A great way to get music downloads is to utilize iTunes. Not only is it easy to find the music you want, it is easy to download and transfer the music to an iPod or iPhone. You can also find great deals and sales on iTunes.

Always make sure that you download your music from a legal website. If you download music illegally, you can face harsh fines. In many cases you can be fined up to $500 per song. The artists deserve to be paid for the music they make, so download only legal copies of the songs that you love.

Choose your P2P service wisely. This can be your key to getting the music you want. 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.

Beware of using illegal means to download your music. There are many peer to peer networks out there that’ll give you access to lots of music. But this does open you up to potential legal problems and big fines if caught. These free files might also contain hidden malware. Overall, it’s a better and safer option to just purchase what you love.

Many artists have put up their own music for download at under one dollar per song. This is a good way of getting a copy of your favorite song and directing all proceeds back to the artist instead of to a third party distributor. The artist gets paid in full for his work, and you get a great song.

Watch the file sizes of your music downloads carefully. A normal music download will be somewhere between 2 megabytes and 5 megabytes. If you see something much less or much more, there could be something fishy about the file. MusicManager may be spyware and not the song you were hoping it was.

If you are looking for free, legal music downloads, consider using a free music archive. A couple popular ones are Free Music Archive and The Internet Archive. These are nonprofit sites that contain all kinds of free, legal music from many genres. These are great for securely and legally experiencing some new artists or getting some rare tracks from some of your favorites.

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.

If you install peer to peer networking software, don’t install any of the add-ons or extra software which it offers you. These programs are often adware which can eat up resources on your computer or internet connection, plus they add no benefit to the software itself, so just uncheck those boxes.

Make sure any sites you are downloading music from contain adware, virus and spyware protection. Any reputable site will offer all three. Remember that downloading things from the Internet can be dangerous, compromising your privacy and your expensive computer. To keep yourself safe, never download anything if these three things are not present.

Stay away from websites that offer free music downloads. Most of them are not only illegal, but they are scams. Some will ultimately force you to download software which can damage your computer and is often riddled with viruses. Other websites are downright illegal and take money away from the musicians.

The booming industry of music downloads shows no signs of abating anytime soon, and it is therefore important for as many people as possible to understand it. Use the ideas presented within this article to get the music you want simply, safely and cheaply. Have fun!