Soundbar offers of the week
The offers are selected by the Cnet Group Commerce team and cannot be related to this article.
When it comes to streaming music, comfort is often king. That is why most people are satisfied with listening to music about online platforms, how Spotify and Apple Music. However, streaming music is associated with its limits. On the one hand, you do not have any of the music that you hear, which means that it can be taken away in a second if the license holder wishes. If you are someone who wants more freedom when it comes to music and actually has the music that you love, we recommend going one step further and canceling your subscription to these streaming platforms and doing something else. You can either buy physical copies of your music or through a digital music business.
Now you may be confused about why we mention a digital music business. First, the purchase of digital music such as MP3s or Flac files has more advantages than you can see. As soon as you have bought these files, they can be saved on any device so that it is yours to stay forever. After your purchase, digital music shops also offer immediate downloads, and there is often a selection between different formats such as MP3s or AAC to save space and money. But if space restrictions are not a problem, most websites also offer lossless flac or alac versions for A Striking increase in quality. (They usually cost the same as MP3S.) If you prefer physical media and do not take care of the memory, you can buy CDs and Rib the music The old -fashioned path.
Regardless of whether you want to save only one album or a variety of music over time, we have summarized the best digital music shops out there. You will recognize some of these names, like iTunes and Amazon, but there are also some of our personal favorites who do not get the love that they believe that they deserve, such as Bandcamp and Qobuz. Regardless of which you choose, many of these shops offer apps for Android and iOS so that you can listen to the music you buy. You can also use the music apps that are pre-installed on your phone.
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Average costs per album: $ 10
Maximum bit rate: 256 Kbit / s (AAC)
iTunes may no longer be the star of Apple’s list, as this is Apple music is currently the company’s focus, but it is still one of the largest digital marketplaces. iTunes still sets the standard for lost music downloads, and his catalog should meet everyone except for their dark needs. Technically, iTunes does not sell MP3s. Instead, it sells songs in your own AAC format that can be read by almost any modern player.
If you use MacOS Catalina or higher, you can access the marketplace Music> iTunes Store. If you want to download in the back of the head, you need music membership, but you cannot keep the music when your subscription ends.
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Average costs per album: $ 10
Maximum bit rate: 320 kbit / s, lossless (up to 24 kHz)
With the support of many indie music label bandcamp (now a Part of the epic games) Perhaps the best alternative to iTunes or Amazon, especially if your taste becomes more esoterer. On the website you can do in which format you like (MP3, Flac, Apple Lustless) and apparently as often as you want without paying additional. In addition, the website is carried out regularly Bandcamp Friday Events that give the artist 100% of the proceeds.
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Average costs per album: $ 10
Maximum bit rate: 256 Kbit / s
If you are an Amazon Prime member, Amazon Music makes a lot of sense. You get a (limited) Streaming service And a music business to buy MP3s, in addition to streaming and Automatic back of physical slices that you buy. The homepage for digital music is pretty dreary – just a few blocked buttons instead of cover art – and contains prominent links too Amazon Music Unlimited Streaming.
Note that Amazon, although he has sunk his “digital loose” service, that stores your MP3s, the MP3S you buy from Amazon are still available for streaming and download.
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Average costs per album: $ 10 (CD quality), $ 15 (24-bit)
Maximum bit rate: Lossless (up to 24/192)
If you are only interested in high-quality downloads-and by that I mean especially mine 24-bit hi-res – The Qobuz Download Store is the cheapest. Like the Qobuz Music streaming serviceIt is aimed at a variety of music genres, from pop to jazz to death metal to everything you can imagine. The website also offers sales for new publications, including a recently carried out metallica promotion. If you are an ultra-keen audiophile, you can register for the $ 180-USD worth $ 180 per year, which also gives you discounts of up to 60% for hi-res-downloads.
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Average costs per album: $ 10
Maximum bit rate: 320 kbit / s, lossless (up to 24 kHz)
If your taste runs from indie to dance music with a scatter, you will find a lot to love Beep. The website also has a good selection of 16-bit and 24-bit flacs, which are not subject to the price increase of some competitive providers.
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Before that I recommended 7digital For its large selection of MP3s (and also Flac files), but the site has not been updated for some time. While the company was taken over by Music license company SongtradThe front page of the business has not changed in three years and the search for new publications (Bad Bunny, Lizzo, Gorillaz, etc.) appears empty. It cannot yet be seen what the acquisition will bring, since 7digital was once a great resource for music discoveries and cheaper downloads. Representatives of 7digital did not respond to my request to obtain further information.
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Despite the rise of the streaming, millions of MP3s are still up for sale and the number of tracks is constantly growing. All shops listed here enable you to legally download songs to a computer or directly on your phone. Most offer dedicated apps for Android. Note that iOS users may not be able to buy music from other sources than iTunes on their phones due to Apple restrictions.
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Google Play Music did not sell MP3s at the end of 2020 when the company for the Streaming YouTube music changed. All services mentioned above offer an excellent alternative to Google Play Music, and some like Bandcamp offer high quality for the same price. A function that YouTube Music has transmitted from Google Play Music is The Music Loose, with which you can upload your own music library.
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MP3 is referred to as a “lossy” format because it eliminates audio information to reduce file sizes, even at a maximum of 320 kbit / s rate. In comparison, Flac is a “loss -free” format, since it does not remove any information and instead music compresses in a similar way to a ZIP file. As a result, a flac sounds better than an MP3, especially one that was torn with a low bit rate of 128 kbit / s.
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