I’ve been using the iTunes music store pretty much since it came out, and have never had any real issues with the DRM. It’s simple enough to burn CD’s, put the music on your iPod, etc. I would love for Apple to offer a subscription service, but so far they are reluctant to and until one of the subscription services, such as Yahoo, Napster, etc. become a threat, I don’t think they will.

All that being said, sometimes 99 cents per track, or 9.99 for most albums, can be steep if you just want to try some music out. The 30 seconds snippets they provide really aren’t enough in some cases. Of course, when I want to keep the music forever, 99 cents is fine. (I won’t get into the debate over whether I actually own or am just licensing the music here).

So when I saw some ads for eMusic, and their non-DRM’d MP3’s, and the chance for a no obligation trial of 40 songs, I jumped at it. And I’ve decided to stay a member on their basic plan which is $9.99 per month for 40 songs, or about 25 cents a song. You can add bonus packs too if in any given month that is not enough. The other monthly plans are 14.99 for 65 songs and 19.99 for 90 songs.

Their catalogue is not as extensive as iTMS but I’ve found a lot of music I like, including Johnny Cash, Joan Baez, Richard Shindell, Woody Guthrie, a tribute to the Beatles, etc. In other words, I have no problems getting 40 songs a month.