Where should you buy your music? TechTV Labs guides you through the crowded field of online stores.

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Online music services compared




















































































Download service
Apple iTunes Music Store
Roxio Napster 2.0 (store/premium)
Real Rhapsody and Real Music Center
Musicmatch 8.2
Walmart.com Music Downloads
Type
Download
Download, subscription
Download, subscription
Download
Download
Price per download
$.99
$.99
*$.79
$.99
$.88
Price per album
$9.99 to $13.99
$9.95
NA
$9.99
$9.44
Monthly subscription
NA
$9.95
$9.95
NA
NA
Codec
AAC
WMA
Real AAC
WMA
128-Kbps WMA
OS
Windows/Mac
Windows
Windows
Windows
Windows
Titles
500,000
500,000
500,000
500,000
300,000
No. of burns for each playlist
10
5
1
5
10x per song
Preview
30 seconds
30 seconds
Entire song
30 seconds/20 Kbps
30 seconds/64 Kbps
Album art
Yes
No
No
Yes
No
Computers per account
Three
Three
No limit
Three
One

* Price for rights to stream, $.99 for complete download
Genre and song search





































































































































Download service
Apple iTunes Music Store
Roxio Napster 2.0 (store/premium)
Real Rhapsody and Real Music Center
Musicmatch 8.2
Walmart.com Music Downloads
Search by:
track, album, artist, genre, composer
track, album, artist, member
track, album, artist, composer
track, album, artist
track, album, artist
Billboard Hot 25
21
20
19
21
21
Classic rock (songs/albums)
Rolling Stones
222/ 18
182/ 17
557/ 40
224/ 18
222/ 17
Tom Petty
213/ 16
223/ 17
219/ 16
217/ 13
83/ 4
Country (songs/albums)
Johnny Cash
250/ 19
500/ 26
764/ 37
648/ 24
539/ 14
Shania Twain
114/ 7
105/ 5
113/ 6
92/ 6
93/ 5
Electronic (songs/albums)
Air
0/ 0
36/ 3

4/ 0

24/ 2

1/ 0
Moby
101/ 7
63/ 4
191/ 10
73/ 2
17/ 0
Hip Hop (songs/albums)
The Roots
61/ 4
78/ 5
88/ 0
80/ 2
13/ 0
Outkast
208/ 6
163/ 7
182/ 2
203/ 2
81/ 1
Pop (songs/albums)
Michael Jackson
236/ 13
264/ 15
199/ 14
224/ 5
217/ 6
No Doubt
86/ 6
80/ 6
82/ 6
81/ 5
80/ 6
Jazz (songs/albums)
John Coltrane
250/ 41
500/ 60
440/ 43
469/ 44
268/ 6
Diana Krall
75/ 6
88/ 6
85/ 6
72/ 5
77/ 6
Alt Rock (songs/albums)
Sonic Youth
181/ 13
220/ 13
191/ 14
180/ 11
195/ 13
The Cure
94/ 8
70/ 5
232/ 15
77/ 4
88/ 7

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