Best Pay-For-Music Download Service? Opinions?

[Jon Westfall]

I'm thinking about joining a pay-for-download service, but can't decide which one (and I don't think I even know about half of them). Can anyone shed some light on possible solutions? I'd like one where I can download full albums or individual songs for a fairly low price, unobtrusive DRM would be nice (I have no prob. with WMA, as long as my (soon to be here) creative nomad can read it (i.e. can't have the wma tied to an indivdiual player). Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Jon.

[Deltrevan]

Gosh, I'm of absolutely NO help at all here...since I steal ALL my music.

(I know i-Tunes won't work on your new (coming) device, though)

[upplepop]

See this TechTV article: Online Music Roundup 2004: Service and Genre Comparison Charts (http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/answerstips/jump/0,24331,3644081,00.html). It summarizes the features of all the major services.

Gosh, I'm of absolutely NO help at all here...since I steal ALL my music.
Not something I'd admit on a public forum. :?

[Jeff Rutledge]

Gosh, I'm of absolutely NO help at all here...since I steal ALL my music.
Not something I'd admit on a public forum. :?

Or that I'd be proud of. :roll:

[Jon Westfall]

I don't know, I steal all my oxygen in the fact that I've never paid anyone for it...

[maikii]

Never tried one. The only time I might consider using such a service is if I want one single song, and not the whole album. Not then as a subscriber, but pay 99 cents for the song. (I guess .89 at Walmart.com)

I don't think $9.99 for an album is a good deal at all, when the music comes to you compressed, you don't get the media (CD and case) and artwork, and there are those damn DRM restrictions, restricting how you use it.

Some CDs do not cost more than that anyhow, and certainly you could buy any CD used for that much or less. I'd rather pay a few bucks more anyhow to get the CD, have the music uncompressed, to use as I want to, compress or not compress for whatever purpose I want to, how I wish, no DRM, etc.

[Zack Mahdavi]

I don't think $9.99 for an album is a good deal at all, when the music comes to you compressed, you don't get the media (CD and case) and artwork, and there are those damn DRM restrictions, restricting how you use it.

Some CDs do not cost more than that anyhow, and certainly you could buy any CD used for that much or less. I'd rather pay a few bucks more anyhow to get the CD, have the music uncompressed, to use as I want to, compress or not compress for whatever purpose I want to, how I wish, no DRM, etc.

I completely agree with you! When the iTunes Music Store was launched for Macs last April, I was quick to try it out. It's a great store.. you get instant gratification for music, and it's legal. Plus, the music transfers easily to my iPod.

However, when I bought my Pocket PC, I lost interest in the iTunes Music Store. The DRM annoys me, as any music I buy can only be played on iTunes or on my iPod. In fact, I've stopped buying music from iTunes at all today.

What I do instead is buy CDs for cheap on Half.com. You can find most CDs you want for around $6 or less, and with shipping, the total is only about $7.50. That's not bad for a CD, its jewel case, and no DRM!

[Elad Yakobowicz]

I don't know, I steal all my oxygen in the fact that I've never paid anyone for it...

Give it 20 years...

As for the rest - check my comment in this thread:

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=30935

[dean_shan]

eMusic (http://www.emusic.com) gives you un-DRMed MP3 files. 40 songs for $10US.

[Kati Compton]

I normally buy actual CDs if I want at least half the songs on an album. I like the flexibility of ripping and re-ripping. For one-off downloads, I use iTunes and convert to the format of my choice, but I keep the original around.

[Elad Yakobowicz]

Buy.com also sells single songs for between $0.79 - $0.99

[Janak Parekh]

Buy.com also sells single songs for between $0.79 - $0.99
Yeah, but their terms vary between tracks. That bothers me a lot. :|

--janak

[powerbook17]

itunes maynot be the cheapest but it does have the best interface and features