iTunes vs. Rhapsody vs. Amazon vs. the field

My wife helped me upgrade my MP3 player for Christmas - from 1GB to 6GB. I got a lot of room.

I'm halfway through my CDs, having crossed the threshhold with Ratt. Now, onto Boston, The Doors, Naughty by Nature, Onyx, etc.

Once I get done, I'm going to need to fill this thing out. I know lots of folks have experience with iTunes; is it better than the rest? I'm told Amazon is cheaper, though with a smaller (but growing) library.

Lastly - and this may be the dumbest question of all - am I downloading an MP3 file or some proprietary crap that I need special software for? I just went through that with Sony (screw them, BTW) and I'd rather not go through it again.

Thoughts?

 

iTunes is for iPods only, I believe.

 

Amazon is very good -- the songs are in mp3 format with no restrictive DRM built in, and I believe the audio quality is better than iTunes. It's also frequently cheaper. The downside is the selection, which is pretty limited but growing quickly.

iTunes has a tremendous selection - easily the best online. Most files still have the DRM, though - not a huge deal, but I'd rather not have it. Also, the songs are AAC files, so they'll only play on an iPod. (By the way, if you're ripping your CDs with iTunes make sure you're doing it with mp3 files - the default is AAC, as I recall.)

I'm a big fan of eMusic - if you like indie music it's fantastic. It's $9.99 a month for 30 downloads, or $14.99 for 50. The selection is excellent for indies, but they don't have the major labels available.

 

I use Walmart Music - WMA format 88 cents per song and MP3 .94 cents . MP3 format eats up more space but sound quality is better and there is less limitations to usage.

 

iTunes can be used with any mp3 player, but the songs you download off of it are setup for iPods only (AAC file format, as mentioned previously). But, that doesn't matter, all you need to do is burn them on to a CD and then transfer them back on to the computer as mp3s and it should work just fine. I know it is an extra step, but it is worth the time and effort if you can get a song that you can't get elsewhere.

 

Napster To Go.

It's 15 bucks a month and unlimited downloads. Of course the songs are gone once I drop the subscription.

I download about 100 songs per month.

 

Research something called 360SharePro....and you'll thank yourself over and over and over and over and....you get my point.