Music lovers spend a fair amount of money each year for their ears to enjoy sounds. We buy CDs, MP3s, DVD Audios, concert tickets, MP3 and CD players, and more just to fulfill our need for music.

Of course, there’s always someone who finds a way around paying for the finer things in life. The first such service called Napster connected individual computers to share music between them. The service quickly caught on, as people realized they could enjoy music for nothing, just like the radio, right? The RIAA quickly brought the service down and has continued to attack music pilferers through lawsuits. Just recently the RIAA has said they will no longer sue individuals, but will go after any ISPs that have copyrighted traffic flowing on their lines. The change can let some students and the dead can breath a sigh of relief.

How to find inexpensive music without stealing?

Let’s face it — peer to peer networks that allow you to download music from another person’s collection should be considered stealing. It’s not borrowing. Of course, anyone can still do this, but there are alternatives. The alternatives support the artists and help us move towards a more digitally free future.

While the Microsoft Zune toils in the shadow of the iPod, they do have a decent marketplace. The marketplace titled Zune Marketplace 3.0 offers a subscription service similar to the new Napster or Rhapsody services. Subscribers can download unlimited songs (mostly — some songs still require purchasing) and even allow them to keep ten songs at the end of each month. The cost comes in at $15 per month, with services like Rhapsody and Napster clocking in at the same. Of course, that can add up over time and does put a dent in a long term budget.

Some prefer to get their music through online radio services. The biggest player in this arena, Pandora.com, offers visitors a chance to setup a channel specifically tailored to their listening tastes. The downfall with a service like this would be its inability to become portable. The service requires you be near a computer, not in your car, on the train, or in a plane. It is free though, which makes it very appealing.

DRM stands for Digital Rights Management and most subscription services use it, while internet radio songs cannot even be skipped, let alone be copied. The cost of music can be high if buying CDs from the store, but Microsoft’s Zune subscription plan seems to be a good deal, with unlimited downloads and ten complimentary keepers each month.

They frequently put their new release albums up for 99 cents. These types of offerings also help to appease the taste for new music.

What ways have you learned to save on music?

Do you download, buy CDs, listen to the radio?