Here's where I'm at with this.
iTunes is the most user friendly, but typically the most expensive.
And they use AAC (M4A) Files.
Finally these files are DRM free and play in most devices (but not all)
They do play in Traktor (DJ software) which is the most important,
but not playing in like most car stereos for example.
So they need to be converted for car stereos (which typically only play MP3 or WMA).
But they are the best sound quality.
And the selection is Awesome.
The preview is decent, but only 30 seconds.
Average price $1.30 to $1.00
Amazon also sells MP3 downloads.
The file type is 256kbps variable bit rate (vbr) MP3.
These basically play everywhere (its an MP3).
The interface isn't as good as iTunes but not too bad.
The selection is pretty good.
The preview is terrible. Its 30seconds and highly compressed sounding.
You have no idea what the actual file sounds like until you buy it.
Average price $1.00
LaLa is becoming my favorite.
The cost is typically a bit less than iTunes and even less than Amazon.
Average price about $0.89
The preview is awesome. You get to hear the actual file from start to end (but only once).
The selection is a little crappy, but generally gets the job done.
The file type is 256kbps vbr MP3 (I prefer the sound of the AAC files, but the difference is much less than 1%).
The biggest problem is the user interface.
The searching is terrible. You can search for artist or song name, but it doesn't do both.
And you can't organize songs by alphabet. they are seemingly randomly arranged, so you
have to look through all of them to find what you want. Its unbelievable,
That in today's digital world, they couldn't do a better job with that.
The best shopping method is to have all three sites open.
I use the iTunes for most of the research and buy on LaLa or Amazon if LaLa doesn't have it.
