Download Music - Download Music the Legal Way

There was a time not too long ago that the only way you could add to your music collection was to hop in your car and drive to you local music store or department store and buy it as CD, LPs or tapes. With the advent of the Internet all of this changed, as people began to download music from each other online. At first it was completely free as millions of people shared their music collections through any one of a number of online sharing sites.

It did not take long for the music industry to see what was going on and realize that they were losing millions as more and more people began to download music instead of buying it.

This resulted over the years in several multimillion dollar lawsuits against both the file sharing sites and those individuals who were caught downloading.

Today if you want to download an mp3 of your favorite bands newest album you still can but you need to be very aware of the laws that have been passed and make sure the site you are downloading from is 100% legal.

The first thing you need to avoid, is any site that tells you that you can download music for free, since this is obviously against the law today you should already know better.

Now if you are ready to be serious and look for a good place to download music reviews of the various pay sites are abundant on the internet, in fact there are web sites like Audio Download that are dedicated to keeping you up to date on the latest information as to where the best places to buy your music downloads online are.

Occasionally a new artist or even an established and well known artist will offer their music for free download, but this is usually done through either the artists own web site or that of his recording company. These are perfectly legal ways to add to your music collection and in some cases get to sample some very cool new music in the process. It is also a way for the new and aspiring artist to get his work out where the public can hear it without having to rely on the radio stations that have become somewhat reluctant to showcase new talent.

Pay sites come in a few different types and each is a little different in the way they do business. The most common sites are those that charge a per download fee often around $0.99 per song that you can add to your mp3 player or burn to a CD. Other sites charge you a monthly membership fee and then offer you discounted per download fees perhaps as low as $0.50 per track.

Then there are the membership clubs that permit you a preset number of free downloads for your membership fee. The number of downloads can vary it may be as low as 10 or as high as 25 or more depending on the club and the plan you sign up.As long as you choose to download music by paying for it, no one can accuse you of anything illegal and the music is yours to keep.