Below is a list of 'licenced' digital music services. That means that these services have the appropriate 'licences' from record companies and music publishers that are legally required to sell downloads or to make music streams available. That means that you can use these services without the fear of being sent a 'warning letter' or 'legal notice' from a music company.

DOWNLOADING & STREAMING
Downloading is where you 'download' a music file from the world wide web onto your computer, which you can then play on your computer or a portable device even when you disconnect from the internet. Streaming is where music plays through a player or webpage on your computer, but where no permanent copy of a track is made onto your computer, which means if you disconnect from the internet the music stops.

WHAT ARE MUSIC LICENCES?
A 'music licence' is a legal process whereby a company (normally a 'record label' or 'music publisher') which owns a number of songs (normally referred to as a 'catalogue' of songs) gives permission to another company to sell or stream their music. Labels and publishers grant licences directly, or sometimes via 'aggregators' (eg IODA, The Orchard) or collecting societies (eg PRS For Music). Each company, aggregator or collecting society will only be able to provide a licence for the music in their 'catalogues'. Confusingly, more than one company will normally 'own' any one song (one will own the words, another the melody, another the actual recording) so multiple licences will always be required. All the services below have licences for the music they make available (and those that allow users to upload music files will have a system in place to remove any files uploaded which aren't covered by one of their licences).

ABOUT THIS LIST
This list is of services available in the UK. It is not 100% comprehensive, just because a service does not appear on this list does not necessarily mean it is unlicensed. However, all the services here are legit. If you run a licensed digital music service that operates in the UK and would like to appear here, please email details of your services and of the labels, collecting societies and/or aggregators from which you have licences to cmu@unlimitedmedia.co.uk.

MUSIC MATTERS
The UK music industry has set up its own website to promote legal digital services called Music Matters. Their website also includes a list of licenced digital music services, many of which will include the Music Matters logo on their own websites.

WHAT IF I USE A SERVICE NOT LISTED HERE?
If you use a service that is 'unlicensed' you could, in theory, be sued by the record label or music publisher who owns the tracks/songs you acquire. Plus, once the 'three-strikes' system currently being introduced is active, repeated use of unlicensed services might result in a warning letter being sent to you by your ISP and, ultimately, your internet access could be suspended. Using such services also means you are not supporting the artists, songwriters, labels and publishers who have invested time and money in creating the music you love.

HOW DO I KNOW IF A SERVICE IS UNLICENCED?
All the services listed below are licenced; though, as we said, there are probably some licenced services we haven't listed here. But normally you can spot illegal services by using common sense. If you get access to large numbers of free downloads or streams (especially downloads) for free, with no subscription, registration and/or apparant advertising, then the service is almost certainly not licensed.

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SO HERE IT IS - CMU'S GUIDE TO LEGAL DIGITAL MUSIC SERVICES

FREE ON-DEMAND STREAMING SERVICES (AUDIO)
These services enable you to listen to music on-demand for free on your computer, so you can pick tracks, artists or albums and listen to them, whenever you want, at the click of a button. You can also create your own playlists, so that you can pre-programme a selection of your favourite songs and then press play and listen to them all in order.

Normally you will need to register to use these services, and there will be banner ads on the player and audio ads between the songs. Unless otherwise stated, these services are accessed via the provider's website, and therefore can be used via any web browser (eg Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari) without installing any special software, though some might need the latest version of Flash to be installed on your computer to work. These services do not work on any mobile devices, though some offer mobile versions for a subscription fee (see below).

MySpace Music: On-demand streaming available to any registered MySpace user, though this service is not especially easy to use! [CMU coverage]

Spotify: Accessed through a special player that you must install on your computer, currently you must be invited by an existing user to access the free Spotify service [CMU coverage]

We7: On-demand streaming available to all [CMU coverage]

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FREE ON-DEMAND STREAMING SERVICES (VIDEO)
These services enable you to watch music videos on-demand for free on your computer. Because it is video rather than audio content, only those songs for which a video was made will feature. These services are accessed via the provider's website, and therefore can be used via any web browser (eg Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari) without installing any special software, though some might need the latest version of Flash to be installed on your computer to work.

Dailymotion: A French rival to YouTube, Daily Motion includes both official videos from artists and labels and those uploaded by fans, so sound quality can vary a lot; fan uploaded content may randomly disappear if it turns out the artist or label object to it [CMU coverage]

MUZU: A music-specific video service, MUZU only features official videos uploaded by artists and/or labels, and has a rather nifty playlisting and jukebox system if you register [CMU coverage]

YouTube: YouTube includes both official videos from artists and labels and those uploaded by fans, so sound quality can vary a lot; fan uploaded content may randomly disappear if it turns out the artist or label object to it [CMU coverage]

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A-LA-CARTE DOWNLOAD STORES

These services will sell you individual tracks or albums, normally in the MP3 format (which works on all digital music players including the iPod). You pay for each track or album as you download them. Unless otherwise stated, these services are accessed via the provider's website, and therefore can be used via any web browser (eg Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari) without installing any special software, though some offer a special 'download widget' you can install that makes it easier to move MP3s you buy to your digital music players of choice (eg to iTunes and your iPod).

7Digital: An MP3 download service, known for selling higher sound quality MP3s than many of their competitors [CMU coverage]

Amazon MP3: An MP3 download service, known for special offers with some key single tracks available for 29p [CMU coverage]

Beatport: An MP3 download service known for championing dance music

Bleep.com: Owned by Warp Records, this MP3 (and vinyl mail-order) store is especially know for championing electronic music

DJdownload.com: An MP3 download service known for championing dance music

HMV Digital: An MP3 download service [CMU coverage]

iTunes Store: Accessed via the 'Store' button on the iTunes player (ie not a web browser), this sells downloads as DRM-free AAC files (note, not MP3s, though most digital music players these days also play AACs) [CMU coverage]

mflow: An MP3 download service accessed via a bespoke player which you must install, with built in Twitter-style 'recommend songs to your friends' functionality [CMU coverage]

Play.com: An MP3 download service known for special offers [CMU coverage]

Recordstore.co.uk: MP3 (and CD/vinyl mail-order) service known for championing independent artists and labels [CMU coverage]

Tesco Entertainment: An MP3 download service [CMU coverage]

TuneTribe: An MP3 download service known for championing independent artists and labels [CMU coverage]

Costs: The cost per download will vary greatly. Generally single tracks can cost anything from 69p to £1.29, though some download stores sell selected tracks cheaper than that. Some stores may charge more for better sound quality files. Compare Download and TuneChecker both compare prices on different download stores.

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SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES
These services offer either unlimited access to streaming music without advertising or a set number of MP3 downloads per month, or a combination of the two.

eMusic: A monthly subscription allows you to download a set number of MP3s from a catalogue of mainly independent music (different subscription rates provide different numbers of downloads), so that the unit price of each track is considerably less than the standard rate of a-la-carte services. eMusic is also know for providing good editorial content alongside its music [CMU coverage]

Napster: This costs £5 a month and provides ad-free on-demand streaming music via your browser plus five MP3s to download per month [CMU coverage]

Sky Songs: This costs £5 a month and provides ad-free on-demand streaming music via your browser plus five MP3s to download per month [CMU coverage]

Spotify: The premium version of the free Spotify service (see above), this costs £10 a month and provides ad-free on-demand streaming music, via the bespoke Spotify player or on  selected mobile phones (including the iPhone) if a Spotify app is installed [CMU coverage]

We7: The premium version of the free We7 service (see above), this costs £5 a month and provides ad-free on-demand streaming music via your browser. A £10 a month premium+ service also provides on-demand streaming via selected mobile phones (including the iPhone) if a We7 app is installed [CMU coverage]