Music Store and Service Bit-Rate Chart

All online music stores are not created equal. Use this chart to see how they differ.

All online music stores and services are not created equal. They work with different MP3 players, and they sell and stream music with different file types and bit rates. It's this last quandary that we're covering here. First, note that file types and DRM (in other words, copy-protected files) are infinitely important when it comes to devices such as MP3 players. For example, only the iPod currently supports protected AAC files, whereas a wide selection of MP3 players supports protected WMA files. All MP3 players play MP3s, of course. If you listen to music on only the computer, you should have no problems finding a software jukebox that will play any of the file types below; in fact, most online music services require that you download their jukeboxes to purchase and play music. When it comes to sound quality, WMA, AAC, RAX, and ATRAC3 files are roughly equal when encoded at the same bit rate. MP3 sound quality is roughly half as good as the aforementioned file types, so an MP3 file encoded at 320Kbps would be about equal with a WMA file encoded at 160Kbps. Keep in mind that the higher the bit rate, the better the sound quality and the larger the size of the file (within the same file type). The chart below should help you navigate the jungle that is legal online music.

Note: The streaming bit rate refers to the files that are continuously streamed over the Internet as part of a service for which you pay a monthly subscription, not 30-second sample streams.

Music store/service	File type(s)	DRM	Download bit rate	Streaming bit rate
Apple iTunes	AAC	Yes	128Kbps	n/a
Napster	WMA	Yes	192Kbps	192Kbps
Rhapsody	RAX (Harmony)	Yes	192Kbps	160Kbps (hi-fi)/64Kbps (lo-fi)
Yahoo Music	WMA	Yes	192Kbps	128Kbps
MSN Music	WMA	Yes	192Kbps	n/a
Musicmatch	WMA	Yes	160Kbps	128Kbps
Wal-Mart Music Downloads	WMA	Yes	128Kbps	n/a
BuyMusic	WMA	Yes	128Kbps for most; select songs at 256Kbps	n/a
Virgin Digital	WMA	Yes	128Kbps	128Kbps
Sony Connect	ATRAC3	Yes	132Kbps	n/a
eMusic	MP3	No	VBR (192Kbps to 320Kbps)	n/a
Audio Lunchbox	MP3 and OGG	No	192Kbps VBR	n/a
Live Downloads	FLAC	No	Lossless	n/a