1. A method for automatically acquiring a digital copy of a song that is being received over a radio channel and played on a device, the method comprising: receiving, at the device, user preferences for purchasing digital copies of songs, the user preferences including a minimum bitrate for the digital copies; receiving, at the device, a transmission of a radio channel that is currently playing a song; tuning the device to the radio channel such that the song is played on the device; while the song is being played, receiving user input that requests that a digital copy of the song being played be acquired; analyzing the data, associated with the song, that is transmitted over the radio channel to determine one or more characteristics of the song being played; using the determined one or more characteristics to search over the internet a plurality of audio content providers to locate a digital copy of the song that is available to be purchased at each of the plurality of audio content providers; receiving information from each of the plurality of audio content providers that indicate characteristics of the digital copy of the song that is available to be purchased at the audio content provider, the characteristics including at least a price and a bitrate of the digital copy of the song; using the user preferences stored on the device to automatically determine which of the digital copies of the song is to be purchased including selecting digital copies having a bitrate that at least equals the minimum bitrate specified by the user preferences, and selecting a least expensive digital copy from among the digital copies that have a bitrate that at least equals the minimum bitrate; and upon purchasing the automatically determined digital copy, downloading, to the device, the automatically determined digital copy of the song from the corresponding audio content provider.