Until recently, we were told that downloading music files was killing music. This was because it allowed people to break copyright laws and share music files without having to pay for the content.
Then, three years ago, the cigar-chomping label bosses who run the music business realised the possibilities of cheap internet distribution. Today there are numerous legitimate online music services offering, in many cases, catalogues of millions of songs for you to cherry-pick from, generally without having to buy a whole album.
Sales are growing rampantly. Almost as many music downloads were bought in the first half of 2006 as during the whole of 2005, says the BPI, the industry’s trade association, though they remain a modest proportion of the total value of the UK music market at roughly 2%.
However, downloading music remains beset by problems and before forsaking your local record store for the web there are some key areas that every buyer should be aware of.
The most obvious snag is the modest audio quality of most downloads. In order to transfer songs quickly over the internet, the music is compressed to about one-tenth of its original size. This means that while the tracks sound fine on, say, an iPod during your daily commute, they sound decidedly thin on a half decent stereo.
Then there is the problem of compatibility. Imagine if a CD would work only in a CD-player bought from the same store. You’d be outraged. Well, that’s the business model behind the iTunes Music Store. And Apple isn’t the worst offender, Sony’s Connect store only allows you to play your music on one computer.
The big labels also insist on digital rights management (DRM) restrictions as they fear we will illegally share music online. These restrictions dictate how you enjoy your music. They control the number of computers or portable players you may store songs on or if you can, say, burn a playlist to CDs.
Of course, we can’t expect legitimate services to give music away. But we can expect them to treat customers like adults and adopt unrestricted formats, such as MP3, which will play on almost anything.
There are, fortunately, some green shoots. The upside to DRM is that it has led directly to the birth of subscription-based services, such as Napster, where you may enjoy a vast catalogue of rented music for a monthly fee of about £10-£15, as opposed to buying tracks outright. Better still, eMusic offers bundles of versatile MP3 tracks as permanent downloads far more cheaply than its rivals, who mostly sell albums at £8 — the same price as a CD.
We’ve compared six of the best download services, judging them against five criteria. The first is value for money: ideally, music should cost less than 50p a song, £5 for an album, or offer an unlimited rental subscription for £15 a month. We also assess sound quality: are tracks sold at a decent bitrate (192kbps)? The DRM must be reasonably flexible in terms of the number of computers or portable players you can store music on. We examine ease of use, whether song titles are accurate and whether cover artwork is provided. A shopping experience test considers catalogue variety, plus editorial content, to arrive at an overall rating out of the maximum of five stars.
Spend wisely, because your money could help persuade the leading record labels to rethink their attitudes. After all, the customer is always right.
Indie champion
Four stars
www.emusic.com
Unrestricted, decent sound and fine value
Launched in the UK this week, eMusic has a million-plus songs for sale in the unrestricted MP3 format that will work on all portable players, including iPods. The catalogue is entirely from independent labels but ranges from the likes of Johnny Cash to Jack White’s new group the Raconteurs and classical music. The site charges a monthly fee: the cheapest package costs £8.99, for which you can download 40 songs to own — that’s 22p a track. Album reviews make the website feel like a club. Only the lack of album artwork and a slightly complicated download mechanism stopped eMusic achieving top marks.
Too cheap to be legal?
Three stars
www.allofmp3.com
Flexible, cheap, but beset by technical niggles
This Russian website claims to exploit a loophole in post-Soviet copyright law to deliver an extensive catalogue for a tenth of the price (around 8p per track) of most music services. Its dubious legal standing is emphasised by the inclusion of artists who famously don’t allow their music to be downloaded — such as the Beatles. Legitimate or not, the site’s crown jewel is its on-demand encoding, letting you decide upon the file format and bitrate that best suit you. However, the songs often have misspelt names and will hence sit, frustratingly, out of order in your collection. Still, it’s technically innovative and dirt cheap.
Style over substance
Three stars
www.itunes.co.uk
Deeply slick, despite high prices, iPod-only restrictions and uninspiring sound quality
The revamped iTunes is the simplest and most extensive download service, with a library of about 3m songs. As well as handy album reviews and artist biographies, iTunes sells music videos, iPod games (£3.99), and next year a limited selection of movies. However, your options for listening to the songs you buy are limited. You can only play your tracks on iTunes software or burn them onto CD. And if you want a portable player it’s iPod or nothing. Should you later opt for a rival, it will not handle any of the music you’ve paid £8 an album for. Worst of all, the sound quality is modest.
Playful kitten
Three stars
www.napster.co.uk
A fine way to broaden your musical horizons
Napster is the best subscription-oriented service on the market, especially if you pay the full £14.95 a month to transfer any music downloaded from its 2m-plus catalogue to (non-iPod) portable players. However, the moment you fail to keep up your subscription you will no longer be able to play the songs you have downloaded to your computer. Occasional visitors may prefer to pay for permanent WMA tracks at around £8 an album. However, non-subscribers miss out on Napster’s superb interactive radio stations. The Windows-only Napster software is much improved, though sound quality, now being upgraded, remains variable.
Flawed trailblazer
Three stars
www.tunetribe.co.uk
Eclectic mixture of good quality material
This UK-based newcomer champions unsigned and independent music while also courting some big labels. Broadly speaking, well-known acts are sold in the WMA format and lesser-known ones are in MP3. But there are exceptions and this jumble of formats is confusing, especially for Apple owners who can listen to unrestricted MP3s but not the protected WMA files. The catalogue boasts a decent selection of dance music, jazz and country, even if many albums cost a far-from-cheap £8 a pop. The music recommendation engine, which suggests music by looking at your own tastes, is a sophisticated way to discover new tunes.
High street hero
Three stars
www.virgindigital.com
Classy brand hampered by low-rent sound
Virgin Digital displays a refreshing passion for music. It was, for example, the only service on test that linked a search for Jarvis Cocker to his band, Pulp. The 1.4m-song catalogue includes rarities alongside hits such as the Killers’ new album. You must enter your personal details merely to browse and then download Virgin’s software to shop, but this is free. Albums are priced from £6.49 to £8.99 to own, or there are subscription options, for up to £14.99 a month, which offer unlimited downloads to rent. Support is excellent, with a helpful introductory guide, but the sound quality is not good and harsh DRM makes life awkward.
Jargon buster
Bitrate The average number of bits consumed by one second of audio, and a measure of the amount of music-file compression. Expressed in kilobits per second (kbps), broadly speaking the higher the bitrate, the better a music file sounds
Burn To archive music (or other) files onto a CD or DVD
Compression In order to be downloaded, music files are routinely shrunk to a fraction of their original size (compared with a traditional audio CD)
Download To transfer a file from one computer to another over the internet
DRM (digital rights management) Technologies that empower copyright holders to control the distribution and use of music files. Big labels prefer to sell their music in copy-protectable formats with DRM options. These include Microsoft’s WMA, Apple’s version of AAC and Sony’s ATRAC3
MP3 The most common audio compression format, with no DRM. Often (incorrectly) used to describe all forms of compressed digital music
