 192 kbps MP3 |
|
Sites for just listening to music or watching music videos
| 2 |
Pandora -
http://www.pandora.com/
It is nice to search for an artist and listen to a radio station
based on them. Pandora now does a better job than last.fm of playing
the actual artist I want to listen to. But if I search for a particular
song it only lets me play a 30 second clip.
|
| Streaming Audio Quality |
| 64 kbps MP4 AAC |
|
| Streaming Video Quality |
| N/A |
|
| 3 |
last.fm -
http://www.last.fm
Great place to search for popular music artists songs
and listen to them. It also gives options to
purchase the music from iTunes, Amazon and eBay.
It also includes music videos. Update: I am disappointed
with last.fm. It used to play the artist I typed in.
Now I mainly get similar artists. I wanted to listen
to The Beatles, but I kept getting Rolling Stones and The Who!
Listen to , , , , , , ,
, , , , readio, , , , ,
, , , , , , fiesta, ,
lala, , vs, , , s music at last.fm
Watch , , , , , , ,
, , , , readio, , , , ,
, , , , , , fiesta, ,
lala, , vs, , , s videos at last.fm
|
| Streaming Audio Quality |
| 128 kbps MP3 |
|
| Streaming Video Quality |
| 256kbps FLV (audio: 128kbps) 320x240 (24fps) |
|
| 7 |
imeem -
http://www.imeem.com/
I don't know if I recommend this site. It is confusing to use.
When I try to play a song the website code has an error and it
sometimes says that I need to "Download flash" even though I
already have it. It worked better with Firefox 3. Here you
can find music from the original artists, but usually it is
not the radio version or album version of these songs, but
alternate versions. Kind of cool. The songs are uploaded
by users, which would seem like it is illegal, but recently
the major record labels said it was legal.
See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imeem#Copyright.
Finding out how to do a playlist is difficult.
Listen to , , , , , , ,
, , , , readio, , , , ,
, , , , , , fiesta, ,
lala, , vs, , , s music at imeem.com
Watch , , , , , , ,
, , , , readio, , , , ,
, , , , , , fiesta, ,
lala, , vs, , , s videos at imeem.com
|
| Streaming Audio Quality |
| 128 kbps FLV (MP3) |
|
| Streaming Video Quality |
| 700 kbps FLV(audio: 96) 320x240 to 640x480 (30fps) |
|
| 8 |
Deezer -
http://www.deezer.com/
Pros: At deezer you can search for an artist and play
most of their songs. When you start the player it
actually plays in the background without an extra
window and you can keep searching for other things
while the music plays. The sound quality is good.
It has buttons to download the song from iTunes or Amazon.
Cons: It displays all the songs from the artist, but
sometimes it says the song is not available to play.
Update: Some of the songs that it said it could not
play it would play if I added them to a playlist.
To create a playlist I had to sign up.
It has a lot of music videos, but the quality is low on the videos.
Listen to , , , , , , ,
, , , , readio, , , , ,
, , , , , , fiesta, ,
lala, , vs, , , s music at deezer.com
|
| Streaming Audio Quality |
| 128 kbps |
|
| Streaming Video Quality |
| Videos from youtube 200kbps(audio: 64) 320x240 |
|
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DRM-FREE