By Sarah B.
Portable music devices have practically forced the music business to turn to digital downloads. Everyday digital music downloads are gaining more ground even though record labels still produce albums on compact disc. Buying the actual CD does not, fortunately, prevent you from enjoying the digital version: you can rip the album to your computer, and then transfer the files to your MP3 player.
However, you might want to save yourself some time and effort by simply buying the music online and moving the songs directly to your player. Downloading has its pros and cons, though, so think about these things before you decide which version of that album you’re going to buy.
The Pros
When you purchase a full album online, it is typically less expensive than purchasing the full album on CD. Complete albums can be purchased for as little as ten dollars. Digital downloads are easy to transfer and can be accomplished without having to leave your home. A computer and internet connection are all that is required to purchase these songs online. Services frequently increase the number of albums and tracks that they offer. Many sites add new releases as they become available, while working on extending the catalog of older albums. Not many brick-and-mortar record stores can offer the selection that a popular download site boasts. You save time by not having to convert the tracks on your CDs to player-friendly formats. If you pick the right download service, you don’t have to convert anything: just buy, download, and transfer to enjoy your new music. Some download services offer exclusive tracks. iTunes is well-known for offering songs that you can get only through their store. This is a great way to experience more music by your favorite artists. CD singles are not very popular – but you can buy many songs on a track-by-track basis if you go online. If you really want just one or two songs from an artist’s album, you can usually buy just those tracks online.
The Cons
You do not control the audio quality. If you rip a CD, you can set the format and bit rate to increase or decrease the audio quality. Downloaded song files are rarely, if ever, truly equal to CD quality. If you’re a hardcore music lover, you might not appreciate the lesser quality. There is no physical, printed artwork available. Digital images are available within the downloaded file itself, but you don’t have the detail that you would on cd jewel cases. Not all download services are compatible with every music player. If you, for example, want to download an iTunes Exclusive track, you must either have an iPod or find a way to convert the file to work with your MP3 player. Not all file formats are compatible with all devices. For example, a popular format WMA may not work on all devices. The downloads are seldom available for you to download indefinitely. This means that if you ever change portable devices you might not be able to re-download the files to your new device. Digital downloads are a single use license and are not transferable. Compact discs can be enjoyed and later resold or traded in for newer music.
Music downloading is here to stay – but CDs will not go away tomorrow, or even the day after that. For the foreseeable future, music lovers will continue to have a choice between the two formats. Now that you’ve given the pros and cons of the digital revolution some thought, you should be able to make an informed decision about which option is best for you.
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