The free programs are all malware ridden. As the old saying has it, nothing is truly free. The funny thing is, the paid versions of the same programs seem to actually give you what you paid for. Caveat emptor!
I actually don't mind paying for music if I get the quality I want, and don't download malware with it. I've been pretty happy with iTunes, and am ripping my favorite CD's and addint them to my iPod.
I am very happy with the songs I purchased off iTunes. They sound phenomenal. And the licensing restrictions aren't as restrictive as the critics make them out to be. First thing I do is back them up to CD just in case my hard drive crashes. Though even in that situation, there are ways to recover the songs from your iPod by downloading some "unauthorized" software that Apple winks at.