I don't have the big picture grasp of DRM or proprietary formats like Brandon Paddock, Christopher Baus, and others I've been reading to guide my music and online media purchases. All I want is to not be tied to my iPod on iTunes purchases, or tied to an iRiver (or whatever device on the Windows side) for non-iTunes purchases. Thus enters your vanilla .MP3 and MP3Tunes.com.
I visited the store several times in hopes of purchasing some Electronica, but I didn't recognize a single artist, and those I did sample pretty much sucked. The site also has a long way to go on providing a better user experience and to facilitate purchasing.
Apparently mp3tunes.com is getting a lot of traffic, since they posted a note on the home page saying they are disabling search from time to time for performance reasons. Of course, since no recognizable artists are in the library, searching is pretty pointless. I'll still root for a simple MP3 distribution model, in spite of my ignorance on the subject.
