There are many and many websites that offer free MP3 for the music lover. The reason why free MP3 music downloading is offered is the theory that people will use it in product sampling to do reviews. MP3 downloading sites generally charge their customers either a fixed price for each music file that is downloaded or a monthly subscription fee and a charge for music downloaded.

To many people, MP3 is synonymous with 'illegal music'. This is because of the well-publicized legal battle between the record companies and Internet music distribution services like Napster. The old Napster has closed down and a sanitized version which meets the approval of the music industry has taken its place. But MP3 files are still widely available for downloading mp3 music.To clarify the issue, let's start by saying that there is nothing illegal about MP3 files. It is simply a file format for audio files. What the music companies object to is file sharing - something that is simplified by the small file sizes of MP3s.

In its current incarnation, Napster is a music subscription service that allows users to download an unlimited number of songs for a set monthly fee. There are currently (May 2006) three Napster services: Napster light (a simple online music store that sells tracks for 99¢ each), Napster and Napster To Go.

There are four types of Rhapsody memberships including the free Rhapsody 25 which allows users to listen to 25 radio stations and download 25 songs per month. This is a good marketing ploy as the free account allows users to try out Rhapsody and be enticed by the features available to paid subscribers.

Mp3 music files can be shared over the Internet by connecting to a peer to peer (P2P) network. This is a network of computers which do not have a centralized hub. Each computer on the P2P network has access to files on every other computer on the network, so files can be 'exchanged', although usually not on a one-to-one basis. There is no charge for using these P2P networks, so MP3 files (as well as any other type of computer file) can be freely exchanged. This is what the music companies object to - if music fans can get the latest songs for free, why should they buy them?

By and large, the concerns of the music companies are justified. CD sales have fallen since the popularity of the Internet. Music fans claim they are justified in trading music files because the quality of CDs has gone down over the past 10 or 15 years. A commonly heard argument is that commercially released CDs often have only two or three good tracks on them. The music industry seems to have acknowledged this argument. Music services like Apple iTunes Music Store now allow users to buy individual songs and download them to their computer. Songs which are available from the iTunes Music Store are encoded with digital rights management (DRM) which places some restrictions on how the songs can be used. For example, there is a limit to the number of times songs can be burned to CD, and songs may not be broadcasted to more than five computers at a time.

The iTunes Music Store is very popular, more than one billion songs have been sold since they started operating in 2003. It has not stopped the P2P networks, however. They are still as popular as ever and account for a significant amount of MP3 distribution. Most of these (unlike Napster) are decentralized and cannot be shut down by legal action.

Napster was an easy target because it was a company that had employees and offices. Most P2P networks have no such organization - they are simply a community of computer users using the same software.

Nevertheless, the legality of mp3 music downloading copyrighted material such as MP3 files needs to be considered and reviewed. Some countries allow it and some countries try to control it. In the US, the Recording Institute Association of America is lobbying strongly for laws stop MP3 file trading and P2P networks. In Europe some have outlawed the use of P2P networks for sharing copyrighted material.

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