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by Editors of PC Magazine
PC Magazine's editors review and rate pay-per-song and subscription-based music download services, and links to those reviews and other music download articles can be found on the Music Sites landing page.… The reviews do a good job of discussing the pros and cons of each service and describing the user experience. Objective ratings help readers see where each service stands when compared against others. One negative is that the different types of services are intermingled on this list, and other types of music services, such as Internet radio and media playback software, are also included. Among music subscription services, Napster emerges as the best. Apple's iTunes also ranks well, but the lack of a subscription service keeps it "one key step away from greatness." eMusic also gets a positive review because of its interesting purchase model and its DRM-free tracks, but the library is light when it comes to mainstream artists.
by Jasmine France and Troy Dreier
In this article (updated from an older story), CNet.com compares two subscription-based music download services, Napster To Go and Rhapsody To Go. The article does a good job in summarizing pros and cons of… each, comparing catalogs (at the time of writing) and other content, listing compatible MP3 players and reporting on use issues, such as download times and more. Links lead readers to individual reviews that include objective ratings, but some are a little dated.
by Janet Ingber
AFBAccessWorld.com is a website for blind and visually impaired people, but all readers will find this thorough article informative. Janet Ingber signs up for five online music services -- eMusic, Rhapsody,… Napster, Wal-Mart and iTunes -- and evaluates each for breadth of selection, ease of use and customer support. She says Napster is best, with a wide assortment of current music from major labels, but cautions that it can be difficult to set up.
by David Haskin
David Haskin reviews five leading subscription-based music download services as well as iTunes, and finds that no matter where you come down in the buy-or-rent debate, these services generally work as… advertised. He rates Rhapsody as the best overall choice for its extensive catalog and easy-to-use software, making up for its costly subscription. For iPod owners, he says there's no choice but iTunes, which has a great music selection but still lacks a subscription model. Napster and the now-defunct Yahoo! Music Unlimited have strong catalogs, Haskin says, but their software is awkward.
by Editors of Top Ten Reviews
This site is a convenient place to find most of the major online music sites compared side by side. Though in the past listings haven't been as current as the dates would suggest, it appears that the 2008… report is reasonably up to date. There's a wealth of information regarding song libraries, file formats and pricing, although the discussion is somewhat generalized and it's not clear how much hands-on testing took place. The top-rated services here are iTunes and Napster, both of which receive the highest overall scores possible.
by Chris Nickson
by Rick Broida
In this article, PC Magazine's Rick Broida does a good job weighing the pros and cons of subscription music sites. He notes that on the downside, you have to buy songs outright in order to burn them onto a… CD, and once your subscription lapses, so does your access to downloaded songs. On the plus side, however, you can potentially sample thousands of releases. His two favorite services are Music Now (since folded into Napster), which requires no client software, and Napster, which accepts PayPal and has a big library.
by Jason Chen
Reviewer Jason Chen looks at the Zune Marketplace, Microsoft's music download service for its Zune MP3 player, and compares it to Apple's iTunes. He rates the two services about equally, noting that iTunes… has more content but the Zune Marketplace has a subscription plan. He adds, however, that iTunes users would have a problem making the switch to Zune, and that Mac users can't use the service at all.
by Editors of Which?
Which? -- the British equivalent of Consumer Reports -- tests eight music download sites for ease of use, speed and flexibility, range of music and quality (clicks, hisses, etc.) of downloaded tracks. The… top-rated site here is the U.K. iTunes store, followed by the British version of Napster (Napster.co.uk), which is praised for its "great range of music and good-quality sound." Note that due to copyright laws, many of the sites reviewed here can only be used from within the U.K., though some -- such as Napster.co.uk -- have U.S. equivalents, and others, such as Classical.com and the Sweden-based eClassical.com, can be accessed from anywhere in the world.
by Dave Salvator
ExtremeTech.com looks into the pricing, bit rate, file format and DRM technology of nine leading music sites. Dave Salvator also explores some of these sites' less quantifiable attributes, including which… services specialize in less mainstream genres or styles. Generally, he thinks iTunes is great for its extensive catalog, sharing and streaming capabilities, but is hobbled by its proprietary format. Services that use WMA, like MSN Music, have more flexibility. Subscription services, like MusicMatch (now folded into Yahoo! Music Unlimited, which has merged with Rhapsody) and Napster had the most complete catalogs when this article was written. We'd rate this review much more highly if it were more recent.
by John Aubrey
by Not Dated
About.com provides a list of what reviewer Mark Harris considers the top seven music download services, but it's not clear from the descriptions whether or not he personally tested each service. Summaries… on the main page are brief, but links to more detailed pages on each service are provided. Most read like a page of product specifications rather than a true critical review, however. One of Harris' picks, Yahoo! Music Unlimited, has merged with Rhapsody. (Note that About.com and ConsumerSearch share a parent company but are not editorially affiliated.)
by Editors of Consumer Reports
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