Despite the growth of music streaming services similar Spotify and Apple Music, many people nonetheless prefer to buy (at least some of) their music.

Buying music online means you lot own information technology outright rather than using it under license. As such, tracks aren't going to disappear from your library all of a sudden. Plus, there's no danger of the parent company going out of business and taking your music drove with it.

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

i. Amazon

When you buy a song or album online, there are two ways you can receive the content—either digitally (in the grade of an MP3 file) or physically (as a CD or vinyl record). Amazon caters to both markets.

When you lot enter the listing of a song or album that'south available on Amazon, y'all will run into a choice of purchase options available. Depending on availability, yous tin choose to grab the MP3 or physical version. The MP3 version is generally cheaper. If y'all buy the CD version, you will typically be granted a gratuitous copy of the MP3 version.

And think, if you download the Amazon Music app, you tin can stream all of your digital music purchases from within information technology.

2. iTunes Store

Apple tree iTunes Store was the original online music shop, and it continues to thrive to this solar day, albeit in a slightly reimagined format. Near singles on iTunes toll $0.99, though popular songs are usually $1.29. The default price of an album is $9.99.

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

  • If you use a Mac, the iTunes Shop has been function of the all-new Apple Music app since the release of macOS Catalina. The old iTunes app no longer exists, but yous tin can however employ your iTunes collection in the Apple Music app.
  • The iTunes Shop is a standalone app on iOS.
  • Conversely, iTunes does still exist on Windows. Yous will find the iTunes Store within information technology.

Regardless of the app, the outcome is the same—yous tin buy a digital version of a vocal and download it onto your device.

3. Beatport

Beatport is the all-time online music store for fans of electronic dance music (EDM). You can buy music as singles or albums; most singles price $1.29 or $1.99, while albums run to most $x.

One of the store'south all-time features is the ease with which you can find new tracks. EDM is notoriously hard to navigate for newcomers—the sheer number of DJs, producers, and remixes make it difficult to discover fresh music you'll love. Nevertheless, with Top 100 charts, DJ charts, endless genre categories, and even an accompanying web log, Beatport lowers the entry barrier considerably.

iv. 7digital

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

Most songs are bachelor 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 speaker setup, the high-res version is probably an unnecessary expense. It's like shooting fish in a barrel to spot which formats are available for which tracks/albums thanks to the tags on the anthology artwork thumbnails.

The number of songs/albums available for purchase on 7digital is in the millions. As such, you tin can be confident you volition find the music you want, even if information technology falls into a niche genre. All the latest hits from the world'south biggest music stars are also available.

5. HDtracks

The other big name in the high-resolution audio world 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 number of audio formats available. The highest quality tracks (24-fleck/176.4KHz) are a significant step up on the all-time high-res tracks on 7digital, though most of the music available in the highest-quality format falls into the classical music genre.

On the downside, the site is more geared towards albums. If you prefer buying singles, you might accept improve luck with 7digital.

Make sure y'all also check out the various "Height" lists. They are divided by genre and let yous explore the about pop music on the site for a given area.

Exist sure to check out the best streaming services for audiophiles if you love how-do-you-do-res music.

half dozen. Bandcamp

Musicians accept spent much of the last decade criticizing services like Spotify for their payment models. At $0.006 to $0.0084 per play, artists and bands need to rack up hundreds of thousands of listens before they brand money.

Bandcamp, which is an contained platform, offers a more band-friendly model. Musicians can make their own stores on the site and sell their songs directly to fans.

As a heir-apparent, you can download a track as many times as you desire in one case you've paid for it. Physical CDs and vinyl records are also available for purchase (though shipping costs tin sometimes exist prohibitive).

Multiple formats are available 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 digital music, check out CD Universe. The site is fairly bones, but it has one of the most in-depth collections of CDs and vinyl records available for purchase anywhere on the spider web. At the last count, there were more than 800,000 titles.

Nosotros also similar that CD Universe accepts payments via PayPal. That sets information technology autonomously from Amazon, the other big concrete CD seller on our list. The cost of a CD is slightly higher on CD Universe, nevertheless.

eight. Walmart

Walmart might not be the first name that pops into your head when you lot retrieve about music, only the grocery giant has long offered CDs and vinyl records in its stores and online.

The collection of titles isn't equally deep nor as niche every bit Amazon and the like, but if you're looking to choice upwards the latest music from today's stars, you'll find the albums readily available forth with competitive prices.

And recall, Walmart offers a pickup service. You tin can get the music you desire in a physical form without waiting for a delivery commuter or needing to ready human foot inside a store.

Buying Music vs. Streaming Music

Anybody has their preferences, and we're not going to say that one approach is ameliorate than another. It depends on whether y'all prefer the ease of Spotify or the legal ownership of buying music outright.

Recall, you tin can download your most-loved albums on Spotify for offline listening. Withal, you cannot export them exterior the Spotify ecosystem.

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About The Writer

Dan Price (1608 Manufactures Published)

Dan joined MakeUseOf in 2014 and has been Partnerships Director since July 2020. Reach out to him for inquires about sponsored content, affiliate agreements, promotions, and any other forms of partnership. You lot tin can also find him roaming the evidence floor at CES in Las Vegas every year, say hi if you're going. Prior to his writing career, he was a Financial Consultant.

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