There are many good reasons to purchase and download music from online music stores. Advantages include the convenience of buying a song whenever the inspiration strikes, the ability to buy the music in a format that will work immediately with your portable player, and potentially finding a larger selection than is available in any one physical store. As more retail options become available, it is important to remember that the industry is in its infancy with regards to downloadable music, and that there will be many false starts before individual services begin to stand out. Some services are hobbled by low quality digital encodings, restrictive rights management schemes, or poor compatibility with some portable players. One of the first out of the gate, and the current market leader, is Apple's iTunes Music Store. Breakdown takes a look at the iTunes Music Store and rates it according to the Breakdown guidelines for online music stores.
Sound Quality: Apple encodes each song at 128 kbps AAC, and some of these songs have been ripped directly from the original DAT studio masters. While this format is significantly better than MP3 encodings at the same bitrate, a decent pair of speakers and a decent pair of ears can easily distinguish between the downloaded music and the original CD. File sizes are small enough, however, that 10,000 of them can fit on a 40 GB iPod. Score: 5
Fair Use Rights: Apple packages each song as a secured version of AAC. The restrictions aim to find a balance between placating the recording industry and pleasing the customer. Each downloaded song can be played as many times as you want on up to three authorized computers. The user can easily de-authorize one computer and authorize another as many times as necessary. Each song can be burned to CD or transferred to an iPod without restriction. Score: 7.
Cross-Platform Compatibility: Apple's iTunes application is required to browse and purchase from its music store. This application runs on Mac OS X, Mac OS Classic, and Windows 2000 or XP. While the iTunes application itself supports a large number of MP3 players, Apple's proprietary AAC format used with the iTunes Music Store currently does not work on any portable media player aside from the iPod. Moreover, music purchased from Apple can only be played inside the iTunes application on Windows XP, 2000, or on the Mac, thus seriously limiting cross-platform compatability. Score: 6
Usability: The iTunes music player itself is the best available for any platform. An interface to the music store is built into the player and can seamlessly preview each song. Payment is as simple and intuitive as opening an account with Apple or AOL and having your credit card be automatically billed. Apple also supports gift certificates and recurring music allowances. Once a song has been downloaded, it can be managed or played like any other other media, burned to CD, or synced with an iPod. Score: 9
Price: The iTunes application itself is free (and definitely worth the download on both Mac and Windows). Individual songs can be downloaded for $0.99 each, and full albums usually run about $10. While purchasing individual songs is nice, and purchasing full albums costs slightly less than full retail price, actual CDs can be bought used or discounted online for less than at the iTunes store. And real CDs won't be restricted at all in terms of compatibility or copy protection. Score: 6
Independent Selection: The iTunes Music Store carries only four of the ten representative albums from Breakdown's list of popular independent music. Amazon, by way of comparison, carries all ten. However, four albums out of ten is better than what the iTunes Store offered just a few months ago. Expect a much larger selection as this service grows and additional labels are signed on. Score: 4
Overall Score: The iTunes store has a lot going for it. The store has easily the best interface in the business, uses reasonable Digital Rights Management, and is run by a trustworthy company. However, the store's shortcomings, small as they seem, mean that more often than not a quick trip to a local record shop for the vinyl or CD or shopping around for a used copy is often the better bet. Simply because the iTunes Music Store is one of the best online stores available today doesn't mean that it is quite worth using yet. But given Apple's track record, this is the service to beat, and it will likely continue to improve. Score: 6
Read the EMusic Review.
Read the Audio Lunchbox Review.
Read the Bleep Review.
Read the Wal-Mart Online Music Store Review.
Read the Napster 2.0 Review.
Read the Breakdown guidelines for this review.