This means everything from rock and jazz to country music MP3 files can be illegal versions of the recordings. Fortunately, there are a whole host of sites that offer perfectly legal, high quality downloads. The trick is finding the legal sites.

Music fans that want to protect themselves from making illegal downloads, which can be tracked back to them as evidenced by some pretty high-profile cases, can do a few things to protect themselves. These tips apply to everything from rock downloads to country music MP3 files, and include:

* Check into the background of the site you're downloading your country music MP3 files or other music files from. If it's a big name in the industry, you're generally safe. Watch out, however, for some foreign sites because while they might be legal to operate where they are, it doesn't mean they've paid music license holders their due. This could mean the downloads are illegal in your country of origin. Very often record labels themselves will point country music MP3 fans to sites that offer their music for download in a legal fashion. This is a good way to avoid all doubt.

* If a site doesn't ask for money per song or on a bulk download agreement, chances are the artists aren't getting paid. If the artists, labels and promoters don't get their royalties, it's almost certain the downloads, even country music MP3 files are not on the up and up. Cases where fans who downloaded music only to get prosecuted personally either along with or independently from the download site are making headlines more readily these days, so caution is a virtue to exercise.

* Be wary of downloading from peer-to-peer sites. Fans who share full songs and albums might be doing so with the best of intentions, but that doesn't make the action legal. Unless a song has landed in the public domain, its sharing over the Internet is technically illegal unless the purchase price is sent to the record label.

There are, however, literally thousands of songs within the public domain, which means their sharing is perfectly okay. Also, some P2P sites have licensing agreements with labels. Read the disclaimers to be certain. If you're in doubt, don't download and check it out first.

As the country music MP3 and music download industry takes off, there are a whole host of sites that offer legal downloads. The onus, however, is on the fans to ensure they are making wise purchases from locations that are legal. Exercise a little common sense and check things out before selecting the buy button or downloading free content without care.

Country music MP3 files, rock, blues, jazz and so on can be great additions to iPods and other players, but take the time to make sure the service you use is legal.