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Thursday, July 17, 2008

How To Find legal Zune music downloads

By Daniel Lincoln

Legal Zune music downloads are much sought after these days. It is in fact quite easy to find them and you will find out how. The good thing about Zune is that it totally frees its owners from the digital rights management DRM download restriction. DRM is copyright information embedded onto the MP3 files which stops downloaders from file sharing with others. Because of this, it is a more versatile player and you can find more places to legally download Zune music.

Zune Marketplace

This place is the source of all media downloads for Zune. But it is different from iTunes to iPod. iTune MP3s are not Zune-compatible. In other words, because of the DRM embedded in iTunes files, you cannot play it on a Zune. Since Zune has partnered with 4 major record labels like Sony BMG, Warner Music Group, EMI and Universal Music Group, the selection of songs at the Marketplace is huge and comparable to iTunes.

Zune Marketplace works on a pay-per-download business model. Each user has to register, buy the Zune credits and pay for each song you download. Every now and then, you will come across some free legal Zune music downloads. These are normally distributed by new independent singers and musicians.

Premium MP3 websites

These services are not directly linked to the portable media device manufacturers or record labels. They are online music stores that offer MP3 downloads either on a pay per download basis or a subscription basis. A lot of these sites do let you try them out during a 30 day trial period. There is often a cap on the number of songs you can download. After the trial, you will be charged according to their terms.

They are permitted to distribute the music and they often provide a free download interface or download manager to manage your downloads. It is easy to synchronize this software with your Zune player. But you need to first check if their files are Zune-compatible.

Online Streaming Radio Stations

Another great source of legal Zune music downloads are the online streaming radio stations. From the pop-up players, you will be able to see the song title and artist name. If you like what you are listening to, you can always follow the link to the download site. These radio stations have long standing business relationship with the major record labels and smaller independent labels so you should be able to find some really good music.

What about using free sites to get Zune music downloads? My advice is to avoid those totally free sites. Essentially, they earn their money by offering adware and spyware laden client applications to users. You get free music, while they get to flash those persistent and irritating commercial ad pop-ups, pop-overs, pop-unders before you. Worse still, if you are not careful, viruses will make their way to your computer. So, do spend a little money and enjoy your peace of mind downloading legal Zune music downloads today instead.

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