Anyone use or recommend any of the following legal MP3 commercial music 'pay for download' online services? Which one has the best or largest library of classic commercial pop songs?

RealOne Rhapsody http://www.real.com/rhapsody/

EMusic http://www.emusic.com/pitch.html

Apple iTunes Music Store http://www.apple.com/itunes/

Since the RIAA has recently begun cracking down and prosecuting people who illegally download MP3 songs using peer to peer programs such as Kazaa & Morpheus, it's important to know which 'pay for download' online service provider is the best alternative for downloading songs legally. Feedback & recommendations appreciated. - Scott

When looking at the legit sites, be shur and read the fine print. Most of these sites limit what you will be able to do with the mp3 once downloaded. iTunes is one of the very few sites that once you've downloaded the song it yours. You can burn it to CD, or put it into a mp3 player.

Scott,

I'm surprised this post didn't have more replies. The activity in downloading music legally is becoming very competitive... and it's a good news situation getting better all the time. I recently spent a few days downloading music from Napster (napster.com) during a 3 day free premium membership. I was quite impressed, because I got, well, lots of free (and legal) music. BTW, forget what you know about Napster of old, the new is safe, legal, user friendly, and bug free.

Many of the sites provide music in the WMA format, rather than mp3, for whatever reason (microsoft power?), so that's one thing to check out. Depends what you want to do, your player, etc. Here's a site with a recent and very comprehensive review on several sites:
http://bbspot.com/News/2003/12/digital_music_store_reviews_1.html

Limewire.
Both legal and illegal versions are available. I don't remember the link, so just do the search.

Kazaa...NO forget that one! I think it's $10.000 a song if you're busted...
Chances of that happening are slim, but real.

-ED-