Comparison of online music stores - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

For streaming services, see list of online music databases.

The following table lists online music store

Online music store

An online music store is an online business which sells audio files, usually music, on a per-song and/or subscription basis. It may be differentiated from music streaming services in that the music store offers the actual music file, while streaming services offer partial or full listening without...

s that carry a selection of songs by many record labels and artists. The stores listed below access passive databases and require access through a computer or some allow access and downloads through a mobile phone. Only stores that have 1 million songs or will have 1 million songs soon and offer a wide general selection of music are listed below.

Store	Selection (approximately)	Geographic restrictions	Platform	Format	DRM Digital rights management Digital rights management is a class of access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals with the intent to limit the use of digital content and devices after sale. DRM is any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that...	Preview	Trial	Other
7digital 7digital 7digital is a privately held digital media delivery company based in the United Kingdom, offering downloadable music, video and movies to customers primarily within major European markets...	+11,000,000 songs	16 countries across Europe and North America	Platform Independent for MP3 songs	192, and 320 kbit/s MP3; 192, and 320 kbit/s AAC; 192 kbit/s WMA; FLAC (for a few albums)		30 seconds	None	Podcasting; charts; videos; trailers; audiobooks
Addictech	5,000+ songs	None	Platform Independent	192, and 320 kbit/s MP3; FLAC; and WAV		60 seconds	None	Charts of music
Amazon MP3 Amazon MP3 Amazon MP3 is an online music store owned and operated by Amazon.com. Launched in public beta on September 25, 2007, in January 2008 it became the first music store to sell music without digital rights management from the four major music labels , as well as many independents...	17,915,992 songs	United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, Japan	Platform independent for individual tracks and browsing the store, Amazon MP3 Downloader is required for downloading albums (Windows 98 or later, Mac OS X or Linux)	256 kbit/s VBR MP3		30 seconds	None	Amazon MP3 Downloader integrates with iTunes ITunes iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.... and Windows Media Player Windows Media Player Windows Media Player is a media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices...
Arkade	12,000+ Tracks 8,500+ Artists	None	Platform Independent	MP3		Controlled by user	Free trial site	Independent artists. Multi-currency support. Cover versions support
artistxite	+11,000,000 songs	Some	Platform Independent	MP3, AAC		30 seconds	None	Stylemixer allows users to find new music by combining music styles. Editorial content includes album reviews and music specials
Audimated Audimated Audimated is a social networking website for independent musicians and their fans. Audimated.com, which launched in June 2010, offers a platform in which both artists and fans can sell music and related products to make a profit...	+10,000 songs	None (available worldwide)	Platform Independent	MP3		Free to join.	Full stream available.	Users can earn a commission by sharing their favorite music.
Bandcamp Bandcamp Bandcamp is an online music store, as well as a platform for artist promotion, that caters mainly for independent artists. Artists on Bandcamp have a customizable microsite with the albums they upload. All tracks can be played for free on the website and some artists offer free music downloads...	2,500,000 songs	None	Platform Independent	MP3, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, Apple Lossless, FLAC,		Full	None
Beatport Beatport Beatport is an online music store specializing in electronic dance music and culture. Beatport is a privately held company owned and operated by Beatport LLC and based in Denver, Colorado.-History:...	+2,000,000 songs	Varies by track	Platform independent	MP3, AAC, WAV		120 seconds	None	HTML 5, Waveform Display, Key Display
BuyMusic BuyMusic BuyMusic was a paid online music store run by Buy.com.Pricing: Cost per download typically US$0.99 per single, US$9.99 per albumPlatform: Microsoft Windows, Windows 98 and laterDownloading: YesBurning/Copying: YesStreaming: NoRadio: No...	1,000,000 songs	United States	Windows 98 or above, IE 5.01 or above	128, and 256 kbit/s WMA	, PlaysForSure		None
CDBaby	3,000,000+ songs	None?	Platform independent	MP3 200 kbit/s VBR		30 seconds	None	Full albums only
Classical Archives Classical Archives Classical Archives is an online digital music store focused exclusively on classical music. Originally opening as the Classical MIDI Archives in 1994 primarily as a repository for free MIDI sequences of classical music works, in August, 2000 the site incorporated as Classical Archives, LLC, and...	620,000+ songs, 7,800+ composers, 27,000+ artists, 120+ labels	Worldwide for most tracks, some tracks are only available in the United States and Canada	Platform independent (Current browser versions preferred)	320 kbit/s MP3, 256 kbit/s MP3, 192 kbit/s MP3, MIDI		60 seconds	14 days	Stream WMA, download MP3 and MIDI, free Music also available (limits per day)
Digital-Tunes		None	Platform Independent	320 kbit/s MP3; FLAC; and WAV		60 seconds	None	DJ charts; stream
Discogs Discogs Discogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...	404,000+ releases	None	Platform Independent	192, and 320 kbit/s MP3; 192, and WAV		130 seconds	None	Online music cataloging database; community; buys and sells used records
eBay EBay eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide... Digital Music Center		US and Canada only	Platform Independent	320 kbit/s MP3		60 seconds	None	Auctioning, buy and sell
eMusic EMusic eMusic is an online music and audiobook store that operates by subscription. It is headquartered in New York City with an office in London and owned by Dimensional Associates. As of September 2008 eMusic has over 400,000 subscribers....	13,000,000 tracks	United States, Canada, member states of the European Union, Norway and Switzerland	Windows 98 Windows 98 Windows 98 is a graphical operating system by Microsoft. It is the second major release in the Windows 9x line of operating systems. It was released to manufacturing on 15 May 1998 and to retail on 25 June 1998. Windows 98 is the successor to Windows 95. Like its predecessor, it is a hybrid... or later; Linux Linux Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds... ; Mac OS 9 Mac OS 9 Mac OS 9 is the final major release of Apple's Mac OS before the launch of Mac OS X. Introduced on October 23, 1999, Apple positioned it as "The Best Internet Operating System Ever," highlighting Sherlock 2's Internet search capabilities, integration with Apple's free online services known as... /X Mac OS X Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...	256 kbit/s VBR MP3, older tracks: 192 kbit/s VBR MP3		30 seconds	25 downloads	Download concerts, and audiobooks
Fairsharemusic Fairsharemusic fairsharemusic is a Download To Own music service that combines legal downloads with charitable donations. It is similar to other popular legal download sites, but donates half the profit from every download to charity...	16,000,000+	16 countries across Europe and North America	Platform Independent for MP3 songs	192, and 320 kbit/s MP3; 192, and 320 kbit/s AAC; 192 kbit/s WMA; FLAC (for a few albums)		30-60 seconds	None	From every download half the profit goes to the charity of your choice
GoMusic GoMusic GoMusic is a Russian music download site. The site offers a variety of music, special collections, as well as audiobooks in both Russian and English. Songs are priced per song, with prices from 9 to 19 cents; audiobooks rangefrom around $1.60 through $5.00 USD...	2,650,000 songs	None	Platform independent	192 kbit/s MP3		30 seconds	None	Soundtracks, audiobooks, and charts
HDtracks		none	Platform Independent	320 kbit/s MP3, FLAC, AIFF		30 seconds	None	High quality audiophile Audiophile An audiophile is a person who enjoys listening to recorded music, usually in a home. Some audiophiles are more interested in collecting and listening to music, while others are more interested in collecting and listening to audio components, whose "sound quality" they consider as important as the... tracks, some binaural.
HMV HMV Group HMV is a British global entertainment retail chain and is the largest of its kind in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The company also operates in Hong Kong and Singapore. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE Fledgling Index...		UK	Platform independent	256 kbit/s to 320 kbit/s MP3			None
immergent.com	~8,000,000 songs	USA	Platform independent	up to 320 kbit/s MP3		30 seconds	None	Charts, Rating, user profiles, blog, chat, social networking features
iMesh IMesh iMesh is a media and file sharing client that's available in 9 languages. It uses a proprietary, centralized, P2P network operating on ports 80, 443 and 1863. iMesh is owned by an American company iMesh, Inc. and maintains a development center in Israel...	4,000,000 pay-for songs, 15,000,000 free songs	United States, Canada	XP or Vista with Windows Media Player 10 or later.	320 kbit/s or 256 kbit/s MP3, 128 kbit/s WMA and various depending upon user shared content.	, PlaysForSure WMA for subscriptions, 320 kbit/s or 256 kbit/s MP3 for purchases, user shared content (free) may vary.	30 seconds	14 days from first premium download.	Artist discovery; Staff created playlists; soundtracks; online community.
INZU	1,000,000 pay-for songs	Worldwide	Platform independent	No format restrictions, popular formats: MP3, WAV, AIF		Controlled by user	None	User generated content selling digital and physical goods.
iTunes Store ITunes Store The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...	14,000,000+ songs	Some	Mac OS X 10.4.11 or later; Windows XP Service Pack 2 or later.	256 kbit/s VBR AAC Advanced Audio Coding Advanced Audio Coding is a standardized, lossy compression and encoding scheme for digital audio. Designed to be the successor of the MP3 format, AAC generally achieves better sound quality than MP3 at similar bit rates....	, FairPlay FairPlay FairPlay is a digital rights management technology created by Apple Inc., based on technology created by the company Veridisc. FairPlay is built into the QuickTime multimedia software and used by the iPhone, iPod, iPad, Apple TV, iTunes, and iTunes Store and the App Store. Formerly, all songs in... is still in some countries, notably iTunes Japan.	90 seconds	None	Podcasting; charts; movie trailers; audiobooks; movies; TV Shows; Music Videos; iTunes U; iPod Games; iPhone/iPod Touch Apps;
Jamendo Jamendo Jamendo is a music website and a community of music authors. It bills itself as "the world's #1 platform for free and legal music downloads under Creative Commons licenses."...	210,000+ songs	None	Platform independent	MP3; Ogg Vorbis		Full	None	Free, under a Creative Commons Creative Commons Creative Commons is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons... license or Free Art License Free Art license The Free Art License is a copyleft license that grants the right to freely copy, distribute, and transform creative works without needing the author's explicit permission.The Free Art License recognizes and protects these rights...
Juno Juno Records Juno Records is a UK-based online dance music retail store, selling vinyl records, CDs, music downloads and music accessories, founded by Richard Atherton and Sharon Boyd. The website was created in 1996 as an information-only site called The Dance Music Resource Pages, listing new dance music... / Juno Download	1,000,000 songs?	Worldwide?	Platform independent?	128 kbit/s MP3; 320 kbit/s MP3; WAV		60 seconds	None	192 mp3 (£0.99), 320 mp3 (£1.49), wav (£1.99). Discounts sometimes for whole release purchase. Only small 700x700 pixel front cover image supplied, not larger iTunes Cover Flow friendly 1500x1500 ones.
Magnatune Magnatune Magnatune is an American independent record label based in Berkeley, California, founded in spring 2003 by John Buckman, then-CEO of e-mail software company Lyris. It aims at treating both its musicians and its customers fairly—its tagline is "We are not evil"...	10,000 songs	None	Platform independent	MP3 high quality VBR and 128 kbit/s, WAV, FLAC, AAC, OGG		Full albums at 128k	Free listening at 128k	Streaming and download memberships for unlimited listening/downloads (50/50 revenue split with artists); encourages the distribution of up to 3 copies of downloaded albums to friends; exclusive selection
Moozone Moozone Moozone.com is a cloud-based online music storage service and digital music store. It is owned by Multimedia Online Services, Inc. The beta version of the web site was launched in September 2009...	6,300,000 songs	US only	Platform independent	MP3 320 kbit/s		30 seconds	None	Online music storage (personal digital locker), social network
MAQAM MAQAM MAQAM is a US based production company specializing in Arabic and Middle Eastern media. The company was established by a small group of Arabic music and culture lovers, later becoming a division of 3B Media Inc. "MAQAM" is an Arabic word meaning a position of high esteem...	10,000 songs	None	Platform Independent	MP3 high quality: 320 kbit/s constant rate		30-120 seconds	None	Specializes in Arabic, Middle Eastern, and North African Music
Napster Napster (pay service) Napster is an online music store and a Best Buy company. It was originally founded as a file sharing service. For more information about its founding mission as a free file sharing service, see Napster.-History:...	+12,000,000 songs	United States, Canada, Germany, or United Kingdom	Napster Web application (Windows/Mac/Linux), Internet Explorer 7.x (Recommended) or Firefox 2.x, Flash Player 8+; Napster software application (Windows only): Windows XP/Vista; Internet Explorer 7.x (Recommended); Windows Media Player Windows Media Player Windows Media Player is a media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices... 10+.	Purchase: 128, and 256 kbit/s DRM-free MP3 (Canada - DRM WMA); Subscription: 128, and 192 kbit/s WMA

} Purchase: no (DRM-free MP3 in some geographical areas, DRM in Canada); Subscription: Yes, PlaysForSure.
| Napster subscription-Entire song, unlimited; Free Napster-Entire song; Napster MP3 Store-30 seconds.
| 7 days
|
| Hi-res. album art included
|-
| NewMusicFeeds.com
| 2,500 songs
| None
| Platform independent
| 320 kbit/s MP3; 24 Bit Wav
|
| 30 Seconds
| None
|
| 90% payouts to artists.
|-
| Nimbit

Nimbit

Nimbit, Inc. is a Framingham, Massachusetts-based company offering direct-to-fan sales, marketing, and career management solutions for independent artists and music labels through Web-based services...

Optus Music Store

The Optus Music Store is an online web and mobile digital media store operated by Optus. Opening as the MTV Music Store in mid 2005, it is a major digital music vendor in Australia...

PayPlay.FM

PayPlay.FM is an online music store from the Ukraine. It was originally launched in the USA. The download music store currently offers over 3,600,000 songs of independent music in MP3 format. The store is available worldwide...

| 1,900,000 songs
| United States
| MP3 - Platform Independent, WMA - Windows 98 or higher; Windows Media Player

Windows Media Player

Windows Media Player is a media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices...

PlayNow

PlayNow is Sony Ericsson's download service for media including music, games, ringtones, wallpapers and themes. It was introduced in February 2004 as a way for owners of SE phones to listen to and directly purchase ringtones. It was rolled out into 32 countries....

Puretracks

Puretracks is a Canadian online music store, which launched officially on October 14, 2003. Puretracks works as a behind-the-scene music partner. Now a division of Somerset Entertainment, owned by Fluid Music, Puretracks has U.S...

| 3,000,000 songs
| United States and Canada
| Windows 98 or higher; Windows Media Player

Windows Media Player

Rhapsody (online music service)

Rhapsody is an online music store subscription service, launched in December 2001, and available in the United States only. On April 6, 2010, Rhapsody officially declared its independence from RealNetworks. Downloaded files come with restrictions on their use, enforced by Helix, Rhapsody's version...

Rhino Entertainment

Rhino Entertainment Company is an American specialty record label and production company. It is owned by Warner Music Group.-History:Rhino was originally a novelty song and reissue company during the 1970s and 1980s, releasing compilation albums of pop, rock & roll, and rhythm & blues successes...

, a subsidiary of Warner Music Group

Warner Music Group

Warner Music Group is the third largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the big four record companies...

Spotify

Spotify is a Swedish-founded, UK-headquartered DRM-based music streaming service offering streaming of selected music from a range of major and independent record labels, including Sony, EMI, Warner Music Group, and Universal. Launched in October 2008 by Swedish startup Spotify AB, the service had...

WAV

Waveform Audio File Format , is a Microsoft and IBM audio file format standard for storing an audio bitstream on PCs...

Vodafone

Vodafone Group Plc is a global telecommunications company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest mobile telecommunications company measured by revenues and the world's second-largest measured by subscribers , with around 341 million proportionate subscribers as of...

WiMP

WiMP is a Norwegian proprietary music streaming service, similar to Spotify, that allows instant listening to specific tracks or albums, with virtually no buffering delay. Music can be browsed by artist, by album or by created playlists as well as by direct searches...

Digital rights management

Digital rights management is a class of access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals with the intent to limit the use of digital content and devices after sale. DRM is any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that...

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