iPod: The Missing Manual, 7th Edition

Buy Songs from Other Music Stores

There are many online music services out there and every one of 'em wants to sell you a song. But due to copy-protection, some of these merchants' songs don't work on the iPod. Some of them do, though. Thanks to recent moves by many stores to strip out the digital-rights management (DRM)protection on song files, their music has been liberated into the friendly MP3play-anywhere format. Vive la musique!

Buying new songs is as easy as supplying your credit card number and downloading a file from a Web browser. Once the file is on your computer, use the File→“Add to Library” command in iTunes to add it to your collection. Here are some of the online music services that now work with the iPod:

• Napster. You don't get the full Napster software and services, but Windows and Mac users can download and save MP3files to your iTunes folder through the Napster Web site. (http://www.napster.com)

• eMusic. Geared toward indie bands, eMusic offers several subscription plans based on quantity: 12 bucks a month, for example, gets you 30 songs of your choice to download. (http://www.emusic.com)

• Amazon MP3 Downloads. From the main page, click Digital Downloads and then choose MP3 Downloads. Amazon has a free piece of software called the Amazon MP3 Downloader that takes half a minute to install and automatically tosses your purchases into iTunes for you. Click the link (circled below) at the top of the Amazon MP3 page to snag the Downloader program. (http://www.amazon.com ...