Kampervan,

I've been using this site for a few months:

eMusic

It's a subscription plan, but much cheaper than iTunes if you can find what you want. (25 cents a track or less.) I always check there first. Tracks are downloaded as MP3s, and you can use them as you like with no restrictions such as iTunes has. One thing to keep in mind – monthly tracks are "use it or lose it" like many cell phone plans. If you don't download your tracks within the 30 days, you lose them. They do have a slightly more expensive bonus pack of tracks you can buy which don't expire – useful if you want a few extra tracks in a month. Right now, they're offering 25 free tracks to try it out.

It's NOT a mainstream music site – you won't find Springsteen doing the Seeger sessions – BUT you will find lots of Pete Seeger's own albums. They have a lot of good things, but you do have to wade through a lot of junk stuff too. They have several genres of music. Read all the details before you decide to join, but it's worked well for me.

Best way to check the site before joining: When the link opens up, scroll all the way to the bottom and click on the fine print link that says About eMusic. This will take you to the main browser page. You can read all the plan details, and then browse through all their music without committing to anything.

Some of the things I've downloaded from them: a Pentangle album, Irish fiddle and singing, Scottish traditional singing, Doc Watson, Chinese erhu (fiddle) music, Renaissance music, Sacred Harp singing, etc.

I do still buy CDs if I want the booklet, though.


Another site I probably heard about on Mudcat and have browsed but not tried yet is:

eFolkMusic


And you can also download lots of great music from Smithsonian Folkways:

Smithsonian Folkways


Re the restrictions you're worrying about. I've downloaded things from iTunes, Music match and eMusic, and added them all to iTunes. I've added the iTunes downloads to Musicmatch Jukebox as well. My own method for dealing with the restricted tracks is to download them to a CD, and then pop the CD right back into the computer and copy them onto the other program as MP3s. There may be other ways to handle this as well – I vaguely remember hearing about programs that will convert things for you, but someone else will have to advise you on that. I don't think you're just restricted to iTunes downloads though.

Zhenya