Music Players, Service and Sites

Greetings fellow music lovers!

I've spent more hours than I am willing to publicly admit researching MusicMatch, Real Rhapsody, and the latest entry, Yahoo Music Engine to find out what all of these advertisements are about and whether the default player that came with my laptop is worth anything or if I should change.

As a musician, I justify / rationalize the time expenditure by looking at the cost of purchasing CD's that have songs I want to hear or learn for a performance. So, after hours of sorting through nonsense, I've reached a conclusion.

The result - I'm now a trial subscriber to Yahoo! The reasons: They just bought my default player's company, MusicMatch Jukebox (which started this whole research with their constant "Upgrade Now" message everytime I tried to play something), they had a 7 day trial, and they are currently the cheapest service for both subscription (download to devices) and Cd burnable (purchase individual songs and albums).

Here's an article from Extreme Tech ( http://www.extremetech.com/ ) that I ran across to help anyone get started if they are interested in the development and distinctions and, like me, are digital music illiterate:

Which Service is the Best?
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1784304,00.asp


So, that's what I decided - let me know what you think about the whole issue of digital music, Music Players, Services, and Sites.

Yours in Music - jaz

[PS - Of course, just like back when I had my first LP collection, I had to build a replacement "8-track" collection and then a "cassette" collection and then a "CD" Collection, I now have to purchase a "portable device." But not today - the laptop is handling the subscription just fine. I'll let you know if there is any issue with the download and CD Burning/song purchase features but the buzz is, it's Yahoo so they will be able to handle the job nicely. (I"m reminded of the Blockbuster entry into the DVD by mail market, which, at the time, they had not gotten up to speed in many respects to the much longer established "Netflix." They lost a lot of customers as a result but, the big-guys have to jump in somewhere). ed.]