Can anybody recomend some good legal download sites?

[bishman]

As per the title really. Sites with commercial music available to buy.

[Craig_E]

I love Napster. It's 9.99 a month for unlimited downloading and streaming. Seeing as they add like 20-30 chart albums and singles every Monday, you definitely get your moneys worth. They also have a massive back catalogue.

I actually have the 14.99 package, which means I can load the music on to 2 compatable music devices, which is awesome really. You could leave the house with a GB of different music every day (altho I've been late to work on a few occasions when the downloads were going slow!)

You can install Napster on 3 different PCs on one account as well, which is great. I have my main PC, my HTPC and my work machine. Your 'library' works across all 3 machines.

The only downside, is yes, all the music DRMed up, and you can't burn CDs without it cost extra. Also, you never 'own' the music, but that doesn't bother me. I pay Sky like £50 a month for TV I never 'own' either

Napster is the best way to download/experience *a lot* of music for a flat fee.

[bishman]

I wouldn't be downloading a lot of stuff, so while Napster sounds great, it's probably not the best solution for me. Does Napster still use peer to peer or is it now all centrally stored?

Cheers for the reply though.

[Craig_E]

It's a proper service now, with big central servers somewhere.
I beleive you can sign up for a 7 (or 14?) day free trial anyway, so it's worth a look.

The way I see it is, online or offline, you're looking at around 7.99 to 9.99 for an album, so a 9.99 monthly sub looks good even if you only download an album a week.

Napster also do one off purchases like itunes as well.

[bishman]

The DRM would put me off more than anything else. I'm not against DRM in principal but it should at least let you burn a CD. I haven't got an HTPC and hardly ever listen to music on the PC anyway. Mostly it would be for in the car and I'd need CD burning for that.

[Craig_E]

Have you considered getting a new car stereo? Ours plays MP3 and related formats from the CD, the built in SD card reader, or a USB connection. It wouldn't get round the DRM, but it would give you more options in the car.

These stereos are pretty cheap as well nowadays.

[bishman]

Originally Posted by Craig_E

Have you considered getting a new car stereo? Ours plays MP3 and related formats from the CD, the built in SD card reader, or a USB connection. It wouldn't get round the DRM, but it would give you more options in the car.

These stereos are pretty cheap as well nowadays.

The car came with a high end Bose audio system as standard. It sounds great and I'm not overkeen to go for the lower quality options. Had them before in the last car and the difference is certainly clear. It's also got an in dash head unit and the whole thing seems to be built in and cerrtainly isn't going to be removed without much effort. For example, there's no little square holes for pulling the head unit out like in previous cars.

Cheers for the advice though Craig.