Top Programs for Downloading MP3s: Expert Recommendations | TIA

[Karen]

What programs (besides Itunes) do you recommend for downloading MP3's? I just bought a new, simple, "easy to use" MP3 player for my husband and am wondering what website is the easiest and most user friendly to use for downloading music.

I use Itunes when downloading music to my Iphone, however the guys at Best Buy said I would not be able to use the music on my Itunes for this MP3. And that I should use something similar to "Frostwire", however I didn't think that was a safe website.

Just looking for ideas, suggestions, and advise. TIA!

 

[richardson3]

Oooo, I want to know to please!!!!

 

[EmilyStraw]

I use Amazon mp3

 

[kam]

I use amazon, too. Pretty straight forward.

I also use emusic.com, but that is a monthly fee. Not really a subscription. Once you buy the song it is yours forever (even if you stop membership). But, the idea is you pay $x a month and have that month to use it. More indie stuff here.
I have been a long term member, so I pay 11.99 a month and can download 13.99 worth of songs each month. Not sure what subscription plans are available now.

 

[ShellBeach]

ooooh, I was an eMusic subscriber back when it was a subscription service. Fond memories of those days & wild music discoveries! These days, it's more of a pre-paid card that you have to use up every month.

As for iTunes, it's easy to get their songs in mp3 format for other players.
right-click > Create mp3 version
for the song(s) you want to convert.
They have weekly free songs that come out every Tuesday. Some of them have been really good!
The guys at BestBuy are completely uninformed.

My advice is to always check Amazon mp3 prices, though. They are usually .99 where iTunes is $1.29 for the most popular ones.

Google also has an mp3 service.

Yes, avoid Frostwire & other bit torrent sites like that. Too easy to get a malware-infected file.

 

[Melissa78]

I use amazon even for my itunes b/c it auto downloads into iTunes. Just a tip - it stores your music in a different folder than the rest of your music. If you're one that doesn't use amazon's cloud or icloud, this is important to know b/c when I backed up all my music, I didn't know this and I left out that folder. One week later my computer crashed (ironic huh?) and I lost my amazon downloads.
I'm now a believer in their cloud.

 

[ShellBeach]

You can change the amazon downloader to use the iTunes folder, but good point! It does not install that way.

 

[Melissa78]

Yep, a 'small' detail they leave out

 

[Karen]

Thanks everyone! I'm off to check out Amazon and get some music loaded as I wait for the 8-16 inches of snow they are predicted for the next couple of days! Stay warm and safe!

 

[ShellBeach]

Forgot to say - with any of these services, consider keeping your credit card info safe by switching your payment method back to "none" after buying.

There was a huge amount of hacking going on in iTunes about a year ago. Don't know if Apple fixed it, but hackers were putting up apps in the app store, the kind where you have to buy points or whatever to advance to different levels in the game. Then people were getting charges for $$$ on games they never played. I read one horrible story about a person not being able to make rent and his bank account getting frozen, etc.

It's a hassle to keep entering payment info if you intend to buy things several times per week, but if you're just buying rarely, you can set your payment method back to none when you're finished with your purchase.