What Are Your Two Options When it Comes to Online Music Download Sites

Downloading music online has been a controversial subject for many years now. Some people like music fans argue that it's legal while others like the music recording industry says it's not. But one thing is sure. It's becoming very confusing to know what is acceptable and what is not.

The fact of the matter is that at the moment, there are two ways you can download music online: through one-time fee file sharing sites or per-download fee music sites.

One-Time Fee File Sharing Sites

These sites are known as Peer-to-Peer program websites. Basically, these sites work by having participants voluntarily install special file-sharing software on their machines. In fact, the one-time fee you will pay is to have access to the software. Once you have put that software is in place, than you can start to trade MP3 music files with other users.

It can be considered controversial to download music from these sites. So, be careful and make sure to share files just a bit at a time.

Although these sites are very attractive in terms of price, they are not without problems. For example, the download speed can be slowed down when the file sharing load is heavy and your computer may not be protected from spyware and viruses that can cause damage.

Per-Download Fee Music Sites

With these sites you only pay for the music pieces you want. These sites are perfectly legal because when you purchase a song, a percentage of the fee goes directly to the artist or the recording company. The big advantage with this type of music download site is that if you only like one song from an artist album, you can just pay for that track instead of buying the whole album.

The good news is that these sites are becoming more popular and their number is increasing. Therefore, the prices are becoming cheaper. In fact, some have come up with a subscription-based membership model to differentiate themselves from the competition.

So, these are the two options available to you. Personally, I recommend going with the per-download fee music site option because the saving you would get from subscribing to file sharing site are not worth the potential risk of legal actions.

Carl Beliveau is an experienced affiliate marketer that has been active online since 2003. He's the editor of OurWebOffers.com a web site that reviews online products and services for it visitors.