Do you have to pay to download music from i tunes?

If you mean buying songs from the iTunes store, then, well, you're buying something, so you have to pay for it. It isn't a fee, it's a price. There is also tax added on. Songs cost $0.69, $0.99, or $1.29. There is also a free song every week.

If you mean opening songs that you have on your hard drive on the iTunes desktop application, then no, it doesn't cost anything.