Now is a time of unprecedented change and opportunity for music lovers everywhere. Amid the turbulence of industry upheaval, a new generation of online music services is emerging to transform the way we access, use, and pay for recorded music. We are entering a new era of musical abundance.

No longer are our listening choices dictated by the contents of our CD collection or the content of our local airwaves. With an Internet connection, we can expand our home music library a hundredfold for less than the cost of one CD per month—legally! We can transcend the limitations of local radio and listen to broadcasts from around the globe. A new world of listening options is just a mouse click away.

What’s more, online music services make the process of exploring the world of music dramatically easier, making it possible for time-starved people to experience a new world of music enjoyment. With over 38,000 full-length recordings released each year in the United States alone, the task of finding the best music is harder than ever. Somewhere out there is music that will make a difference in your life, and do more of what you want it to do—whether you are looking to be energized or sedated, comforted or challenged, inspired or consoled. Using powerful new tools you can navigate the huge world of recorded music—once a daunting task—and find new music to fit your tastes and desires. No longer does it require large amounts of time and commitment to seek out and find the best in modern music, or to become knowledgeable about today’s music genres, artists, and recordings. All it takes is a computer and an Internet connection.

Once you find music you enjoy, you can take control and customize your listening experience in ways that simply weren’t possible in the past. New tools allow you to create personalized radio broadcasts, filter music according to your taste and moods, and create personal music mixes for any occasion. New ways to buy music provide you with more control over how and when you pay for your music. For instance, it is now possible to buy access to music for a limited period of time, or to buy individual songs rather than an entire album. It is possible to pay one price for the ability to play a song online, and another price for the ability to play the song online and copy the song to a CD or portable music player. Perhaps most exciting of all is the emergence of “all you can drink” subscription plans, which provide access to huge libraries of music for a flat monthly payment.

What’s more, using these services can free you from dependence on music industry promotional practices that favor a handful of star acts packaged for mass consumption. It is now easier to seek out and find quality, independent music—music that was practically invisible in the past. If you believe that today’s music scene has little to offer you, think again. There’s lots of great music out there, and thanks to online music services, it’s now easy to find and enjoy.

This book provides you with a tour of the different kinds of Internet-based music services, and shows you how to use them to increase your listening enjoyment. You’ll learn what each kind of service has to offer and come away with the knowledge to pick the services that are right for you. I have highlighted and discussed the services that I believe are most worthy of attention. Once you’ve learned about the different ways to access music online, you’ll move into the rich world of music information, where you’ll learn how to navigate the ocean of available music, and to find and select music that matters to you. In the process, you will learn how to become more knowledgeable about music. You will learn how to quickly:

• Find reviews for a given recording

• Use awards and “best-of” lists to identify critically praised recordings

• Get educated about new genres of music

• Identify important artists and albums for each genre

• Find detailed artist information, song lyrics, and chart information

The music discovery plans presented in Part Three will give you the means to convert your new understanding into action. Structured, seven-day programs are provided to help you get up-to-speed with the highlighted services.

With music available on the file-trading networks for free, you might ask this. Many of the services highlighted in this book ask you to open your wallet in exchange for what they have to offer. The reasons are many. First, the best of these services provide a better experience for the consumer. Getting music is quicker and easier, and you have the assurance that the music you ask for is what you’re going to be getting—free of viruses, annoying pop-up ads, and spyware that invades your privacy. They save the busy person’s time.

Discovering good, new music is also much easier using these services, with their rich music information and exploration capabilities. Second, by paying for access to music you ensure that artists get paid for their work. If you value music and the contribution that artists make to our culture, then you’ll agree it’s worth compensating them for it. Last, you avoid the legal risks involved in using the file-trading networks. In recent months, the music industry has successfully sued people for using these networks to violate copyright law.

When you see what the best services can do, you’ll agree: they’re worth it!

Until recently, most press coverage of online music has focused on the controversies surrounding file sharing and music piracy. Scarcely a week went by without some dire pronouncement coming from one side or the other in the copyright wars. The music industry, on the one hand, claimed to be protecting its very existence from pirates and consumers eager to avoid paying for music. Copyright activists and music fans, on the other hand, opposed what they saw as corporate attempts to protect inflated prices and criminalize legitimate uses of purchased music. Belated and lackluster attempts by record companies to provide online music services were met with derision by fans and critics alike, many of whom resented music industry attempts to block access to free file sharing services like Napster. In this atmosphere of negativity, it was hard to find journalists writing anything that was positive about online music, even though good services were available. With the success of Apple’s iTunes Music Store, and the launch of similar downloading services, the tone has changed. The journalistic chorus tells us that the record companies finally “get it,” and that music fans are advised to try the new services. What they aren’t telling us, is that there is a world of online music beyond downloading, and that it is well worth exploring.

As the shift to online music picks up speed over the next few years, the changes will come rapidly. To keep pace, this book will be updated twice per year. More frequent updates will be made available via the Giantpath.com Web site. While some content in this book will go out-of-date—such as prices and service specifics—the principles required to understand online music services and get the most out of them will not. Subsequent editions will include coverage of new services and features and as well as revised recommendations and discussion of significant changes to existing services.

Although the file-trading services are quite popular and do have legitimate uses—including some fee-based services that have recently become available—I will not be discussing them at any great length in this book. The focus here is on legitimate music services that respect copyright law and see to it that artists and copyright holders are paid for their work. Also, this book does not focus on the technologies that are used to deliver these services. Its primary focus is on why these services are important and how to get the most out of them. New terms and concepts will be explained as necessary, but detailed technical explanations are left to other books.

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