... to EzyTracks.com, a quick, up-to-date guide to Downloading Music.

To be quick, safe & legit, pay a dollar or less to download tracks from the following services....

Its popularity is due to many factors - iPod, easy of use, 1 million tracks, good pricing.

If you want to look cool, be legit & have access to a huge number of tracks, go the Apple way: buy an iPod, subscribe to iTunes. It is the easiest way known to man!

HomePage: http://www.iTunes.com- a safe script will check if you have the iTunes player installed
Countries serviced: USA, UK, France, Germany & the rest of the European Union
Prices: UK 79p per track, France or Germany 99 euro cents, USA 99 cents
Previews: yes, 30 seconds
Related Software: http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/
Related Hardware: order a new iPod from the Apple Store today.
Tracks available: 1 million tracks from all four major and more than 600 leading independent labels
Copyright: tracks will play on up to 5 computers, unlimited iPods, and can be burnt to CDs

Walmart is famous for its cheap prices. While it is lacking the depth of other services, and only sells WMA tracks, we expect it to always have the cheapest prices for popular songs.

USA HomePage: http://musicdownloads.walmart.com/
Countries serviced: USA only
Prices: USA 88 cents per track, albums work out cheaper
Previews: yes, 30 seconds
Related Software: Optional plug-in for Windows Media Player 9 or later (free) ttp://www.walmart.com/music_downloads/introToServices.do
Related Hardware: Anything that can play WMA files (currently iPods don't)
Tracks available: Over 400,000 songs
Format: 128-bit WMA files
Copyright: Download music to 1 computer and back up music to 2 additional computers. Make 10 burns to a CD. Make unlimited transfers to portable devices. More info

Despite your opinion of Microsoft, this site has competitive prices and a huge number of tracks. Album info is supplemented by reviews from the All Music Guide

USA HomePage: http://music.msn.com/
Countries serviced: USA - you can only purchase songs if you have a US credit card and billing address
Prices: USA 99 cents per track, most albums cost $9.99
Previews: yes, 30 seconds
Related Software: Windows Media Player
Related Hardware: there's a list at PlaysForSure, a Microsoft site.
Tracks available: over 1 million tracks from major music labels, independents, and even undiscovered artists
Format: 160kbps WMA files
Copyright: tracks will play on up to five Windows PCs. Burn playlists to CD up to seven times, and transfer to an unlimited number of portable audio devices

New service from the founder of MP3.com. Mostly new & upcoming artists (ie, you are unlikely to have heard of any of them), who get to keep almost $6 of every CD sold and almost $.60 for each song. This is the sort of service that could end multi-national record companies.

USA HomePage: http://www.mp3tunes.com
Countries serviced: Appears to be no restrictions. We bought a track from Australia with no problems
Prices: USA 88 cents per track
Previews: yes, 30 seconds
Related Hardware: anything that plays MP3 - basically 99.99% of music-playing hardware & software.
Tracks available: over 300,000 tracks
Format: 192-bit MP3 files
Copyright: No digital rights management - you can only legally make copies for personal use, although they'll never know if you give a copy to a friend..

NineMSN redirects to HMV's service, so it must be pretty good!. Ultimately it is powered by OD2.

Australia HomePage: http://hmv.com.au/
Countries serviced: Australia
Prices: $AU1.45-1.89 to buy a track, or $AU0.05 to stream
Previews: yes, 30 seconds
Related Hardware: anything that plays WMA - Tesora is a good online Aussie store.
Tracks available: over 350,000 tracks
Format: 128-bit WMA files
Copyright: You can only play it on the computer you downloaded to; in most cases you can burn to a CD or download to portable players but you can't copy it to another computer.

This is ultimately the service you are dealing with, if you buy tracks from any of Sanity, JB Hi-Fi, Chaos, Dick Smith, Rome, Tranzfusion, MP3.com.au & Whammo.

We've yet to find out how many tracks they have, but they are a solid alternative to HMV/Microsoft

Australia HomePage: http://www.destramusic.com/ then select a retailer
Countries serviced: Australia
Prices: $0.99-$1.89 to buy a track. Can buy pre-paid vouchers from Sanity, HMV and Chaos, or just use a credit card
Previews: yes, 30 seconds
Related Hardware: anything that plays WMA - Tesora is a good online Aussie store.
Tracks available: unsure
Format: 128-bit WMA files
Copyright: Australia only, burn to CDs 3 times, exports to secure devices that support WMA DRM only