Issue date: 4/24/08 Section: A & E

Media Credit: Jake Verterano

You're driving down the Blue Route cranking up the radio. After the seemingly endless commercial break a brand new song comes on.

The song starts making you dance, almost getting into a rear end collision. You must have this song now, you need this song to survive.

When you get to your dorm room and you need the song…you do have some options other than downloading the song illegally.

Let's face it, it is difficult to avoid the temptation of illegally downloading. Music is part of everyone's life, but so is the Internet. It only makes sense that you could use one to get the other.

The Internet is supposed to be used for sharing information, why not share music as well?

On top of that, CDs are so expensive. You don't want to spend $20 on a CD when you only want one of the songs.

Although these solutions seem so easy, there are problems that can occur. Eventually, record labels are going to lose money and have to close. Then the artists will have no where to record their music, thus ending the music industry as we know it.

You're also risking your freedom by downloading music illegally. If you're caught you can face some serious jail time.

Well have no fear, there are alternatives to risking imprisonment through illegally downloading.

iTunes is a great alternative. You have the option to buy songs individually on this program at just 99 cents a piece. That's a pretty good bargain. If you want the whole album, you can download it for just $10. That saves a ton of money as opposed to buying the CD in a store.

Another alternative is asking a friend who has the song to burn it on a CD for you. Burned CDs are always lots of fun, and you can hear new music if you ask a friend to make you a mix.

If all else fails, you can always take the short drive to the record store and pick up the hard copy of the album. It may be a little pricier, but they always come with some cool album artwork.

So next time you sit down and see that little Limewire icon, delete it and think of a better alternative.

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