Listen to music on the internet

Music downloads have become big business, with a plethora of sites and services offering songs and albums. From paid-for music downloads to free music on demand, the choices for getting music online can be a bit confusing, especially when you stumble upon one of the many illegal websites.

There are several legal and legitimate services available online, offering both free and paid-for music. In this article we will show you how to listen to or download your favourite music online without breaking any laws and also explain some new ways to interact with and experience music.

Two music services dominate the market at present: iTunes charges you to download and keep songs and albums, while Spotify offers a wide choice of songs and albums you can listen to on demand.

The second type of service is called a streaming service, because the music tracks are sent to your PC in a continuous stream, so you can listen to them as the file is downloading.

Our top five music services

iTunes
Perhaps the best-known music download service there is.

iTunes has recently seen some fairly major updates with some very handy new features added in. The best of which, called Genius, which creates playlists based on your tastes and listening habits.

Last.fm
Last.fm is a great way to discover different music. By allowing the service to keep a track of what you like listening to it will shape future playlists to your tastes. This system of recommendations is a great way to find new artists and songs that you might like. Last.fm is totally free and runs in a web browser with no additional software to download. There are also excellent Last.fm apps available for a small fee on Android phones and Apple’s iPhone.

Spotify
Spotify works so well and it is by far our favourite music-streaming service. The software is well laid out and the amount of music that is available is growing by the day.

Playlists are a great way to be creative with what you listen to and the ability to share your musical tastes is a handy addition to the service. The adverts aren’t too intrusive either, interrupting your listening far less than on commercial radio stations.

Youtube
A huge number of artists and record labels upload videos and music tracks to Youtube. Along with official music videos, many pages also include interviews and exclusive versions of songs from live performances and tours.

By subscribing to channels that include music you like, you can browse through and keep up to date with new releases and old classics.

Concert Vault
This iPhone app is something a bit different. Available free from the iTunes Store, it is available for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

There are thousands of tracks available from famous stadium tours and festivals over the years featuring some of the biggest bands of all time such as Pink Floyd, The Ramones, The Clash and Queen.