Since roughly 2000, filesharing software has been popping up on the internet. Take Napster for example, which was shut down in July 2001. Napster let you download full MP3 songs from other people that were sharing their music around the world for free. After Napster was shut down by the legal authorities, it was bought out by Roxio who turned it into a legal music store like iTunes.
Kazaa was also an extremely popular filesharing program which is actually still being used today by some people. After a few years, however, it was shut down. A scare began when some people who had shared music with other people on Kazaa were sued by the RIAA for millions of dollars.
As you can see, it's obviously not smart to use a filesharing service! First of all, it's illegal. You can potentially get sued for millions of dollars. Second, it costs money to produce a CD and if you steal it, you are only hurting the band or artist you like. Anyway, you wouldn't steal a CD from Best Buy, would you? Why would you steal one on the internet?
So if you are not going to use a filesharing service, what are the other options? iTunes is one option. But iTunes only lets you listen to 30-second samples before you buy a CD, which is usually about $10. If you bought ten CDs, that's $100.
A cost-effective solution is a program called Real Rhapsody. It lets you stream unlimited high-quality music to your computer for $10 a month – the price of one CD on iTunes. Think of it: you get to listen to as many CDs as you want (unlimited listening) for the price of one CD.
A great thing about Real Rhapsody is that it's legal. Bands and artists get paid each time you play a CD. But no matter how much you listen to, it's still $10 a month. No more lawyers or lawsuits to worry about.
The other good thing about Rhapsody is that it's fast and there's no spyware. Just click play and it plays the high-quality (CD-quality) track almost instantly. There's no spyware which is often packaged in with filesharing programs like Kazaa.
Another legal listening option is YourMusic. YourMusic sells physical CDs – but on the cheap. It's just $5.99 a CD with free shipping. I like YourMusic because, personally, I like to have the real, actual CD so I don't have to burn the CD myself and just because the actual CD looks nicer.
I highly recommend both programs – Real Rhapsody and YourMusic. Check them out and see if they're right for you. You can try Real Rhapsody for $0.99 and YourMusic for $5.99 (for one CD).
Real Rhapsody($0.99/1st month): http://kfzy.com/RealRhapsody
