Gone are the days when the only option that you had to listen to music was to go to the music store and browse through the ocean of CDs available. Then there would be times when you like one song from a CD and do not really like the others but are forced to buy the whole thing since singles were not available.

Things have, however, changed over time and the Internet is full of all kinds of music. These sites allow you to download any song that you want. You can pick a mix of your favorites for different genres like romantic, fast track, jazz and a host of others and burn a CD. A creation like this can be a great option for a gift for someone special as well. You obviously have to pay for each song that you download if you are looking at legal music downloads. Do invest in this amount since fly-by-night sites will pollute your computer with viruses that will cause your system to crash.

Today you not only have various options of music that you can surf for on the Internet but also have numerous options on how you want to listen to them. You can listen to music on your computer, play it on a CD player, an MP3 player or download it on your iPod to ensure that you have something pleasant to wherever you go. If you decide to listen to the music that you have downloaded on your computer, then you will need to have an application that can play an mp3 file. You can download a Real Player or Quick Time or Windows Media Player from the Internet easily. Some of the latest computers do not require you do download such software and play CDs automatically.

Be careful not to open too many applications when you are listening to music if you computer is an old one. The older versions cannot handle too many applications that require a high amount of processing capability. If you try and push your system too much, the music will probably stutter and drag and there is a possibility that your computer might hang.

You might get so addicted to browsing and buying music online that you may forget that there is another option called the music stores that provides a different kind of pleasure. Though online music is convenient, browsing and finding something you like in a music store can be a magical experience.