Now that we’re at the end of our iTunes gift cards, I’ve realized that it’s expensive to download music. Well, it’s expensive to download music the legal way, which is how we roll in our family.

Did you know that for recent releases on iTunes, one song is $1.29? The cheaper alternative is to use Amazon.com for music downloads. Songs at Amazon are 99 cents each. If I made my child do the math, she would find that you save 30 cents per song, which is like getting one song free for every three you buy.

Amazon has good music, too. Here’s a selection of the most popular kids’ music and a link to download the latest Jonas Brothers or Miley Cyrus / Hannah Montana Songs (or something you like better):

The other advantage of using Amazon.com is you don’t have to use iTunes if you’re on a PC. As for me, I’ll keep downloading iPhone apps from iTunes, but for cheaper downloads I’ll be next door at Amazon.