Eating lunch at work right now, I'm not sure how to search for music on iTunes. It appears I can search on the Apple website, which might give me a result (found "Modest Mouse;" did not find "Black Sabbath" or "FFF" -- looking for music), but it keeps asking me to download iTunes, which I can't do at work. (Do I need iTunes to buy music from Apple?). Amazon MP3 does actually have one album by FFF, but if I click on the artist link, it keeps me on the current page showing results by relevance -- which are not very relevant to my search, I might add.
So here's why I don't buy music online, in order of importance -- 1) lack of selection 2) unknown information about the bitrate. I don't see any information about this; I have a strong preference for v0, but I'll accept 320 or FLAC if I have to. 3) poor user experience.
To be fair, however, I doubt my reasons apply to the majority of the population. In the meantime, I will continue to spend my music money elsewhere.
Regarding bitrate for Amazon, it looks like they do variable bitrate that targets ~256kbps (I believe this the same as v0)[1].
Also, while lacking in selection, Google Play Music has become an attractive alternative for me for music. Can stream from a browser, or download to my PC. Works and syncs across all my Android devices wonderfully. Bitrate is 320kbps for purchased music, and you upload up to 20,000 of your own tracks. I think the user experience is one of the better ones. Also, they usually have sales every week where a bunch of albums are $3.99 (this week appears to be only down to 6.99, but still).
So here's why I don't buy music online, in order of importance -- 1) lack of selection 2) unknown information about the bitrate. I don't see any information about this; I have a strong preference for v0, but I'll accept 320 or FLAC if I have to. 3) poor user experience.
To be fair, however, I doubt my reasons apply to the majority of the population. In the meantime, I will continue to spend my music money elsewhere.