eMusic

[Brian Pennington]

Can I just throw a third vote of support out for eMusic. It's easier  
to find music on there than it is to pirate it, it's very cheap (less  
than buying one album a month). Plus you know that the money you pay  
is indeed going to the struggling artists and labels. You can  
complement it with iTunes purchases of major label records, or of  
course Soulseek or the like.  The major difference between eMusic and  
competitors: most work on the principle that you rent your music, and  
as soon as you stop paying money, you lose all your music. And at  
that, none except eMusic and iTunes work with iPods.

As far as labels and genres, the extent of eMusic is impressive. They  
have every major US indie rock label with the exception of Sub-Pop  
(Merge, Matador, K, Kill Rock Stars and Touch & Go). A good selection  
of electronic labels (Ghostly Int'l, Get Physical), about half of the  
UK's massive genre-unspecific indies (present are 4AD, V2, Cherry Red  
and Beggar's Banquet, missing are Mute and Rough Trade), it includes  
most of amazing reissue label Les Temps Modernes' catalog (including  
nearly every Factory Records artist aside from Joy Division and New  
Order) and a smattering of random releases which were on majors in  
their day but are now published by indies (Ray Charles, the entire  
Sun Records catalog including Johnny Cash's discography, Nancy  
Sinatra, everything on Rykodisc including PHM, various one-hit  
wonders and cult groups from the 60s to the 80s).

Seriously, it's one of the best things I ever did for my music  
collection. If you find yourself in a position where you hear names  
of groups and never get a chance to hear them, this is perfect.