By: Brandon Zierer
Millions of people all over the world are downloading music in building up their music library. You can find music downloads from all genres. In order to build your music library efficiently, you should learn the right way to go about it. This article will offer some helpful advice in downloading music.
If you download music from lesser known sites, having antivirus software on your computer is essential. Be particularly careful not to download any file ending with .exe; these are particularly prone to viruses. You may think you just downloaded a song, but in actuality, you may have just downloaded the latest virus. This software can protect you from hackers who want to access your personal information. Make sure it is running anytime you choose to download some tunes, and always make sure to keep it updated too.
A great tip to use when thinking about downloading music is to start using pandora radio. Pandora radio can be a great way to discover new music that’s similar to music you already like. You simply create a station based around a song or artist you like, and it will playback similar music for you. If you prefer to see the band actually playing the music, or performing a video, then perhaps you want to start with Youtube. You can get free music there, and rip it to mp3 format. The upside of this is that you can use simple software to accomplish the task, and it allows you to avoid paying for each song that you download. The downside is the quality of the music might not be the highest.
Know what tunes you already own prior to making a purchase. You want to avoid buying music you already have, which is a real waste of your hard-earned money. Most services have a way for you to review your music purchase and download history. If you decided to use a peer to peer service (P2P), then choose your service wisely. This can be your key to getting the music you want. Don’t get in trouble for sharing music you don’t have the rights to share. Read up on reviews and talk to people you know to find the best service to suit you. Look for testimonials by other users to make sure that you won’t regret using any particular service. When you pay for a music service, you can usually get extra downloads for free. Avoid them on free sites. These downloads range from mildly annoying for you to extremely harmful for your computer.
If you want to try out some more obscure artists, keep your eyes peeled for free music available from them. Even the most popular sites, like Amazon and iTunes, offer free downloads from time to time. This is great way to build your music library without spending money on tunes you may or may not like. Always check the music file’s size before you open it. It’s not hard to download the wrong thing. A file that you weren’t intending to download could damage your computer (see the discussion on virus checkers above). Check the size of the file to make sure it is a regular size. If it’s too big or small you should get rid of it.When you download a song online, check its size. If it is less than 2 megabytes, unless it is a very short song, it is likely to be a virus. Most viruses are just text and they don’t take up much hard drive space, so be wary of small files.
If money is tight, you may want to buy a CD from Amazon.com instead of buying a digital track for 99 cents. CDs these days, especially used ones on Amazon, are really cheap. You can buy many of your favorites for just a few dollars. Then when you get it, burn the songs from the CD to make them digital downloads. So for the price of 1 or 2 songs, you’ve just gotten 10 to 15 songs.
Look online to find out more about tweaking your network speed. It is likely that your computer isn’t optimized right out of the box. That means you need to learn a bit about these alterations to your settings to get the fastest downloads for your online music needs. Custom information for your computer set-up can be found on the internet.
If there is a specific band you like, sign up on their website. Join their offical fan club, or even fan clubs created by fan groups. Join their Facebook page as well. You may be offered samples of new music or even a free MP3 from time to time. On top of that, you can get discounts when you buy tour tickets or their album online along with other perks.
Look for free MP3s in free music archives. These archives have music that’s been given to the public domain, so it’s totally free and legal. There is a lot to, and you won’t know what songs you can find as you go through the catalog.
Have you ever been to The Internet Archive? While it does archive websites, it also does so much more. The Internet Archive has a broad swath of free MP3 tracks you get to download easily. They want to archive everything online, and that includes songs we can easily download. If you’re a music lover and using a paid downloading site, always look for deals on certain music by browsing. Some songs and albums will be available at a discount, and buying a whole album is going to prove much cheaper than buying individual songs in the long run. Of course, some people only want a specific song, but music lovers often enjoy a whole album.
Do you need to understand what it means to download and stream tunes? If you have a great deal of music on hand, you need proper storage. Indeed, streaming is only good for those with Internet connections and bandwidth via cell phone can be costly. It’s a hard choice!
Rather than trying to download music illegally, think about using a legal online radio station. Pandora, Slackr, and Last.fm are all options for those who want to listen to music without illegal downloads. Most of these sites also have apps available if you have a smart phone at your disposal. Rdio is a great way to get access to a ton of music without having to buy or download each song. If you like mainstream songs, then you’ll be able to find everything you want in one place. If you like more obscure music, then this isn’t the option for you.
Now that you have learned the best ways in downloading music, you can use this information to build up your music collection. Once you have a digital music library, you will have a lot of flexibility in how you access this collection. Remember the advice here, and enjoy your new music collection.