Could iTunes be replaced as King of the Downloads

Competition for your music pocket money is about to get a hell of a lot more fierce.

A few years ago, when music file sharing sites, such as Napster and Kazaa, started hitting the headlines, record companies wailed that the internet would destroy the music industry. Well, whilst assistants at high street music stores might be twiddling their thumbs waiting for customers, the cash tills online haven't stopped ringing.

Thanks to their snazzy ads and the popularity of the iPod, currently it's iTunes that's eating up everyone's pocket money. But this year it looks like more challengers to Apple's crown will be stepping in the ring, with one particular heavyweight lumbering up to give iTunes a bruising.

eMusic is the granddaddy of the music downloads. With 250,000 subscribers, they're the largest subscription-based service with the cheapest sounds around. Unfortunately it's these bargain bin prices that have scared off the major labels. So whilst all of their 2.5 million tracks are DRM free, they're not tracks you'll see getting hammered on MTV or pounding out of the speakers down your local night spot.

eMusic promotes itself as the place to be for independent, underground music with genres ranging from indie to electronica to classical. This doesn't mean there aren't some gems to be found. You might just have to wade through a lot of your monthly download allowance in order to unearth one. Still, if you're looking for tracks for as low as 10p, and love to discover new music, then it might be worth having a dip.

A more serious contender to iTune's crown is 7digital, whose service has gone from strength to strength since launching worldwide last year.

Their catalogue of 3 million tracks is largely DRM free, and they were the first place to sell unrestricted MP3s from EMI artists. Last month they announced that they've just received an injection of £4.25 million to launch their plans for global download domination and to loosen Apple's stranglehold.

One particularly handy feature of 7digital is that every track you buy is saved in your own 'locker', which means you don't need to worry about losing all your music along with your MP3 player. So if you're a Kylie, Rolling Stones or Chemical Brothers fan, you might want to check out 7digital to escape DRM's chains and iTunes' megalomania.

Whilst 7digital might have EMI on board, they're still fighting with one arm tied behind their back until they can cosy up to the other major labels. Although they're launching a charm offensive to make this a reality, there's another challenger who has the impressive stats needed to give iTunes a bloody nose.

The internet's #1 retailer Amazon has now said that their DRM free MP3 download service will be going global this year, which is already backed by all four major labels. They've finally realised that dumping DRM might not cause the mass outbreak of piracy they'd feared.

Amazon currently has 3.3 million songs from 270,000 artists to be downloaded, burned, copied, and played on whatever device you like. Along with having all the majors onboard, Amazon's biggest threat to iTunes could come from their reach, with millions already signed up and clicking away buying books and DVDs. It's not going to take a major shift to persuade them to add music to their shopping lists.

Whilst Apple might now be sitting uneasily on their throne as the king of the downloads, they'll still be laughing all the way to the bank. People are going to need something portable to carry around all their MP3s on, and what's more popular than a shiny new iPod.

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