Trying to be objective (not easy, given my bias against these folks), they fall way short. King's right. Same issues.
Why spend money for inferior quality you can't do much with anyway? most of us in the forum spend a lot (too much?) time in front of the monitor, but in order for a service to work, the files have to be portable. That's where the technology is going, and that's where consumers want to go. Streaming to stereo components in your house, or to a remote computer, is only part of the solution. If I can't burn a CD to take on the road, it's not worth it to me.
EMusic is the right model. Maybe they're unique. It works for them because they're offering a lot of older material, that wouldn't generate high volume activity in traditional media form. Therefore, whatever piracy risk is generated from on-line sales doesn't really dilute their retail sales.
At some point, these geniuses should divert some of the effort they now devote to suing everthing that moves, and reallocate their resources to a DRM program that accomodates my needs as well as theirs. In the emanwhile, I'll shop somewhere else.
HTH