I 've decided to throw money at the guys who run DI.fm. Although my 250GB loss didn't actually result in any major data loss, and I still have all my mp3/m4a/mp4/wtfhax/ogg/aac files, they're not currently on my powermac, they've temporarily moved out onto the external 250GB drive, which means I have no music to listen to.

I'd usually be quite gutted about this and get the files back on my desktop as soon as possible, however I've not actually accessed the files in months anyway, as I've been abusing DI.fm's streams to provide myself with musical delights.

So with all my files (theoretically) gone, it gave me that extra little push needed to make a decision, so I hopped over to the Digitally Imported site and subscribed for a year, which currently only costs something like $59. So what do I get for my money?

mp3 streams at 128k and 192k (yummy!)
Windows media streams at 64k and 128k (No thanks)
aacPlus streams at 32k and 64k (Double yummy!)

All streams apparently come from servers which will never get busy, streams are ad free (w00t!) and adverts get removed from the di.fm website, not that I use it that often, but it's a nice addition to the package.

So I now have 192k mp3 streaming almost all day, my ISP is going to love me :D

If there's a style you like on the DI site, and you listen to the streams a lot, I'd definitely recommend signing up, if only for the sake of supporting the site. If not, grab a copy of VLC or Winamp and tune into the free aacPlus streams... :)