Let's shift the spotlight away from iTunes and Rhapsody for a moment and take a look at some services that look at music from a different angle: MySpace and MusicGiants. These sites use two different models, yet both offer unique alternatives to the ways you probably listen to music online. MySpace is a community site that, among other things, offers free album streams by mainstream and independent artists. MusicGiants is a music service that offers high-definition downloads (opposed to compressed files like we're used to with other online music services). Let's take a closer look.

MySpace

Now that Friendster is old news, MySpace has become the leading community-based Web site by a long shot. The MySpace community has been successful as a meeting ground where people can connect with friends (and find hot dates). What separates it from the other community/personals sites out there is its music, which seemed to many to have sprung up out of nowhere into a legitimate place to listen to music online.

At a recent technology conference, Geffen Records Head of New Media Aaron Foreman called MySpace "an incredibly compelling and organic content distribution platform" (source: Digital Music News). And he's not just talking about garage bands. Big-name artists such as Weezer have joined on, collecting 80,000-plus "friends." Other top artists with space on MySpace include Billy Corgan, Black Eyed Peas, Coldplay, Foo Fighters, Gorillaz, Nine Inch Nails, Kanye West, Green Day, and Maroon 5, just to name a few. Check it out, but don't be gone too long (remember, we have free music too!).

Rumor has it that MySpace will launch a large music service at some point within the next six months, possibly as a partnership with an existing online music store (the names Rhapsody and Napster have both been bandied around). Since the labels are starting to annoy fans by selling them more copy-protected "CDs," perhaps they could regain some of the fan trust they're losing by cozying up to them on MySpace.

MusicGiants

You can't find a hot date with MusicGiants, but you can find digital music that sounds better than what you find elsewhere. It's the first music service to deliver major label content in lossless, high-quality bit rates (also see our tutorial on how to make your own CD-quality lossless files).

We were waiting for something like this to come along. If you've ever noticed, the music you buy from most services (like Napster) is compressed, ranging from 128kbps to 192kbps. Experts claim 128kbps, 160kbps, or 192kbps to be "CD quality"; however, we all know this is ad copy, meant to be taken with a grain of salt. With the naked ear it's hard to tell the difference between compressed and noncompressed music using standard headphones, but when you crank it up on high-end headphones or especially speakers, you'll notice a difference in sound quality between a compressed song and the CD it came from.

That's were MusicGiants comes in. Its target audience includes audiophiles who require their music to sound as good as possible. Downloads purchased from MusicGiants are available in lossless WMA (compatible with Windows Media Player 9 or 10) encoded at high bit rates. Of course the downside to higher bit rates means you have larger file sizes to deal with, which, among other things, take longer to transfer to the MP3 players that support them. But the people at MusicGiants are confident that new technology (such as super hard drives and faster Internet connections) will allow for easier management of these larger, better-sounding files and that people will no longer have the need for compressed music once they see what lossless technology has to offer.

Several years ago, the online music boom elevated music distribution; however, that created a decline in quality. MP3s, WMAs, AACs, and other compressed file types have several significant advantages over the CD, but not when it comes to sound quality. I think we'll start to see more services like MusicGiants delivering better-sounding lossless music online. So far, there's a catch--MusicGiants currently offers music from only one major label (EMI), although it plans to release Universal, Warner Atlantic, and Sony/BMG content as early as this July. Representatives have indicated that they're talking with independent labels as well.

I for one am all for these new developments. The breeding ground inhabited by music and the Internet is simply too fertile for consumers to be stuck with one format when it comes to accessing music online.