The purpose of this study was to investigate student motivation and achievement in music appreciation by comparing web-based and game-based online music learning environments. Undergraduate students (N = 132) from a public research university in the southeastern United States participated in the study. Based on the pretest-posttest control-group design, two groups of 66 students were randomly assigned to a control (web-based online instruction) or treatment group (game-based online instruction). Achievement was measured by using a multiple-choice pretest and posttest. The IMMS (Instructional Materials Motivation Survey) by Keller (2010) was administered to assess student motivation. Analysis showed that the students improved their achievement scores in both game-based and web-based online music learning environments. While there was no significant difference in student motivation between the two groups, the web-based online group significantly outperformed the game-based online group in student achievement. The results of the study indicated that minimizing extraneous multimedia learning materials might be crucial to improving student achievement in music appreciation. A full discussion is provided.