The 15 best Music website

1. ITUNES

Praising iTunes is like endorsing chocolate and puppies: well, duh. Even so, any discussion of music on the Web has to start here. With its supersize catalog (more than 2 million tracks), fair pricing, and any-idiot-can-figure-it-out interface, it's most people's first stop for downloading the latest Kelly Clarkson single or Mariah Carey remix. Since it launched in 2003, iTunes has trounced its competitors, capturing close to 75 percent of the marketplace and selling more than a billion tracks.
But while everyone knows iTunes is big, fewer people realize how useful it can be for finding new tunes. Start with its top 100 downloads — updated daily — and you'll see an instant, direct reflection of American musical tastes: the newest Dixie Chicks single; surprise emo phenoms Panic! At the Disco; that Daniel Powter song that's on American Idol every week. Then move on to the ''essentials'' playlists, full of offbeat cult favorites. (Thanks to the ''Folk 101 Essentials,'' John Prine's epic ''Angel From ...........

2 EMUSIC.COM

This underappreciated, expertly curated MP3 store is the music geek's alternative to iTunes. It's packed with fantastic choices, and at $9.99 a month for 40 downloads, it's a great deal. Emusic sells tunes only from independent labels, which means you won't find most current pop hits here. But spend some time sifting through its 1.2 million tracks — including new stuff from Neko Case and Spoon and classics by Johnny Cash and Otis Redding — and you won't care. Best of all, the site's sharp editorial team steers you toward the good stuff with articles on the best Parisian jazz ........