Music subscription sites provide customers with access to millions of songs. There are two types of music subscriptions and they differ by how much music you can download and whether you get to keep the songs after cancelling the service.

Services like Rhapsody and Napster offer unlimited music downloads with options to listen on PC or mp3 player. Listen on your PC for around $12.95 a month or transfer the music to mp3 player for $14.95. Both sites provide you with 24/7 access to millions of song downloads. Listen on PC or get a "To Go" plan and transfer all your favorite music to mp3 player. Whats the catch? If you ever decide to cancel the subscription you will no longer be able to play the songs you downloaded. They do this through the use of digital rights management (DRM) which s a recording industry requirement. There are also some mp3 players (iPod included) that will not work with these services. Zune Marketplace also offers an unlimited option that is only compatible with the Zune player.

The other type of music subscription allows you to download a specified number of songs per month and keep them forever. The songs are DRM free meaning you can move them to mp3 player (including iPod) and burn them to CD. Heading this group of subscriptions is eMusic. They offer a set number of monthly song downloads. For example you can download 30 songs a month for $9.99. Those who want more music can get up to 75 songs at less than $0.27 each. mTraks also offers a service similar to eMusic but with a smaller song collection.