Okay, it is time for me to finally say good bye to my portable disc player, and join the On-line and portable music revolution. Okay, the revolution isn’t so new any more, nor is my computer, but as I wade through the sea of choices for how to download music, listen to and buy On-line tracks, I grow more eager to get my feet wet and eventually suit up to take the plunge. But I happen to be a bit more practical than that. So, I have spent a considerable amount of time over the last few weeks trying to determine what’s perfect for my lifestyle, my wallet and my computer.
1st thing I realized when searching all of the music services is that things seemed to work a lot smoother with a cable connection (and most services seem to point that out from the get go). Just like my CD Walkman, the time had come for me to lose my ancient dial-up connection to the On-line experience. It actually turned out to work in my favor as my cable company gave me a good deal on high-speed, and also threw in a discount on my existing costs for cable television.
Now that I has been “connected” at an acceptable speed to the World Wide Web, I had to determine, what I has been trying to get out of the On-line music experience. After some intense melodious soul searching, I realized that the only thing the separated me from the perpetually hip is perhaps the types of music I has been searching for, and the amount of time I wanted to invest On-line searching for music.
The guy who sits next to me has a 60 GB iPod, and is complaining that it is al most full. That is over seven thousand songs. I don’t know that I would even live long enough to listen to that a lot of songs. My needs were easy r. I had an MP3 player still in the box from two Christmas’ ago, and it promised to hold over 500 songs. That would be perfect for me, at least in the short term.
Next, what has been I looking for in my new On-line music experience? Did I want to listen to music on my computer, in my car or on my MP3 player? Yes to all three. Did I want to listen to the radio while I has been on my computer? Again, yes. Did I want to trade music with others On-line in a peer-to-peer Napster- like environment? Eh, that one scared me a little, and I decided that opening up my files to strangers made me feel dirt, so I put that one on hold.
My next stop in determining how I would “music On-line ” has been price. I searched dozens of websites and services, but narrowed my sights to three of the large guys: AOL Music Now, iTunes and Rhapsody Music Service ( offer d by Real Networks).
I already had AOL, so I signed up for their Music Now product for $8.99/month ( that’s in addition to their monthly fee as an ISP). I has been able to download songs, listen to them while “offline” and burn them to CD or move them over to my MP3 player for an additional fee per song. That seemed to be standard across most of the services. Music Now has been a follow up to the original AOL Music Net, which I actually like d better because it ran local/regional ly on machine and the new Web-based Music Now takes much longer. AOL also has a partnership with iTunes, so you may be on AOL, but iTunes will launch and then you are actually in the iTunes application. It’s confusing. If I want to move my downloaded songs to my MP3 player, the monthly fee jumps to $14.95 per month, and if I want to put them on a CD, I pay and additional 99 cents per track. This is too much resources for me. I typically buy one or two CD ’s a month, and that would be cheaper than this On-line service. Not to mention you’ve to be an existing AOL member (more resources per month) in order to even use the product. I am passing on AOL Music Now.
On to iTunes. Okay, so there is no monthly fee for iTunes. Love that. And I may purchase songs for 99 cents per track. Love that too. But wait. I don’t have an iPod, and iTunes has songs in their proprietary MP4 format. Ugh. The cheapest iPod out there is around $99 (so much for no monthly fee), and it is not the model I would select. I like my MP3 player. If I already had an iPod, this may be the route I would go, but Apple tends be exceedingly inflexible, and I hate to be tied to one offer r, player and format. There’s also a limit to how you may share the songs on your home network. I feel like even though I own the song, I am being watched on what I do with it. Good bye large brother.
Rhapsody Music Service from Real Networks. So far they are the least expensive. $9.99 per month and that’s with unlimited access to over 1.3 million songs. I do have to have pay the additional 99 cent fee if I want to burn to CD or transfer to my MP3, but that’s the industry standard for paying the artist s, and the monthly fee is five dollars less per month than AOL. The music comes over in the more expansive ly support ed MP3 format and the songs are mine to rip transfer or share with my other Computers on my home network. like the other two, I may listen to live radio on my computer, but I like the freedom I get with Rhapsody Music Service. I am not being watched, and the music is mine.
Now that I know how to download music and have chosen Rhapsody Music Service, I am on my way to joining the new world of portable digital music. I have already burned a few CD ’s for my car, albeit with an older man’s twist on today ’s favorite s, and transferred those same songs over to my little antiquated MP3 player for those long weekend walks.
Using the Internet to find music you like to listen to and build your music collection in any style of music is an easy and affordable way to add to your music library as you may quickly burn your own CD ’s or download mp3’s to your iPod or other music player. It’s also a wonderful way to find out about current and new artist s, new album and single releases, get free lyrics and find free music downloads. The popular free iTunes software and music library allows you to create your own music library, find television shows, podcasts and get free music downloads and for only $0.99 a song download you can’t really go wrong. Plus there are a lot of websites On-line where you may find free music videos and mp3 downloads like YouTube, MySpace, Rawkus, CD Baby, Soundclick and so a lot of others.
What does this mean for the future of music? With the everyday consumer buying on average 2 new music albums a month this may have an effect on the music industry but most shops like Virgin, HMV and other well known music retail shops also have On-line websites which offer even more discounts and occasionally a music community so the music lovers using the Internet may only improve music sales.
The Internet is also a good place for independent artists in the absence of a major record label to upload and encourage their music. There are a lot of independent music websites where you may create your own profile, update listeners with your news and even sell your own music. The royalty companies like ASCAP, PRS, Harry Fox and BMI also have Internet music licenses you may get so that you receive royalties and commissions for all music plays on Internet radio stations, and for any music downloads and mp3 or CD sales.
You may even make your own music by buying and downloading music production and creation software you find On-line to your computer or laptop and if you’ve a good sound card and microphone you may make and record your own music and beats exceedingly easily. In fact, you may find hundreds of free loops and backing tracks you may download and even license for commercial use making it easy for the music producer and songwriter to make their personal music.
And if you want to learn about music, study an instrument or get advice on the music industry you may do a search on the Internet and find so much free and useful information in articles and on music websites and blogs.
Does this take away the traditional way of making and playing music for the artist? Some think so but you may look at it like this; the Internet has opened up the whole globe to us and you may make good music contacts from all over the world and build your own world expansive fan base just by promoting your music On-line. Music you may never have even heard of has become quickly available and the whole music scene and industry has benefited and grown because of Internet and satellite communications.
You may see then that using the Internet connects music lovers around the world and Cyber Technology has made it easier for the songwriter and artist to create and record their personal music. Plus it opens doors for the independent music artist and also expands exposure for major record label artists so that they may build their fan base and sell more of their music.
