If you have a high speed internet connection you have access to a song, movies, books, and a host of other digital entertainment and educational information. But youre also exposed to some new dangers and opportunities to be taken for a ride.

Music, video, and movie downloads have grown tremendously over the last eight years; moving from free wheeling, and under the licensing radar to not only legal, but incredibly prosperous for those companies with the right business model.

Music Downloads

If you can think of a song you can probably find a site offering to download it for a price, usually somewhere around 99 cents a download. Other sites, such as ++++ offer a membership which includes unlimited downloads.

Given the size of the music files, and the fact that they are usually in an MP3 format, the downloads are typically quick and easy. And they can be played on an iPod or any other standard MP3 player or with an mp3 application such as RealPlayer or Windows Media Player. And while iPod dominates the portable player market, companies such as Motorola and Sony offer devices to the consumer. A quick search on FROOGLE shows a wide range of devices at an equally wide range of prices. Of course, the primary factor in the cost is the amount of memory available for storage. The larger the memory, the more expensive the unit is.

Television shows such as ABCs Lost or other shows will generally take longer to download; anywhere from five to 10 minutes. And of course, the ability to play these programs is more limited.

But even with the greater restrictions, video downloading (music videos, old television programs and other video files is still relatively simple and relatively cheap. Most vendors (iPod, and others) charge anywhere from 99 cents to a couple of dollars to download a single song. Additionally, the smart vendors allow the person downloading the file to play it on at least one other computer.

Unlike music, music videos, and television programs, movies downloads are still relatively awkward. Many require an hour or more to download (if nothing disrupts the process), require a proprietary application to play, and can only be played on your computer. Some will allow the person who downloaded the file to register it on at least two other computers. This can be a little less than cozy unless you have a networked computer and can play the downloaded movie through an entertainment center.

As with music downloads, more and more movie vendors are coming on line every day, offering anything from the 1930s classics to more current fare including Ultraviolet, Planet of the Apes and the Terminator series.

Prices run the gamut as well. More current movies downloads can cost as much as $19.95, older movies less than ten dollars. Television shows will typically run from $1.50 to $2.00.

As with most things in life, the download technology offers trade offs. Sometimes the amount of time spent downloading the movie is as much time spent simply driving to the video store. The amount of tweaking needed to make a proprietary player work can knock the luster off the ability to see that movie none of the video stores carries.

It all comes back to a saying that has been around for ages: Let the buyer beware. Vendors are going to promise the sky. Rarely will they deliver it, but sometimes they can come close. You have to figure out which one delivers and which ones just say what you want to hear.