Unless you’re a vinyl connoisseur, odds are your physical music collection is pretty sparse. And unless you’ve managed to keep your iPod from giving up the ghost, you probably aren’t exactly swimming in MP3s either. Thankfully music streaming services, for better or worse, have managed to fill that gap, putting a virtually limitless supply of music at your fingertips.
While this may sound a bit oppressive, subscribing to a streaming service is a convenient way to access music just about anywhere, and in most cases are a better alternative to maintaining a vast physical music library.
Here are six of the best music sites for downloading songs.
Downloading music for free from disreputable sites is not only illegal, but also unethical. Support the musicians who make the music you love by purchasing their art legally.
iTunes
Many music fans regard Apple’s iTunes as the internet’s premier destination to buy music online. iTunes offers built-in support for syncing music to your iPhone, iPad, and other Apple devices.
Available on platforms outside of Apple devices.
User-friendly, browser-like interface.
iCloud interface makes music available on all your devices.
No free music.
Runs slowly on a computer.
iTunes is more than just an online music service; other sub-stores offer music videos, audiobooks, movies, and free podcasts, not to mention all the apps available in the App Store.
Apple announced in June 2019 that iTunes is being broken into separate pieces for separate uses. Music, podcasts, and television will have their own apps when everything switches to the Catalina Mac operating system. The iTunes Store will remain, as will the music that people bought from it.
Stores purchases in cloud music locker.
Songs come in MP3 format.
More than 30 million tracks.
Competitively priced.
Not available as widely as other services.
Smaller catalog of songs than iTunes.
Downloader software needed for album downloads.
Spotify
Even though Spotify is essentially a streaming music service, its Offline mode qualifies it as a music download service, too. In this mode, download and listen to thousands of songs without an internet connection.
Fun and easy to create playlists.
Share playlists with others.
Imports iTunes and Windows Music libraries.
Advanced features require Spotify subscription.
Can’t sync playlists to more than three devices.
Napster
Gone are Napster’s days as a file-sharing service (which was shut down due to copyright violations). Today’s Napster offers two personal subscription options: unRadio is $4.99 per month, while the Premier subscription has additional features for $9.99 per month. Napster also has a business music service called SoundMachine, which offers several subscription plans.
Browser-based listening on Windows PC and Mac.
Use search results to generate downloadable playlists.
No free membership level.
Nothing sets it apart from other music services.
Small music library.
eMusic
eMusic is a subscription-based service that provides a library of more than 32 million music titles, all from independent artists. The big plus about eMusic is that all songs are DRM-free; you get a set amount to download and keep every month, depending on your subscription level (ranges from $10 to $30).
Unlimited cloud storage and access to entire library.
Use on up to 10 devices.
Web accessible.
No current major-label hits.
Only one download per song allowed.
7digital
7digital is a media service that provides not only music tracks, but also videos, audiobooks, soundtracks, and a selection of free MP3 downloads. Its digital locker stores all purchased tracks safely in case you need to download them again.
Download up to 320 Kbps high-quality MP3s.
Free digital locker.
Not all tracks are DRM-free.
Smaller selection than other players.
