Article  Benefits of Subscription Music Streaming The Internet has brought us many free things.  Websites and online businesses have learned to cater to the human interest in free stuff.  The music streaming industry is no exception. However, you get what you pay for here. The music industry makes its money off of advertisements and third party company sales. If you use free music services, you open yourself up to these things.   Free streaming music services have to pay their costs and earn a profit somehow, and how do you think that is?  The biggest way that will impact you is via advertisements that they display on the page and play between songs.  So while it is free to you, that is because someone else is paying the service so that you don't have to.  What you do have to do is listen to their advertisements or see them on your screen.   Another way free streaming music services pay for their costs and earn profits is by selling out to other companies who want to download things, such as tracking software, onto your computer.  There usually isn't anything inherently insidious about this habit, as the third-party companies usually just want to learn more about your Internet browsing buying habits.  However, sometimes such downloads can slow down your computer or transmit information you may not want to share.  Better to be safe than sorry, and use a music streaming service that gets its income from subscriptions, not from selling you out.   Another advantage to buying a music subscription is that, most of the time, you will be able to download legal MP3s of your favorite songs.  Because you are paying the cost of a subscription service, your cost for individual songs is usually quite inexpensive, and you may even get a few free ones before you have to pay anything.  Free Internet radio, on the other hand, does not normally allow downloads.  And although you probably could find a source for downloading free pirated music, this is illegal and the music companies have shown that they won't hesitate to go after people for doing so.   One thing you might want to look at when deciding on a music subscription service, however: Do the MP3s you download have any sort of digital rights management, known as DRM, embedded in the files?  If you can find a legitimate subscription service that offers DRM-free MP3 downloads, go with it!  DRM limits how you can use the file by blocking you from copying it to another machine or device.  While the intent is to protect the copyright, the reality is that it is annoying and severely limits how you can enjoy music you have bought and paid for.   Although it's nice to get free things, it is important to remember that some of the best things in life are the ones that you pay for.  Music streaming is one of those things.  For a low cost every month, you can get streaming music over the Internet without having to listen to ads or worry about what might be downloaded onto your computer.  Plus, you get additional bonuses such as inexpensive MP3 downloads, where the savings can more than make up for your subscription costs if you buy a lot of music!  If you like music, you should definitely consider the advantages of a paid subscription over free Internet radio. Category Internet Author Anonymous Add To Favorites Print This Article Email Article To A Friend Post Comments   Rate This Article (0) 1 - Poor2345 - Good678910 - Excellent Added On 04-19-2010