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Below is a list of some of the services we are reviewing for you, with the best ones first, and the rest sorted alphabetically. Some reviews are complete, some are pending, and more sites will be listed as we find out about them*. All contain links to the services themselves. Quickjump to the six top rated services' reviews: AudioGalaxy.com eMusic.com Live365.com Napster.com Rhapsody.com TheSingingStation.com | |||||||||
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Free real-time streaming |
The 'Granddaddy' of them all, 7-day free trial. 100% legal. I found some 'exotic' tracks I couldn't find elsewhere. Not all record labels are distributed thru Napster, so you may wish to join more than one service. Can get pricey if you download multiple albums on a regular basis. Streaming quality was very good. Be sure and read the review. Napster is my favorite service. New! Napster 3.0 released! "Now with Napster To Go, you can fill and refill your compatible MP3 player without paying 99¢ a track. All the music you want. Any way you want it." |
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eMusic Basic: $9.99 per month/40 downloads eMusic Plus: $14.99 per month/65 downloads eMusic Premium: $19.99 per month/90 downloads |
From the help page: "eMusic stands alone as the only digital music service 100% focused on serving the needs of independent music fans and independent labels. eMusic is among the top digital music services, offering a diverse catalog of 400,000 tracks from established and emerging artists in every genre." eMusic is my second favorite, after Napster. Read the review for more information. |
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Prices range from $3.65 a month for a 24-month term billed every 2 years, up to $5.95 a month, billed monthly. This is actually less expensive than Napster. |
Live365 has thousands of advertising-supported online stations, or you can purchace a VIP Preferred Membership and listen in near CD-quality ad-free.
A really big plus is that you can use their software, or you can use your choice of RealOne, Windows's Media Player, or your own MP3 player. You can even create your own list of favorite tracks to listen to whenever you want. The radio quality is nearly as good as Napster's radio, but instead of around 50 radio stations, they have thousands! They also offer tons of free tracks you can download. Have your own broadcast? Live365 allows you to 'sidecast' thousands of tracks for free. You don't even have to keep the files on your own server. Disclamer: Since I wrote this review, I have started my own station on Live365, called 'All Top 70's Gold.', currently ranked the #5 70's station out of over 800, and as of today #370 overall (out of over 10,000 stations!) |
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Good source for Karaoke enthusasiasts. Some free downloads. $2 to $3.50 a track depending on the size of the song credit pack you buy. |
From the web page: "The Singing Station is your one-stop source for accompaniment music, community, discussion and, most of all, fun. It is our goal to provide high quality, reasonably priced soundtracks of all the latest popular songs direct to the public using the convenient MP3 format. Our tracks are not MIDI files but real musicians playing real instruments complete with live backing vocals." Most tracks can be previewed before you buy. |
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$4.95/month for "Radio Plus" Tracks to burn are $.79 each. |
Audio Galaxy's Rhapsody is an enhanced version of Rhapsody.com's player, with some great extras thrown in. If you like Rhapsody, check out this sites extras and decide if you want to go with them as opposed to the regular Rhapsody (reviewed below) instead.
Got your own band? Audiogalaxy provides 25MB free web page and music hosting to any artist, so others may download your music. The full review of this site is in progress. |
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Watch for our review coming soon! This site will have a full review, complete with screen shots and more info. You must read this review before you sign up with a Rhapsody affiliate! |
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At the bottom of the page is now a list of new rip-off sites we have found but not yet had a chance to do more than a quick-look.
If you are looking at a site not listed in the main section, look at the bottom of the page.
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Best research I can find is that it's a BitTorrent clone, which is why you get unlimited downloads for as long as you 'own' the service. 'Support' consists of a short Q and A page that suggests you download a poorly rated HTTP-tunnel program to get you around firewalls, as well as a few other 'basic' hints. States e-mail support, but I was unable to find the address to e-mail to. See review for more details. Recomendation: Don't waste your money. |
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Their FAQ page states that it's Direct Download (no P2P) however actually uses BitTorrent.
One minor plus is they have a guide that tells you how to burn movies, etc. to DVD. Useful if you are a beginner. This alone gets them a single good mark. Recomendation: Don't waste your money. |
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$28.95 - Lifetime $23.52 - 2 years $17.76 - 1 year $9.92 - Download DVDs |
Claims their software is 100% legal, and they are correct. Just as owning a gun is 100% legal, it's how you use it that may make it a crime to use. The same thing applies here. If you download anything copyrighted without the copyright owner's permission, you can be sued. Their website contains a link to an article about the judge ruling the software as being legal. It's an interesting read, if you have the time. Recomendation: Don't waste your money. |
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$24.95 Standard $19.95 1 Year |
One advantage this P2P service offers over most others is a nice set of tutorials. If you are an advanced user, they probably won't help you much.
The FileSharingCenter.com does frequently update the software selection they offer. Note this software is free from other sources, however they do take the work out of hunting it down for you, making it easier to find and use. This is the only reason it got a single smiley. Recomendation: Pass on this one. |
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$28.95 - Lifetime $23.52 - 2 years $17.76 - 1 year |
This rip-off actually claims "No per song fees" (on the 'Select Your Membership Type') page.
The sign-up page claims 'payments by PayPal(tm)' but the link actually takes you to iPay.com. My best guess is that PayPal quit taking their payments, so they switched but didn't bother to update their links. Recomendation: Run, and take your money with you. |
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$24.95 6 months $29.95 1 year $34.95 lifetime all memberships come with software bonuses. |
This site includes access to tons of 'Adult' content (porn). From the website:Never join an adult website again! Download all movies for free!!
The more expensive membership you buy, the more 'bonuses' you get. With the lifetime, you also get 'thousands of ringtones.' It appears that most of the 'bonuses' you get are freely available anyway, they just put them all in one place. That's the only good point I can see to this site. From the website: We are not a P2P based website (filesharing). Members download for free using direct database connections, without sharing. Recomendation: Put your credit card back in your pocket, and go on to the next review. |
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2 Year Access($24.95) 1 Year Access($19.95) Unlimited Movie downloads ($9.95) The ability to make DVD backups ($9.95) |
KlitePro supports a slicker front end on their web page than some of the other 'barely legal' websites. They also have a member's section where they will recommend other software for you to try and use as well. Unlike AllGreatMusic.com and some of the other blatent ripoffs, they don't claim that all their songs are 100% legal; they actually tell you in their TOS that it's up to you to NOT download any coprighted material. |
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Watch for our review coming soon! This site will have a full-blown review page, with multiple screen shots. This site is one of the few that is actually legal, and ranks close to Napster. |
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$24.95 Unlimited $17.95 two years $14.95 one year. |
Also known as www.safe-share.com, MP3Advance has a very agressive advertising campaign. Their ads are everywhere!
The software they provide is called 'Safe Share.' While The Spyware Information Center Doesn't come right out and call it spyware, they do give it a clot factor of 53, and say it may clog up your network and present security issues. On the plus side, they have an extensive help section to get the software working thru firewalls and also what to do if you are running WinXP SP2. Recomendation: Steer Clear. |
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$24.95 lifetime membership |
Another site selling P2P software. This one is a little cheaper that most of the others for lifetime membership, however. They claim to be Napster's #1 replacement software. On the plus side, they do offer information on how to burn CD's, etc. Try as I hard as I could, I couldn't get to the page with their terms and conditions without having to spend money with them first. Recomendation: Don't. Just Don't. |
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$37.95 lifetime $23.76 - 2 years $17.88 - 1 year |
In addition to unlimited MP3's, this site claims you can also get free unlimited videos, TV shows, etc. Hey, big surprise - you can get anything over a P2P network!
Recomendation: Turn off the computer and go veg out in front of the TV. It's cheaper. |
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Watch for our review coming soon! |
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Watch for our review coming soon! This site will have a full review complete with screen shots and more info. |
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Watch for our review coming soon! |
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$34.95 2 years Ability to pay via electronic check or phone. |
Membership includes following software: Acoustia MP3 to Wav; Acoustia MP3 CD Burner; WinNX file sharing; Popup Stopper.
From their Questions and Answers section: I thought the software was free. Why am I being asked to pay? The software is free. You are paying for unlimited technical support and so we can run the website. If unsatisfied, for any reason, you can cancel your membership within 30 days for a full refund. |
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Watch for our review coming soon! |
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Downloads.com |
Watch for our review coming soon! |
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Note: The sites without links are in the process of being reviewed, and will be posted as they are completed.
Writing a good review takes time for us to buy and try out their product, search the message boards, and put it all together. |
Enjoy our other websites too!.
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 Sudoku On Steroids - Hexdoku! |
*Note: Our lawyers (ok, my cousin the lawyer) says I have to make the following disclaimer to keep the rip-off artists from suing me: The reviews listed at this web site are an opinion only, based upon our experience with the web site reviewed. If you are the owner of a web site reviewed and think there is an inaccuracy with the review, you may contact us and we will be willing to discuss it with you. This does not necessarily mean we will change our opinion, however, and we are under no obligation to do so.
Use of this site or it's contents means you agree with the statement above.
The materials presented on this web site are copy righted 2004-2007 by Classical Dreams(TM) and it's owners. No reproductions of this web site or parts of the web site are allowed without express permission of the owner. (This is because some jerk copied my humor web site 100% and substituted his logo for my title. He even set it up so any changes I made to my web site were reflected on his as soon as I made it. His ISP canceled his account after I reported it.)
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The following is a list of new rip-off sites we have found but not yet had a chance to do more than a quick-look.
You are advised to stay away from them unless you have more money than common sense:
DownloadLegal.com - A 'Safe-Surf' site (read the MP3 Advance review for more info.) GetAnySong.com - Read this advisory to Webmasters who advertise for them: In a effort to reduce confusion, we are requesting that in your ads, terms or sites refrain from using the words "100% Legal or Legal" or implying in any way that by joining any of the File Sharing related (Music, Movies, Games, etc) sites listed in Cashengines that customers can not be sued for breaking copyright laws. Please read the disclaimer on the bottom of all sites that are part of the cashengines.com network. Please Take this warning seriously. Think they got sued or something? FreeMusicOutletOnLine.com - These future Rulers of the Universe are dumb enough to show photos of actual freely available software right on their home page. Obviously they are shooting for the person that just got their first computer sometime in the last five minutes. FreeMusic4Downloads.com - Another 'Top Music Now' clone. Doesn't even bother to take you to a different site, just gives it a different name. My-Free-Music.com - a "review site" that doesn't state anywhere that you can get the same software somewhere else for free. 10 reviews, with MyMusicInc as the number one spot. See our review of the same site above. Mp3-DownloadHQ.com - same site as Mp3DownloadHQ.com, just with a "-" in the name. That's one way to get around filters. More to come.
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