I’ve been trying to find legally down-loadable tunes on the Internet (yes I’ll pay for them) but I have a few requirements. First, they have to be down-loadable in a widely used format like MP3 or OGG. Secondly, they have to not be crippled with any DRM scheme. These two requirements are necessary to let me play the songs on any of my computers, portable music players, or any networked device in my house, whether now owned or hereafter acquired as the lawyers say. In other words I want to own the music I have paid for and have it for my personal use in whatever format I wish.

This may strike you as unreasonable, but a price of nearly a buck a song, given that the cost of digital distribution per track is negligible, provides a lot of profit for the the entire music food chain and I ought to get something for it other than the right to buy it again if I buy a new computer or if technology changes again.

The good news is that I know of at least two sources for downloads like that with two different pricing schemes. Emusic.com offers a flat fee per month for a set number of downloads and a rate per song thereafter, sort of like the way you pay for cell phone minutes. MP3tunes.com on the other hand, offers the same kinds of downloads for $.88 per tune or $8.88 per album.

Now the bad news — you have never heard of any of the bands or artists these two sites are selling. So I guess that’s my third requirement, it actually has to be music I want. Until the industry figures out a way to deliver music I want in a format I can use, I’m keeping my money and I’m hoping you are too.