Apparently in some regions you can only download once. In the US you can redownload as you wish, even video games can be redownloaded multiple times.

Also, keep in mind that any Amazon MP3 you buy as far as I know doesn't take up space on your cloud storage on Amazon in the US from what I've been told by Amazon.

I can confirm this.

they used to restrict you to download the file once, though I think they changed it in the US for a while now.

By the way, may I suggest that you look at Beatport and Juno Download, it you're after any kind of EDM or downtempo?

Any preferred (legal + cheap) music download service for European users? I guess I'd need one for my gf, she wants some tunes every now and then. No monthly payments.

I have no idea what all services there are, and what are the preferred ones. A friend of mine uses Itunes. Apparently the music is in some other (uncompressed?) format, so in order to make your own mp3s, you'll need to convert them yourself? Do others offer mp3s?

Another friend uses Spotify Premium, but I am not looking for a streaming service.

Is Google Music any good, and should the selection between Itunes and Google Music be based on whether you ever plan to buy Apple or Android devices, or do both services run just as great on either devices?

bandcamp is a great place for independent artist. Because they allow the artist to set minimum price and encourage them to upload their music in variety of format. I notice establish metal band like Mortiis and Death also have their own bandcamp account.

The Google Music Marketplace isn't available in Europe so that's off the list from the start.

Amazon tends to do regional restriction, so I'm not sure if you'd be able to buy from there (either the .com or the .co.uk one) but they do have a pretty good selection of music.

iTunes sells unprotected AAC (.m4a) @ 256kbps which should be playable by most audio players made in the last 5 or so years. But if they can't, then yeah, you need to convert it to mp3.

You can also try 7digital.com; they have a decent catalogue and prices and sell mp3s as well as being available in Finland.

There's also Bandcamp, but that's more for indie, lower key bands.

Thanks for the suggestions.

I guess I'll have to test the current sound hardware with some AAC files first, at least certain portable mp3 CD stereo player is suspect (maybe I should just buy a new one). Since AAC is already a lossy compression method, I presume converting (re-compressing?) them to another lossy compression (mp3) is not necessarily that good idea?

Juno Download? It offers lossless WAVs and 320kbps CBR MP3s.

EDIT: It also offers 192kbps CBR MP3s for less money.
Yup, it will butcher the quality even further.