Are their any ways to buy actual mp3s online?

[truthspeaker]

iTunes sells you files that can only be played with iTunes and on an iPod. Is there any per-song site that gives you actual mp3s or wavs?

[DBoon]

1. eMusic

They have a free trial. I "tried" but was not impressed. Unfortunately, you can't review their selection without signing up for the trial.

You tastes in music may differ, so you may find them adequate for your needs. You can download up to 40 tracks per moth for a fee of $10 per month.

[truthspeaker]

2. I'm picky; I don't want a membership fee

I just want to buy songs on demand.

[ramapo]

4. eMusic great for jazz, indie, world...

I've been an eMusic subscriber for a couple of years, back to the good old days when we had unlimited downloads for $9.95/month. I built a hugh collection:).

Though now limitied, it's still a good deal if your tastes trend to the alternative. You will find few if any current, mainstream albums. You will find tons of great music though.

eMusic has a number of subscription plansstarting with the 40 tracks at $9.95 a month.

[DBoon]

8. I tried looking for some alternative bands

and couldn't find them. Sort of club-level bands (I tried Black Dice and Animal Collective for test purposes). Didn't have. I used to get this stuff from mp3.com years back, which is what loved about that service (RIP).

Also, I tried some obscure 60s garage bands (Bubble Puppy, etc). No go.

And some pre-rock&roll R&B and blues, again rather limited (Red Prysock, etc.)

That and their download function wasn't working properly at the time, and when I tried to download and actually got the files, they were corrupted (couldn't play)

My favorite service would be a combination of current obscure and alternative bands plus the back-catalogs of major labels - the stuff Rhino Records used to repackage.

Maybe I should give eMusic another try.

[ramapo]

9. I'd look again

Hmmm...haven't had download problems since the unlimited free-for-all ended and corrupt files are very rare.

Don;t know about the bands you mentioned as that's not my genre but it seems like alternative bands are one of their strengths. They've also added some live shows over the past months. Check out the eMusic
forums.

[Massacure]

3. Legally run Russian site for one cent per megabyte.

http://www.allofmp3.com/

I don't think the RIAA can come at you for downloading music from Russia. :P

[JohnKleeb]

5. thats genius!

I love the motherland even more now.

[pbg]

6. If you're looking for indie stuff...

try

http://www.audiolunchbox.com/

pay, mp3 format, no Digital Rights Management attached.

[annak110]

7. Open iTunes and choose "Advanced" in the menu bar

Select one (or more ) songs in iTunes and choose "Convert Selection to MP3"
or just pull the song(s) you want to the desktop where a copy will be made as an mp3. You can burn the copies onto a CD an play them in any CD player.
Apple Rules!!