I have almost completely gave up on buying music downloads, instead I almost always buy a CD. Most of my recent purchases have been through the artists own websites or from the merchandise stalls at venues. 
 
So tonight I decided to buy a download from Amazon.   It seems they have gone out of their way to out do iTunes in the inconvenience stakes. Amazon always used to be so easy, not anymore!  First they try to ram their streaming service "Prime" down your throat, you have to go searching to actually buy things!
 
Once purchased you are supposed to be able to down load a ZIP file containing the songs. I tried 3 browsers, did not work on any of them so I had to install the Amazon Music Library program to get my hands on my purchase. I finally managed to download the songs though I have yet to find them on my hard drive. Meanwhile the “app” is trying to encourage me to use Prime and use up my band width streaming every other album I have every bought from them (including CDs by the look of it.)
 
Good job all this crap is installed on my old Vista PC.

Thats not my experience.  Prime is only offered to those that have it. You may need to download the Amazon music program. Though you can DL the music directly. I have never seen it offered as a zip file. Each song is an MP3.
 
Normally after purchase a dialog pops up asking to DL it or not. At that point I open the Amazon music app that will DL what ever is ready to be DLed. It will also put in is a directory for me.  

Maybe it was a glitch but the regular download resolutely refused to work. Once installed the program downloaded the files OK.

Maybe I am getting pestered about Prime because we have had a 12 month trial. In the beginning it was handy for free postage but its getting more annoying and I won't be renewing it in a week or two when it expires. The frustration has died down now but I still feel they are trying to push their streaming on me.

They would not even let me stop the free Prime subscription.

I got back to CDs the minute we settled here. I order most of them from Amazon and never bother to get the downloadable version. I hate messing with CD's, so I just rip everything to .wav files and store the CDs.
 
Things seem to have gotten a whole lot more complicated when it comes to watching TV or listening to music. I can't tell you how much time I spend coping with forced upgrades and re-entering passwords every week or so on that so-called Smart TV. Same with the latest iTunes which is constantly prompting me for my iCloud password even though I don't use that service. 
 
They seem to be adding options and to try to make everything some kind of online event that needs to be shared on social media and all. Me, I would like a "if it ain't broke..." option.

Rain
 
They seem to be adding options and to try to make everything some kind of online event that needs to be shared on social media and all. Me, I would like a "if it ain't broke..." option.

Thats pretty much the way I see it.

Streaming will NEVER replace physical media...in my heart, at least. I don't see, in the near future at least, streaming services offering hi-res uncompressed audio. Heck, the "HD" that you get on cable and satellite includes lossy Dolby 5.1 and panned-n-scanned compressed video. I bought what DVD-Audio and DSD CDs that I could, assuming both would die...and for the most part, they have.

Used to be the Amazon Music Downloader, now it's Amazon Music which handles Prime music, downloading MP3's you've bought and also accessing / uploading to your cloud-based music account, including any MP3's you have which were not purchased on Amazon.  However, the music downloader is still available if you would prefer to use that.
 
I've never had any issues personally, I am a Prime member but was using their cloud services way before that.  I've only ever bought one 'digital' (i.e. MP3) album, ever.  If I really want some music I'll get the CD (if possible, auto-ripped on Amazon), then rip it and therefore have access to it more or less wherever I am.
 
I've not really had any problems with using Amazon's music services/software, other than the (new) Amazon Music software's rather unintuitive interface.  However, they're hardly alone in providing software with a crap interface.
 
 

I just don't have the time to open a CD case and pop it in the tray anymore. 
 
So I'm Spotify all the way. I buy the occasional download from artists whom I want to give extra support to, but never from iTunes or anywhere like that. I always get the FLAC's from the artist's own links. 
 
Whatever disadvantages Spotify has, they're more than neutralized by its functionality and convenience. 

except that spotify does not pay the artists whose music they stream, crap.

batsbrew
except that spotify does not pay the artists whose music they stream, crap.

http://www.spotifyartists...pay-royalties-overview