Comparison of digital music stores

For streaming services, see Comparison of music streaming services.

Digital music stores sell copies of digital audio, for example in MP3 and WAV file formats. Unlike music streaming services, which typically charge a monthly subscription fee to stream digital audio, digital music stores download songs to the customer's hard disk drive of their device. The customer will have the copy of the song permanently on their disk, provided the track is not deleted by the customer, the disk does not get physically damaged, or suffers from being corrupted. Major examples of digital music stores include iTunes Store, Amazon Music, Bandcamp and 7digital.[1]

Different platforms may offer a different selection of digital audio, for example, some may only sell music that is of a particular genre, or some may only feature independent content.

Comparison of digital music stores

Store	Tracks (million)	Geographic restrictions	Purchase platform	FLAC	ALAC	WAV	AIFF	AAC	MP3	WMA	Vorbis	DRM	Preview (seconds)	Stream purchases
7digital	81[2]	Yes [3]	Web, Android	24-bit	No	No	No	320 kbps	320 kbps	No	No	No	30	Yes
Amazon Music	90[4]	Yes	Web, Android[5]	No	No	No	No	No	256 kbps	No	No	No	30	Yes
Bandcamp	18.1	No	Web	24-bit	24-bit	24-bit	24-bit	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Full	Yes
Beatport	9[6]	Yes [7]	Web	No	No	16-bit	16-bit	No	320 kbps	No	No	No	120	Paid service
Bleep	?	No	Web	16-bit	No	24-bit	No	No	320 kbps	No	No	No	Full	Yes
Classical Archives	1.17	Yes	Web	No	No	No	No	No	320 kbps	No	No	No	60	No
eMusic	17[8]	Yes [9]	Web[10]	No	No	No	No	No	320 kbps	No	No	No	60 [10]	Yes
HDtracks	?	Yes US [11]	Web	24-bit	24-bit	24-bit	24-bit	No	No	No	No	No	30	?
iTunes Store	100[12]	Yes [13]	Windows, macOS iOS, tvOS	No	No	No	No	256 kbps	No	No	No	No (previously FairPlay)	30−90 [14]	iTunes in the Cloud
Jamendo	0.21	No	Web	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Full	?
Juno Download	?	Yes [15]	Web	16-bit	16-bit	16-bit	16-bit	No	320 kbps	No	No	No	60	No
mora	4.4	Yes Japan	Web	24-bit	No	No	No	320 kbps	No	No	No	No	30	?
ProStudioMasters	?	Yes	Web	24-bit	No	No	24-bit	No	No	No	No	No	90	No
Qobuz	100[16]	Yes	Web, Android, iOS Kindle, Windows 8[17]	24-bit	24-bit	24-bit	24-bit	320 kbps	320 kbps	320 kbps	No	No	30-60	Yes
Supraphonline	4.3	No	Web	24-bit	No	No	No	No	320 kbps	No	No	No	30+30	?
Traxsource	?	?	Web	No	No	16-bit	16-bit	No	320 kbps	No	No	No	120	No

Defunct retailers

• MSN Music closed on November 14, 2006. Its DRM servers were originally scheduled to shutdown August 31, 2008, but they later relented and committed to keeping the DRM servers active through the end of 2011.
• Yahoo! Music Unlimited ceased operating on September 30, 2008. Users' purchases were transferred to Rhapsody.
• BuyMusic was a digital branch of Buy.com, launched around 2003, was later merged into the music section of Buy.com, and then shut down in late 2009.[18]
• Walmart.com operated an online music store, but discontinued it in 2011.[19]
• Puretracks operated an online music store, but discontinued it in 2013.[20]
• Pono Music closed in July 2016.[21]
• GhostTunes closed on March 3, 2017.[22]
• Microsoft's Zune Music Marketplace was rebranded as Xbox Music in 2012.[23] In 2015, Xbox Music purchasing was folded into the Windows Store and Groove Music app. The Windows Store was rebranded as Microsoft Store in 2017, but then the Microsoft Store removed music sales from its store on December 31, 2017.[24]
• Technics Tracks, a reseller of 7digital's services in the UK and Germany, closed on June 30, 2018.
• NoiseTrade's website was closed in 2019, and instead a NoiseTrade section appeared on Paste Magazine's website, until its removal in 2023.
• Onkyo Music, a reseller of 7digital's services, closed worldwide on October 6, 2019.[25]
• CD Baby closed its retail store on March 31, 2020.[26]
• Google Play Music began to shutdown its music store in September 2020 and completed its shutdown worldwide by December.[27]
• Acoustic Sounds shutdown its Super HiRez digital downloads service on December 31, 2020.
• TIDAL closed its download store on October 20, 2022.[28]
• Magnatune announced it was no longer trading in 2024, however its site would remain active with some free music for visitors to listen to.[29]

See also

• Comparison of music streaming services
• Comparison of online music lockers
• List of music software
• List of Internet radio stations
• List of online music databases

Notes and references

1. "Getting into the charts - Meeting the chart rules". www.officialcharts.com. Retrieved 2020-12-23.
2. "7digital". 22 January 2020. Retrieved 2021-07-13. ...81 Million Tracks in Catalogue...
3. "Music Start-Up Page". Archived from the original on 2010-08-20. Retrieved 2011-08-23.
4. "Amazon Music Unlimited". Amazon. Retrieved 2022-10-14. ...access to 90 million songs...
5. "MP3 Music Downloads: Install the Amazon MP3 Downloader". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-02-11.
6. "Beatport: 16 Years In Numbers". 16 January 2020. Retrieved 2021-07-13. ...9 million tracks available on the Beatport store...
7. "Restricted tracks at Beatport". Retrieved 2009-04-07.
8. "About eMusic". May 2011.
9. "eMusic.com Terms of Use". Retrieved January 29, 2018.
10. "Emusic Technical Help". Retrieved 2007-03-13.
11. "HDtracks high resolution audiophile music downloads". Retrieved 2012-09-24.
12. "Apple Music - Apple". Apple. Retrieved 2022-10-14. ...over 100 million songs...
13. "Apple PR". Retrieved 2011-02-13.
14. "iTunes Music Store". Archived from the original on 2007-03-06. Retrieved 2007-03-12.
15. "Release of Tim Hecker's 'Instrumental Tourist' as of 20 Nov 2012 (restriction information not detailed in generally available information)". Archived from the original on 6 January 2014. Retrieved 19 November 2012.
16. "Qobuz Unlimited Streaming Offers". Qobuz.com. Retrieved 2023-08-16. ...Over 100 million tracks available...
17. "Qobuz About Us". Qobuz.com. Retrieved 2015-09-21.
18. Frank Ahrens (2003-08-07). "The Taglines: For Apple's iTun ..." The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. ISSN 0190-8286. OCLC 1330888409.
19. "Walmart Music Downloads Questions". Archived from the original on 2011-04-15. Retrieved 2011-04-14.
20. "Has Canada's answer to iTunes gone silent?". 25 September 2013. Retrieved 2013-09-25.
21. "Pono is dead. Probably. Long live Xstream". www.cnet.com. 2017-04-22. Retrieved 2019-11-17.
22. "GARTH BROOKS IS OFFICIALLY CLOSING GHOSTTUNES". 2017-01-25. Retrieved 2018-06-30.
23. "Xbox Music heads to Xbox 360 first tomorrow, PC / tablets on Oct. 26, WP8 soon after; we go hands-on". 2012-10-15. Retrieved 2021-01-14.
24. "Microsoft will soon shutter its music store and streaming service, move users to Spotify". 2017-10-02. Retrieved 2018-06-30.
25. "Say Good-bye to Onkyo Music". 2019-09-16. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
26. "What you should know about the retirement of the CD Baby store, and thank you". Retrieved 2020-10-07.
27. "YouTube Music will replace Google Play Music by end of 2020". 2020-08-04. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
28. "Purchasing Music in the TIDAL Download Store". 2022-10-20. Retrieved 2022-11-01.
29. "Magnatune: a music service that isn't evil". magnatune.com. Retrieved 2024-08-25.