Features:

• Over 1.5 million songs to choose from
• Stream songs directly from the internet, or download them to your PC for you to keep forever
• Access this web-based service from any PC - listen to music at home and at work
• Access to thousands of radio stations based on your favorite artists and music genres
• Personalize your home page
• Share playlists and personalized home pages with friends
• Download entire albums or individual tracks
• Advanced search capabilities allow you to search by my music category or search for a particular song, album or artist
• Look at what other users who like the music you like are listening to
• The system "learns" what type of music you like over time and suggests new bands and songs for you to try
• Biographies on all your favorite artists
• Stream to a Windows Media Connected device with your AOL MusicNow Subscription
• MusicNow carries a complete digital music collection from the four "major labels": Sony/BMG, EMI, Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group, and is building a never-ending list of independent labels including V2, Rounder, Epitaph, Tommy Boy, Roadrunner, Blue Note, The Orchard, and Astralwerks.
• System Requirements: Windows XP or 2000, Internet Explorer 6.0, Windows Media Player 9 or 10 (this is available free - see info on the AOL site on how to obtain it)

Cost to join:

• FREE 30-day Trial
• Standard membership: $9.95 per month (entitles you to play on demand over 1 million songs)
• Additionally you can download songs to keep forever at $0.99 per song or $9.99 for an entire album
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Pros:
	The site allows you to stream and download copyrighted material legally, with all artists receiving royalties from your subscription fee.
	The music files are of outstanding quality - encoded at 128kb/sec (CD-quality)
	Extremely fast download speeds
	A very easy user interface makes navigating the site and finding your files easy
	Excellent customer support who were quick to respond to our query
	Song downloads purchased from MusicNow are compatible with all portable music devices certified by Microsoft's Plays for Sure program
	It has the longest lasting free trial period of all our recommended sites, so you can really get a feel for the site before you join.
Cons:
	Only works with Internet Explorer 6.0 or above - sorry Firefox fans!
	Only works on Windows XP or 2000 - sorry Mac/Linux users!
	Music files are available in .wma (Windows Media Audio) format, not MP3. As such, they cannot be transferred directly to your iPod or other Mp3 player - at least not without some jiggery pokery! If you have iTunes for Windows, you can synchronize your iPod and iTunes music listening with your MusicNow service.

Editor's Verdict:

Sign into AOL's Music Now service with you AOL screen name for an instant free 30-day trial with no obligation to buy. With 1.5 million songs online, why doesn't AOL rank higher up our list than 4th place? The answer is that there are just too many restrictions - mainly the fact that you can't use Mozilla Firefox with it and the fact that it's not available on Mac or Linux. Having said that, this is a great site if you meet all the requirements - you have Windows XP or 2000 and you don't mind using Internet Explorer 6.0 (which you're probably using to read this right now!) We liked the user interface of AOL Music Now - it's clean and not too busy, and it's laid out in an intuitive manner: for instance, the navigation tabs, accessible from any page on the site, let you easily switch between Music Now's catalog (Get Music) and your personal, Web-based library of songs, albums, artists, and playlists (My Music). AOL Music Now features custom playlists and community features such as viewing and sharing music profiles with other visitors, allowing you to interact with other users who have the same musical tastes that you do. Viewing the playlists of other users with similar musical tastes is a great way to expand your musical horizons!

But try before you buy - follow our link below and sign up for a free 30-day trial. If you're already an AOL user, then the sign-up process is a breeze and will take you about one minute!

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AOL Music Now Screenshot

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