MP GARDEN

Allow me a brief moment to pimp for one billion-dollar corporation in favor of another and recommend Amazon's MP3 downloads over iTunes.

The selection is pretty first rate, and it appears that all the files are encoded at 256 kbps, as opposed to iTunes' typical 128. (iTunes+ my ass.)

And at least for the moment, they're making an effort to undercut iTunes pricing as well. Last time I checked, you could score the most-recent Cut Copy, M83, Hold Steady, Fleet Foxes, TV On the Radio, Beck, Vampire Weekend, Santogold, and Byrne/Eno for exactly $5 a pop.

Chugalug.