Music Download
There are plenty of paying legal sites where you can buy music to download, the most famous being Apple's iTunes Music Store.But Wired magazine gives you a list of sites where you can find music for free: never pay for music
Music download can be the stuff of nightmare. Not only do you need a computer, a fast internet connection, an internet provider, but you must open an account with an on-line music store. They all have different administration, types of payment, their own Digital Right Management and their restrictions. Nothing is standardized and that is if you can access them in the first place.
Some on line music store will only accept credit cards from a bank account in their country. Which defeat the whole object of the universality of the internet. At least the European Union should make it compulsory for all to give access to all European citizens, wherever they are: it is not the case!
Confusion
In the meantime and quite logically, people download so-called illegal tracks, mainly youngsters of course. Some parents admit they do not have the time, the knowledge or inclination to mess around with computers, check downloads and all that jazz, and leave it to their kids.There are parent who are convinced, by their kids no doubt, that since the free iTunes is installed, all downloads will be free as well. They have no idea that the legal music store is a different service that they must pay for. Maybe they see iTunes, which is only a player, as a free shop for endless downloads. Their children probably use one of the peer-to-peer application to find their tracks.
The confusion is very easy to make for anybody who has not the time or the inclination to search for the precise information.
But of course, digital music offers more choice for listening to and playing music on more gadgets at home, in the car, on the move, everywhere. But the offer should be much clearer and the access to the technology and services much simpler and more standardized.
