Many students come to campus without a clear understanding of copyright law and the legalities of downloading music .  When musicians create music (or authors write, or painters paint) their work is copyrighted to them. That is, they own the full rights to that work to do with what they want. When you purchase a CD in the store, you are purchasing a little circle of plastic and a license from the musician to listen to the music. You are not purchasing the full rights to the music, and cannot legally do some things with it - such as copying the CD for friends.

Downloading music over peer to peer (P2P) services such as LimeWire, BearShare, Morpheus, or others may be illegal. It is illegal if the copyright holder (the musician) hasn't licensed the music to be distributed in that manner. For most songs you hear on the radio, that is the case. Some P2P software charges you to download the software, or assesses a monthly fee.  This does not mean users of such software are necessarily paying to license the music, thus they could still have legal liability for illegally downloading and sharing copy written music.  

There are several legal music listening and downloading sites:

1. iLike-A Google partner providing free online music
2. iTunesU-Apple's music and education audio/video service for higher eduation
3. Pandora-Free online music streaming service
4. Last.FM Free online music streaming audio/video service

There are numerous sites that allow one to purchase and legally download music to portable devices. A few of the better known sites follow:

1. eMusic-eMusic's site says it works with iPod, Zune and other MP3 players
2. iTunes-Apple's market leading site for online music sales
3. Rhapsody-Commercial music downloading site that permits one to play entire songs from your computer for free

This page does not constitute legal advice.