iTunes Alternatives

As the musical landscape changes in front of our eyes, more companies are starting to catch up to what the consumer has wanted since the days of Napster: music in the form of an mp3.

Not MP4, MP3x, RM, or some other random format that requires a special player (although OGG and FLAC are lossless and should be used when needed, unencrypted, of course). MP3 is the standard of choice and its instantly recognizable by the masses. Despite iTunes’ popularity, this concept slowly grew, then died in a sea of AAC DRM-free flaming garbage.

credit: Eleftheria G

Get MP3’s for your iPod

Since the release of Amazon’s digital music store, things are beginning to change rapidly. Big labels (read: BMI, Warner Bros., Sony BMG) are figuring out ways to make money AND give the consumer what they want. Now, there seems to be multiple other avenues to getting your music sans-DRM and moving on with your life as the BBC reported today that Rhapsody has finally gotten on-board. Keeping in that spirit, I give you iTunes alternatives:

Amazon MP3 Store (requires Amazon MP3 downloader, but is my favorite place to start)
Napster MP3 Store (downloading each song is a pain, however)
Rhapsody MP3 Store (I haven’t played with this yet
Google Hack Method (I use this occassionally
Ripping from Live Stream Method (for those hidden gems you can’t find