AOL Music Now - (Subscription Service)

Free 30 - day trial with a $9.95/ month subscription to stream over 1 million songs. Like Itunes, you can purchase songs to own for .99 and albums for $9.99. Music now is not compatible with Linux or MAc and only works with Windows XP. The songs downloads are fast and can be transferred to any non Ipod MP3 device. You get access to thousands of radio stations which are chosen based on your favorite artists and heavier downloads. The greatest thing about this site is that it has an extensive trial period which can be a huge incentive for someone who wants to browse around the site and get a feel for it. Also, the searching tools allow for a more optimized search for artist, genre, and categories.
Core disincentives include the site's Microsoft biases, to own music you have to pay what you would at Itunes, and purchased songs can only be converted to an MP3 player.
Core incentives are, there is an extended trial period, faster downloads than most subscription sites, and you can listen to up to a million songs on your computer without having to purchase them. AOL Music Now has some of the right ideas in allotting more freedoms to their consumers in terms of searching and sampling music, but does not quite beat out other subscription sites which provide access to massive databases without having to purchase songs for .99.
AOLMUSICNOW
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Myspace Music - (Social Music Community)

A community for bands and artists to listen to each others music and recruit fans through friend networks. Myspace makes it easy for bands to advertise upcoming shows/events, sample new music, and reach out to un - tapped audiences who would have had a more difficult time engaging themselves with the artist without the use of online networking. Due to myspace’s proven success as a site that allows bands to reach their audiences instantaneously along with its ability to function as a prediction market for record companies, many up and coming bands use myspace to launch their careers.
On an artists webspace you can listen to streaming content whether you are a user with an account or visiting the site. To add a song you must have an active myspace account and to download a song you must have an account and the artist's permission through their personal settings. Myspace is a great place to actively support bands and find extensive information. Now that snocap ( end to end digital music distributor) has teamed up with Myspace, you can purchase songs and full albums based on the artist's price setting discretion.
Myspace.com
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Purevolume.com - (Social Music Community)

A music community with free user accounts and web page set ups for artists and non - artist users. Purevolume caters in large to rock, indie rock, and its sub genres with other segmented communities of varying musical genres. On a band's personal webspace you can stream songs or add them to your purevolume playlist; this allows you to access the song whenever you want through purevolume. Purevolume is a large social network with close to 300,000 accounts including a line up of signed, reputable artists who use the site to communicate and interact with fans. If you are big into indie - rock this site may be one of the best sources available for getting information on shows, touring, merchandise, and anything to do with your favorite artists. On each separate band account their is a feature that provides information on how to purchase full cds. Also, the site provides news feeds, community forum, a peer review system, and an optimized media player with a play tracker.
Purevolume.com
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Unlimited Download Center - (Subscrition Service)

A South American subscription based download network. Has a significant user base with around 30,000,000 users. Provides users access to music, movies, and other types of media. All reviews of the premium services have been good which is suggestive of faster downloads and more extensive access for premium users. Cost effective if you plan on using the exclusive service. Service is on a yearly basis and credit card is required to get access to the network or even search the database. Sites like these are great if you don't mind purchasing a subscription to a site that cannot guarantee any specific music or allow for a content search prior to buying in. If you are interested in access to a large amount of content with some particular music in mind, than a multi media download platform like Unlimited Download Center remains an optimal choice; otherwise you may want to consider going with a more reputable service with free software and searchable library. Nothing about this is unlimited; don't let the name get ya!
UnlimitedDownloadCenter.com
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Itunes - (Store and Music Manager)

Itunes is a digital music store, player, organizer, and much more. One of the key incentives to using Itunes is that the organization of your music in the Itunes lirbrary can be easily transferred to your mobile Ipod device through a usb cable.
Perhaps the largest disincentive in using the Itunes store is the DRM copyrighted material due to the major music distributors who provide music to Itunes; DRM limits the amount of freedom you to copy music to more than 5 computers, inhibits burns to cds, and obstructs your from sharing your music.
Other media Itunes distributes are audiobooks, games, tv shows, music videos, feature length films, and podcasts. Song pricing is set at .99 cents a song, and most albums cost around $10. Itunes is currently the largest music distribution network and remains so for its accessibility, advertising, and namely its compatibility with Apple hardware. Unfortunately, once making the choice to go Apple, you are locked in with their prices and copyright protections due to your hardware.
Itunes.com
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Puretracks.com - (Music Distributor)

Puretracks is a Canadian online music store which has over 1,300,000 songs. Albums cost between $7.99 and $11.99 and songs are formatted in WMA and MP3 files which means they are transfereable to MP3 players and Ipods. This service is very similar to Apple's Itunes; however, due to the location of the service provider, Canada, many of the source distributors are from Canada. If you are looking for a vast music selection and you are living in The United States, you may not be able to find everything you need. Otherwise Puretracks is a fairly standard music provider with user friendly software and fair pricing.
Puretracks.com
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Ares Ultra - (Peer to Peer)

Ares Ultra is a peer to peer client with over thirty million users. This means there is a significant user base to trade content with. Purchasable for $29.88/yr and $32.88/2yr subscriptions. There is also an additional service that enables you to watch high quality dvd movies which is available for $14.99. Most of these platforms are mutli media providers, non exlusive to music; however, the Ares network offers more than enough music to go around. Generally, the type of music you can find on a massive peer to peer client like Ares will range from classics to popular and everything in between. People who have a taste for specific niche genres or anything that is not ubiquitous may find it difficult to find what they are looking for on a peer to peer. So when in the market for classics of the past and now, this site will satiate your needs, but if you are looking for something potentially obscure, a platform service provider where you can search the content before you purchase any subscription is a more effective avenue.
AresUltra.com
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Alltheweb.com - (Search Engine)

Like many of the newer 2.0 websites, Alltheweb doesn't cater exclusively to music; other media offerings include video, audio, picture, and music search optimization. Search optimization on alltheweb.com enables users to type in favorite artists/musics under the filter producing a more effective search than even google, rendering all of the free music files on the net for the specific search. Unfortuantely, the alltheweb doesn't provide rss to downloads, but rather the entire web page in which you have to search around to find the free download. Nevertheless, this tool makes researching simple and is a great way to kill a half hour looking up live versions of favortie songs. I highly recommend getting into using tools like these for anyone who wants to get into finding vast amounts of content on the web; it can be difficult to filter through all the music and media on the web, but filters like these give you a good idea of what is around while displaying the actual specific sites that host the desired media.
alltheweb.com
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Jamendo - (Social Music Community)

Taken right from the Jamendo Personal Statement:
A non-exclusive platform: you remain the owner of your music, and you can still distribute it by any other means at your disposal. jamendo has a strong commitment of complementarity with traditional practices like CD sales.
A zero-cost platform: there is no fee for artists using our service. We provide hosting for free. P2P distribution keeps our costs at a very low level. We just include some non-intrusive advertising on the website and in streamed music to make our platform sustainable.
A free platform: you can stop the distribution of your music on jamendo at any time. Publishing music on jamendo does not forbid you to sign a future exclusive contract with a records company.
A music community that provides a percentage of add revenue to artists that facilitate heavier traffic to the site. If you are big on music communities and want to actively help artists generate money, this site promotes do it yourself rather than a traditional Myspace or Purevolume which boast potentiall record industry attention. Unfortunately, until sites like Jamendo have enough reach, their will be few incentives for bands to sign up.
Jamendo.com
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Archive.org - (Music Lirary Archive)

Archive.org has an extensive free music database as well as many other types of media like audio books, documentaries, art, moving pictures, journals, and more. The site hosts live concert recordings from many independent artists with a growing reputation attracting many established fan communities for bands like The Greatful Dead, Stringcheese Incident, and 311. To use this site all you have to do is go to the music library and search for artists by name; no software download necessary. There are optional user accounts for those who want to upload music, add commentary and respond to bands and their live concerts. There are many different types of audio files available on the site and which aren't consistent for each live show. This site is a great way for up and coming bands to make all of their live music available to their fans and for live music appreciators. On the site you can get information about the players needed to listen to all of the different content available. The FLAC (free lossless audio codec) recordings are best for live downloads.
archive.org
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Ruckus - (Free Music Distributor)

The Ruckus network is a software driven free music download platform. The Ruckus player must be installed on your desktop to gain access to the Ruckus library which has something around 2.5 million songs. Originally Ruckus network was a subscription based music site like Emusic or Rhapsody. After eliminating the subscription fee, Ruckus began catering to a college market generating income off of add revenue. Now, anyone with a .edu email address can sign up for Ruckus player and get access to their entire music library. Drawbacks are the player is only compatible with Windows operating systems, doesn't work with Mac or Linux, you can't burn the content on to cds due to to copyright protections, and the content is non- trassferable to an Ipod or Iriver. So if you have a PC, a .edu email, and are interested in sampling a whole lot of music, this service is a slam.
Ruckus.com
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Musicmatch.com - (Store and Music Manager)

Musicmatch is a jukebox made by Yahoo! for Apple. When Apple released Itunes, Yahoo! initiated Musicmatch as a music organizer. This media player manages your music in a similar fashion to Itunes and Windows Media Player. Through the Musicmatch player you can access a music store, internet radio, cd playback and ripping. There is an upgraded version of Musicmatch available on their website that provides more ripping options and faster downloads, otherwise the software is free. I highly recommend this site to anyone who is looking for a way to organize their music and does not currently use Itunes.
Musicmatch.com
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Virb.com - (Social Music Community)

Virb.com is a brand new social networking site that opened in 2007 from the makers of PureVolume. Site specific features are integrated video-sharing and photo-sharing along with the usual comments, messages, and tags. Like myspace.com, virb has user customization profiles so you can make your page how you want it. If you are interested in joining a social network, this site looks to be a promising competitor to myspace and even its father site purevolume. The site will feature bands, their itinerary, and optimized usability in contrast to sites like myspace which are infiltrated with spammers, overloaded bandwidth, and a bare bones user tool set.
virb.com
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Snocap.com - (Distribution Service)

An end to end digital music provider. Snocap is currently used by myspace to manage digital music distribution and sales. Snocap is unique because it lets the artist set the price of songs while providing access to online retailers. By providing distribution and easy price marking, snocap makes it possible for bands in music communities to manage more aspects of their careers from one web portal. For people looking to sell music while retaining control over price setting, snocap remains promising.
Snocap.com
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Limewire - (Peer to Peer)

Limewire is a peer to peer file sharing network working off of a Java Platform. Limewire uses the Gnutella network to locate and transfer files. Released under the GNU General Public License, Limewire is free software. A faster download version can be downloaded for $18.88 which gives you the ability to download from four hosts vs. two in the free version. Peer to peer networks like Limewire provide users with an abundance of free media; however, there are often times corrupt files in forms of trojan horse viruses and advertisements in disguise. Gnutella has implemented a reputation system called Credence which enables peers to determine whether content is authentic or corupt. If you want quick access to a massive amount of content and you don't mind a bit of hassle, Limewire will do the trick.
Limewire.com
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Napster 3.5 - (Subscription Service)

Napster established its initial reputation as a software based peer to peer network that enabled millions of people to share un - copyrighted MP3 format song files. The file sharing model caught on quickly and other peer to peer sites like Kazaa, DC ++, and Limewire emerged. Eventually due to a court order, Napster was forxed close its peer to peer client and look for an exit strategy.
More recently, Roxio has bought the Napster name and transformed it into a pay subscription service. The Napster name provided the new service subscription with a market out of the gates. $14.95 to take your tracks to go compared to $7.99 with Virgin Digital and Music Unlimited at $11.99. Tracks are in MP3 format which means they will work on any MP3 compatible player. Provides quick access to new releases, personal recommendations, music genres, and editor created playlists. Has a tabbed interface that lets you access the Narchive and NapsterLinks sections. The Narchive is a music encyclopedia wiki (compare to wikipedia).
Napster.com
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Garageband - (Social Music Community)

Garageband is a music community that caters to indie rock bands and up and coming artists. There are about half a million artists and listeners in the community which makes for real potential to grow outwards. The mission of garageband was to give power back to the people by allowing artists and their fans to connect beneficially visible for the artists through peer reviews and friend networks. Garabeband has its own ranking system with chart toppers and news headlines of garageband artists who have recently been signed in large due to their activity on the site. The garageband player streams music with the unique feature of allowing the user to rank the songs 1 through 5 stars as well as allow users to create their own playlists. Noteworthy, unsigned bands can potentially gain record label attention or even score some airplay through their success within the garageband community. If you are an active music appreciator and enjoy checking out bands you haven't heard, this site is a great first stop for online music communities. The user account and band accounts are free.
garageband.com
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K - Lite Pro - (Peer to Peer Network)

K - Lite Pro is one of the more popular peer to peer networks. This site costs 19.95 for one year and 24.95 for two years; these sites often expire prematurely given the nature of the competition, interface advancements, and occasional legal issues. With that said, a one year membership is probably your best buy for K- Lite. They boast to provide access to 12 billion movies, games, and music at your finger tips. People who use peer to peer are generally happy with this site in large because of its massive network along with the option to turn file sharing off; so you don't have to share your files to use the network and download media. Another great feature of this particular peer to peer is that you can resume downloading a file at a later time by simply logging off and logging back on. The files are MP3s and WAVs which means that they can transfer to an Ipod or any other kind of MP3 player. Remember when you purchase a subscription to a peer to peer network your money goes to the people who made the software, not the people who created the media you are downloading. Anyway, this looks like a small price to pay for a whole lot of enjoyment, freedom and access to a ridiculous amount movies, shows, games, and music.
K-litepro.com
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Rhapsody Music (Subscription Service)

Rhapsody is a good website for people who listen to music on their computer or through an MP3 player because the files are WMA compatible. There are about 2 million tracks in the Rhapsody library which makes for a pretty thorough collection; once again it is not possible to search the digital library prior to signing up for an account. Subscription fee is about $14 for a lot of music and $10 for unlimited plays without the option to transer music to an MP3 player. If you choose to cancel your subscription, the music will be dissapear from your MP3 player. This subscription service allows you to listen to your music on your computer and go mobile with it without actually owning the music; Rhapsody advertises that you have the freedom to go mobile with their Rhapsody to Go Membership; however, you are really purchasing the freedom to rent music. Sounds like a good buy for someone who didn't jump on the Ipod wagon.
Rhapsody.com
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E Music - (Subscription Service)

E music is a subscription based music download site that allows users full ownership of the digital music files they pay for. Service fees range from $9.99 (30 dls/month) to 19.99 (75 dls/month). The format in which you receive your music is 192 Kbps variable bit rate MP3s which are not DRM copyright protected. First 25 downloads are free; per song ends up costing around .33 or less, and because the files are non - copyright protected MP3s, you can do just about anything you want to with your newly purchased music.
Things I didn't like : you can't search the music library prior to signing up for a paid subscription, there is yet another mandatory player you must download to your desktop, and considering the non - DRM format, the selection of songs would inevitably limited.
Emusic.com
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