Concert Venues

Okay, it’s time for me to finally say nice bye to my portable disc player, and join the Internet 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 options for how to download music, listen to and buy Internet 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’ve spent a considerable amount of time over the last few weeks trying to determine what’s best for my lifestyle, my wallet and my computer.

first thing I realized when searching all of the music services is that things seemed to work a lot smoother with a broadband connection (and the majority 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 nice deal on high-speed, and furthermore threw in a discount on my existing expenses 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 Online 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 spend Online searching for music.

The guy who sits next to me has a 60 GB iPod, and is complaining that it is al the majority full. That’s over seven thousand songs. I don’t know that I would even live long enough to listen to that many 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 optimum 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? Remember, yes. Did I want to trade music with others On-line in a peer-to-peer Napster- prefer environment? Eh, that one scared me a little, and I decided that opportunity up my files to strangers made me feel dirt, so I put that one on hold.

My next prohibit in determining how I would “music Web ” has been price. I searched dozens of websites and services, but narrowed my sights to three of the ample guys -  AOL Music Next, iTunes and Rhapsody Music Service ( provide 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 cost as an ISP). I has been able to download tunes, listen to them while “offline” and burn them to compact disc  or move them over to my MP3 player for an additional cost per song. That seemed to be standard across the majority of the services. Music Now has been a follow up to the original AOL Music Net, which I actually prefer d better because it ran Regional ly on machine and the new Web-based Music Now takes much longer. AOL additionally 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 tunes to my MP3 player, the monthly cost jumps to $14.95 per month, and if I want to put them on a compact disc, I pay and additional 99 cents per track. This is too much money for me. I typically buy one or two compact disc’s a month, and that would be cheaper than this Online service. Not to mention you have to be an current AOL member (more money per month) in order to even use the product. I’m passing on AOL Music Now.

On to iTunes. Okay, so there is no monthly cost for iTunes. Love that. And I may purchase tunes for 99 cents per track. Love that too. But wait. I don’t have an iPod, and iTunes has tunes in their proprietary MP4 format. Ugh. The cheapest iPod out there is around $99 (so much for no monthly fee), and it’s not the model I would select. I like my MP3 player. If I already had an iPod, this can be the route I would go, but Apple tends be very inflexible, and I hate to be tied to one offer r, player and format. There’s likewise a limit to how you may share the tunes on your home network. I feel like even though I own the song, I’m being watched on what I do with it. Good bye ample brother.

Rhapsody Music Service from Real Networks. So far they’re 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 performers, and the monthly fee is five dollars less per month than AOL. The music comes over in the more broadly aid ed MP3 format and the songs are mine to rip transfer or share with my other Computers on my home network. prefer the other two, I can listen to live radio on my computer, but I prefer the freedom I get with Rhapsody Music Service. I’m 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 compact disc’s for my car, albeit with an older man’s twist on today’s preferred s, and transferred those same tunes over to my little antiquated MP3 player for those long weekend walks.