Some services I like even less than iTunes are:

Pressplay, which uses Windows Media Audio for streaming files. Content is streamed at 20, 32, or 96 Kbps, depending on your connection speed. In fact, even the downloads are WMAs. You pay for a subscription but don’t get to keep your downloads after it expires, unless you pay more (less than a buck) to make each download permanent.  

Rhapsody, another subscription service which declares: “Burn as much music as you want, whenever you want.” But the fact is they have tons of songs you can’t keep. Because they haven’t cleared the rights yet. At Canadian Music Week 2003, I had the privilege to hear Rhapsody’s Director, Tim Quirk, describe his service using terms very similar to those used recently by Jobs to describe iTunes. 

And then there’s MusicNet, another service with the “largest catalog of music.”

These services may offer downloads and CD burning (after making you subscribe, then pay extra per song), but their real strength lies in their ability to stream customizable content. They’re super internet radio stations...

Keep in mind, there are some very cool free radio services. And although I like the idea of playlists prepared by other people, I would prefer having the music for offline listening.

(good old idobi Radio...)