Buy Music Online

Listen to the Music you Love

Records, cassette players, and even compact discs no seem all but a distant memory as we enter the second decade of the 21st century – these days we are just as likely to buy music online.  It is now possible to access all of your favourite artists from the comfort of your living room and with a few clicks of a mouse you can hear almost any tune you like.

The page features a beginners guide to downloading music, if you are new to obtaining your favourite tracks in this way  or just looking for some tips on how to get the best online music into your album collection then this tutorial should give you some helpful advice to get you on the way!

Introduction To Digital Music

Not that long ago, PCs struggled to play back music files, they were big and bulky, computers had a hard time storing them and processing them.  Fortunately this all changed when computer processors became fast enough to pack up these large files into much smaller ones – they were compressed into easy manageable units that could be created, shared and downloaded easily.

MP3 Music Files

This ground breaking compressed format has now entered the English language and you’ll know it as the “MP3″ file.  Although other compression formats are available, the MP3 is still the most commonly used throughout the world.

The MP3 files have some distinct advantages:

• Large music files that used to fill an entire compact disc could now be shrunk down and stored in much smaller spaces.  Typically you can store ten times more music once converted to an MP3 file
• These files are then much easier to transfer across the Internet.  Before high speed broadband became common place, this was critical for transmitting music between location online
• The quality of the files is relatively high, the majority of home consumers have been happy to listen to their music in this format.  MP3 music is often described as “near CD” quality – the reality is that this is plenty good enough for most of us!

Online Music Stores

There are now many places to buy music online. Before you start adding to your collection there are a few things you need to check.

• We strongly recommend looking for a service that provides DRM (digital rights management) free music, usually an MP3 file.  This means that once you have bought the music download you can listen to it freely and move it to a new computer or music player when you come to upgrade your hardware.

A good starting point is the Amazon MP3 music service, good prices, DRM free files, easy to use and a trusted brand – you’ll probably already have an account meaning you can try to  get hold of your favourite tracks immediately:

We will be looking at other online music stores in the future, check back to find out about the best places to buy music online.