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Comparison of music sources
This chart compares famous Internet music download sources.
| Services | Peer-to-peer | Bittorrent | iTunes Music Store | Allofmp3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
File transfer | ||||
| Program | Service-dependent | Bittorrent client | iTunes™ | Web browser |
| Source | Internet users | Website + current downloaders | ? | Cache servers |
| Protocol | Service-dependent | Bittorrent | Service-dependent (proprietary) |
HTTP |
| Download speed | Variable (increases with popularity of track) |
Variable (increases with number of simultaneous downloads) |
High | High |
Quality | ||||
| Bitrate |
Soup
|
Fixed by source | 128kbps | Any (on-the-fly encoding from CD tracks) |
| Format | AAC only | |||
| DRM | No | Yes | No | |
| Meta-information (tags) | Rare and scarce |
|
|
|
Legit | ||||
| Access to free music | Yes | Yes | No | Yes (few titles) |
| Licensing scheme | None | Variable (depends on source) |
Fixed price per track | Amount of transferred data |
| Price for licensed music | $.99/track | $10/1Gb * | ||
| Average price per CD (74" at 128kbps) |
0 | $10-$30 | $.7 | |
| Considered legal | No | Yes | Yes | Yes ** |
Additional services | ||||
| Preview before download | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Search engine | Yes | No (use Google) |
Yes | Yes |
| Related links | No | No | Artist, Album, Genre, Year | Artist, Album, Genre, Year, Country |
| Album download | No | No | Yes | Yes |
* Allofmp3 is a service hosted in Russia; therefore, it can negociate international licensing fees with distributors at russian rates (which are very low compared to western Europe or U.S.A.).
** Although Allofmp3 international licenses are not always up to date.