In response to El Tee's earlier question, I pretty much only download from eMusic. I rarely go to iTunes (I think I got an early release of an album once, and I filled in a bunch of classic rock singles for a playlist I was doing for a going away party -- didn't have any Allman Brothers or Lynrd Skynrd of my own).
What I love about eMusic is the following:
- Each month, I get a couple albums I may have bought anyway, and a couple completely new bands (to me) just to try -- usually stuff I hear about here (like Chalets, Pipettes, The Sails -- which I'm getting today). At basically $2 an album, that works for me.
- If there's not enough indie/pop for me, I fill in with jazz and classical - they've got oodles of John Coltrane, Miles, Dave Brubeck, etc.
- I can do anything I want with eMusic downloads. Imagine that, I actually own them outright! (Unlike iTunes).
- When SxSW is coming up, lots of the bands I don't already know are available on eMusic.
- They list everything you've downloaded already, and you can download it again. Great if you have a hard drive die, or if, like me, you want to have albums both at work and home (I can't burn CDs on my work computer).
