Ripping & burning: where to go for digital audio.(Tech Life)(Column)

We've gone from 45-rpm vinyl platters to 450-Kbps digital downloads of the music we want to hear. Music in many digital formats and in every genre is out there somewhere on the Internet. Here's where to find the music and how to play it on your audio system. There are three main sources for music, including CDs you already have on hand. Here's how the sources compare.

SONG SITES

What's available. Major record labels are now part of web sites where you can download songs for a fee. Other sites serve as repositories for selections from numerous artists.MusicNet, for example (available at www.musicnet.com), rents songs provided by EMI,AOL Time Warner, Bertelsmann, and Zomba. Cost: $9.95 to download 100 songs per month, which can't be copied onto a CD or MP3 …