I want to legally buy and download music from the internet. There are a number of .com sites which claim to allow access to ‘millions’ of music and movie files for a subscription fee. Are these sites legal and safe to use?

Editors note: The site list provided has not been published.

I am not a lawyer, and cannot provide legal advice regarding the legality of these websites. However, I can provide a general opinion on the sites. As with anything you find on the internet, you must be wary and highly sceptical of any sites which claim to allow you to access ‘millions’ of music titles, and other items such as movies or software, for a subscription fee. The sites you mentioned seem to give the subscriber access to P2P (peer-to-peer) networks, where users around the world can share files. One usage of P2P file sharing systems has been the trading of copyright material, such as music and movies. Since these sites are giving you access to a P2P network, it seems they are essentially giving you access to a file trading network where music and movies are traded. It is likely the items being traded are copyright material, and therefore by participating in downloading/uploading of these items, you may be infringing upon the copyright of the owners. In fact, at the bottom of the websites (albeit in very fine print) it says by purchasing a membership you are not being granted a licence to upload or download copyright material. So, it seems they are probably aware of what users will be doing!

Furthermore, I would be very wary and cautious about giving any personal information or credit card details to such websites. Therefore, in my opinion I strongly suggest you steer clear of these (and other such) questionable sites. Instead, you should only deal with established and reputable sites for downloading music. This advice is just not relevant to downloading music, but can be extended to any transactions you conduct on the internet.

In Australia, there are quite a few reputable sites for legally downloading music from the internet. The iTunes Music Store (www.apple.com.au/itunes) recently expanded into Australia and offers music download services. Another well-known provider is ninemsn Music (music.ninemsn.com.au, and click the ‘Downloads’ link). Other Australian services include Destra Music (www.destramusic.com.au) which provides music download services to other organisations, and BigPond Music (www.bigpondmusic.com.au).