Despite the growing of music streaming services wish Spotify and Apple Music, many people still prefer to buy (at to the lowest degree some of) their music.

Buying music online means you have information technology outright rather than using it under license. Per se, tracks aren't going to disappear from your library suddenly. Asset, thither's none danger of the parent company going out of business enterprise and taking your music collection with IT.

If you want to buy music rather than stream euphony, here are the best places to buy music online.

1. Amazon

When you buy a song or album online, on that point are two ways you can undergo the depicted object—either digitally (in the form of an MP3 file) or physically (as a CD or vinyl record). Virago caters to some markets.

When you enter the itemisation of a song Oregon album that's visible on Virago, you will see a selection of purchase options available. Depending happening handiness, you can choose to grab the MP3 or physical version. The MP3 version is generally cheaper. If you steal the CD reading, you will typically be granted a free copy of the MP3 version.

And remember, if you download the Amazon River Music app, you can stream all of your digital music purchases from within IT.

2. iTunes Store

Apple iTunes Store was the primary online music stack away, and it continues to thrive to this day, albeit in a slenderly reimagined format. Most singles on iTunes cost $0.99, though popular songs are unremarkably $1.29. The default option price of an album is $9.99.

But how can you access the iTunes Salt away? It depends on which operating system you're using.

  • If you use a Mac, the iTunes Shop has been part of the totally-new Apple Music app since the release of macOS Catalina. The old iTunes app no more exists, but you can still expend your iTunes assembling in the Apple Music app.
  • The iTunes Depot is a standalone app on iOS.
  • Conversely, iTunes does still exist on Windows. You will find the iTunes Store within information technology.

Regardless of the app, the upshot is the same—you can buy a whole number version of a song and download it onto your gimmick.

3. Beatport

Beatport is the best online music put in for fans of electronic dance music (EDM). You can buy music As singles Oregon albums; to the highest degree singles monetary value $1.29 or $1.99, patc albums run to about $10.

Incomparable of the store's best features is the ease with which you fire find rising tracks. EDM is notoriously semihard to navigate for newcomers—the sheer number of DJs, producers, and remixes make IT hard to discover fresh music you'll love. However, with Top 100 charts, DJ charts, endless genre categories, and even an incidental blog, Beatport lowers the entry barrier well.

4. 7digital

7digital is arguably the king of high-resolution music downloads. The troupe has been around since 2004.

Most songs are available in three formats: 320kbps MP3 (standard quality), 16-bit/44.1kHz FLAC (CD quality), and 24-bit/96kHz FLAC (high-RES quality).

Unless you're an audiophile with an expensive loudspeaker apparatus, the high-RES version is probably an unnecessary expense. It's easy to spot which formats are available for which tracks/albums thanks to the tags on the record album artwork thumbnails.

The number of songs/albums available for purchase on 7digital is in the millions. As such, you can be overconfident you testament find the music you want, even if it falls into a niche genre. Totally the modish hits from the Earth's biggest music stars are also available.

5. HDtracks

The otherwise big name in the high-resolution audio worldly concern is HDtracks. IT directly competes with 7digital.

There are both pros and cons when compared with its rival. On the upside, HDtracks has a greater act of audio formats on tap. The highest quality tracks (24-bit/176.4KHz) are a significant step au fait the best soaring-res tracks on 7digital, though most of the music obtainable in the highest-quality data format waterfall into the classical music music musical genre.

On the downside, the site is Sir Thomas More geared towards albums. If you prefer buying singles, you might birth healthier luck with 7digital.

Make surely you also check up on the various "Top" lists. They are divided by genre and let you search the most popular music on the locate for a conferred domain.

Personify sure to check out the best streaming services for audiophiles if you love hi-res medicine.

6. Bandcamp

Musicians have spent much of the last decade criticizing services like Spotify for their defrayment models. At $0.006 to $0.0084 per trifle, artists and bands need to whip hundreds of thousands of listens before they wee-wee money.

Bandcamp, which is an independent platform, offers a more band-amiable mould. Musicians can have their own stores along the site and sell their songs direct to fans.

As a buyer, you can download a track as umteen multiplication as you want once you've paid for IT. Somatogenic CDs and vinyl records are also available for purchase (though shipping costs can sometimes be preventative).

Septuple formats are usable for digital downloads, including MP3, FLAC, ALAC, AAC, OGG, WAV, and AIFF.

7. CD Universe

If you're a traditionalist who prefers owning CDs over extremity music, check up on CD Macrocos. The locate is fair basic, but IT has one of the well-nig in-depth collections of CDs and vinyl records available for purchase anywhere on the web. At the last matter, at that place were more than 800,000 titles.

We as wel like that Candle Universe accepts payments via PayPal. That sets information technology asunder from Amazon, the other big corporal CD seller on our list. The cost of a CD is slightly high on Atomic number 48 Universe, notwithstandin.

8. Walmart

Walmart might non be the forename that pops into your head when you think about music, but the grocery giant has long offered CDs and vinyl records in its stores and online.

The collection of titles isn't as abyssal nor arsenic niche A Amazon and the likes of, but if you're looking for to pick up the up-to-the-minute music from today's stars, you'll breakthrough the albums promptly available along with capitalist prices.

And remember, Walmart offers a getaway service. You can get the euphony you want in a physical form without waiting for a delivery driver or needing to pose foot inside a entrepot.

Buying Music vs. Streaming Music

Everyone has their preferences, and we're not expiration to aver that one approach is better than another. It depends connected whether you favour the ease of Spotify surgery the legal ownership of purchasing medicine outright.

Think of, you can buoy download your most-loved albums on Spotify for offline listening. However, you cannot export them outside the Spotify ecosystem.

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About The Source

Dan Cost (1611 Articles Published)

Dan joined MakeUseOf in 2014 and has been Partnerships Theatre director since July 2020. Reach out to him for inquires about sponsored content, assort agreements, promotions, and any other forms of partnership. You tush too find him roaming the show floor at CES in Las Vegas each year, say hi if you're going. Prior to his writing career, he was a Commercial enterprise Adviser.

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