Originally Posted by ahoneymonster:
“store all my music in mp3 format and don't like buying itunes music is sooooooo expensive, not an extensive range and don't like the idea of copy protection”
I've been using EMUSIC lately, you pay a monthly sub and you can download a fixed number of tracks depending on your subscription package. The up side of this is you get excellent value for money MP3 files that do not carry DRM which allows you to use whichever player you want to play your files, also you can store them however you want without complications, the down side is however there isn't a great selection of artists, it's mostly a selection of indies and not always the latest stuff is available, it's not going to suit all tastes.
Also you could download your music from BLEEP.COM, another mp3 store, but more expensive than EMUSIC, you can expect to pay £0.99 per track, but you can get a discount for downloading a whole album rather than individual tracks, also the selection is a little bit more up to date but still is populated by indies and not catering for all tastes.
The itunes music store in comparison has access to many mainstream artists, and many indies but not always a good selection, some of the more obscure stuff found on EMUSIC is not to be found on itunes, some mainstream artists are suspiciously absent, like 'guns and roses' for example. The downside is buying into Itunes music will effectively lock you into owning an ipod to play and listen to your purchased music, you can still use your PC, and you can burn your purchased tracks to CD but you'll not be able to play itunes music on another mp3 player without going through several steps and wasting a CD-R to do it, also you'll be paying around £0.99 per track..