EmailThe biggest frustration when choosing a music service is that your music player essentially determines which online venues you can use. All digital audio players (including iPods) can play MP3 files, but if you use media files encoded in a DRM-protected format, such as Windows WMA or Apple's AAC, your media player will be able to play those files only if it has appropriate support built in.
- For iPod owners, iTunes is your best option. Other services may have some limited compatibility; for example, non-DRM-protected MP3 files downloaded from eMusic, Wal-Mart or AmazonMP3 can be played on an iPod, but not WMA files downloaded from most other services. In addition, the iPod won't work with any music streamed via a subscription service like Napster To Go or Rhapsody To Go. Music compatibility issues might change if Apple chooses to relax its format restrictions on the iPod, but there's no sign of that happening in the immediate future.
- Take note of the digital rights management (DRM) policies associated with each service. These are the controls placed on a file that affect the number of computers to which the file can be transferred, the number of times a track can be burned to a CD and the number of times it can be uploaded to a portable media device. For example, whereas iTunes allows users unlimited CD burns, Wal-Mart's WMA files limit users to ten burns.
- Try before you subscribe. All subscription services give you a free trial period, so be sure to check them out before committing to one or the other. Peruse the catalogs and check out your specific areas of interest. You'll likely be satisfied by any site's selection of alternative rock or top-40, but if your tastes run to jazz or classical, do some sample searches and see what comes up.