Have you noticed how there are suddenly a million and one services that are “on demand”? Heck, on my satellite dish alone I get Rogers On Demand, MTV On Demand, and about one hundred other TV channels that are “on demand”. But, from a consumer’s point of view, I still don’t know what the heck that really means.

Does “on demand” mean that I can access the service whenever I want, or does it mean I can access the content whenever I want? In the case of music, does it mean that I can get my music whenever I want? Gah, the sheer number of questions that are circulating through my head are nauseating. I’ve decided to try out Musicmatch On Demand to get some answers.

Initial Impression

To my surprise, Musicmatch On Demand is one of the easiest music programs I have ever used, even trumping the “invincible” iTunes. The website is very professional, and the software itself is stable and polished. The name, which I believed to be nothing more than marketing hype at first, is true to the style of the program. Keep reading; you’ll see what I mean in a moment.

I was fully intent on writing a scathing review, slamming the name and the trend behind it, but instead I am admiring a program which is capable, versatile, and incredibly intuitive. No matter who you are, you will be able to find what you want using this program.

Using Musicmatch On Demand

The search capabilities of Musicmatch On Demand amaze me. Though seemingly pretty standard at first (ARTIST/TRACK NAME/ALBUM), the software picks up exactly what you are looking for (even if you’ve misspelled it). This makes the search menu incredibly user friendly, and when your market is as varied and as diverse as it is, that’s a very hard thing to do.

All of the songs that I downloaded were high quality, and though I was unable to burn all of them onto CD’s (it costs $0.79 a song to do that), my $10 a month membership lets me download as many songs as I want. Seeing as how I download a lot of music, this is a small price to pay for good quality (and legal) audio. And, at only $0.79 a track to put onto CD’s, the songs are still less expensive than iTunes.

Musicmatch On Demand includes its own audio player, and unlike a few integrated solutions, it is quite capable- you may even find yourself replacing your current audio player with it. You can adjust the EQ and other various settings quite easily, and the music it spits out sounds great.

I couldn’t be happier.

Conclusion

When it comes to downloading music (legally), iTunes has always been the king. iTunes, though a great program, can be expensive for someone who has no intention of burning CD’s or transferring the files to other computers. For someone in that situation, Musicmatch On Demand is exactly what you need.

The ability to download unlimited amounts of songs for only $10 a month is a steal, and the option to burn those files to a CD for a paltry $0.79 each is a bargain.

We are giving Musicmatch On Demand one of the higest ratings simply because I don’t believe in perfection. But, let me tell you, this program is pretty darn close.