I’m looking for your favorite pay for music web service. I want to own the music I buy, not rent it. I have a gift card to iTunes, so I’ll use that, but afterwards, is there a better choice?
*I did a quick search, and didn’t find any results that fit what I was looking for. Granted, I search poorly, so apologies if necessary…
I find iTunes a pretty good option. Their selection is quite good (I just downloaded Robert Wyatt’s “Rock Bottom,” a fairly obscure CD) and it’s simple to use. If you are downloading an occasional album (as opposed to downloading a lot every month), it’s worthwhile.
I use emusic.com. It offers .mp3s, which mean there aren’t any restrictions on what portable players they work with, whether you can burn it to CD or not, whether you can transfer it to another computer or not, etc.
It also offers a lot of stuff you can’t find other places. Their classical and jazz libraries are particularly extensive. However, if you’re looking for popular music, you’ll be disappointed.
I swear by Rhapsody. It takes a little bit to get used to subscription-based music (versus buying a la iTunes), but I love it. When I hear something I like, I go download a couple of albums and start listening. If I like it, I transfer it over to my Sandisk player with minimum hassle.
It’s worth a look.
I like napster canada quite a lot. I don’t rent music permanently from it, but I find that the subscription service is ideal as a ‘test drive’ option… grab a bunch of music, listen to it once or twice to figure out what you like best, and then buy that. 
Rhapsody is kind of the definition of “renting” music, in the sense the OP didn’t want to do, isn’t it?
Gak, right you are. Sorry for the useless interjection. :smack:
ALTHOUGH - you can buy music from Rhapsody. I just don’t. And to further clarify - you can buy music and burn it to CD and do whatever you want with it. It’s usually $0.89 (strategically priced) per song.
Napster does most of what I want, except I resent the idea of paying for idle periods.
I don’t pay for idle periods… in fact, I generally try to squeeze as much as I can out of my ‘on’ months with Napster, (7 so far since December of '05.) If I’m not listening to a lot of subscription music, then I don’t pay them a subscription fee.
They haven’t complained yet. Then again, I’ve dropped a lot of money their way for permanently bought tracks, so it wouldn’t be a good idea for them to peep. 