Reply to Dice Roll: Getting good bit rates from non-beatport sites

I know there's a lot of threads on this, but...

I need to get together a lot of non-techno, non-house music for a 'techno DJ's doing other genres' lounge event. Mainly going funky hip hop, and maybe some indie pop since I'm doing, effectively, two sets. Beatport is damn good for the latter, but for the former, fuck me in the goat ass... there is some SERIOUS wading through shit to get to the good stuff.

From what I've read (here, mainly) it looks like even iTunes and Amazon are a grab bag when it comes to the bit rate. They say they aim for 256kbps, but apparently it isn't always the case for either. I would fear for the older stuff the risk is much greater. To boot, you don't get to peak at the details before hand.

Emusic is VBR from the get go... and I've heard mainly good reviews from tracks bought there, but some shit ones as well. I've had an eMusic account for years, but I've never DJed with any of my tracks from there. For this gig it's probably not an issue as it's in a little bar. But, let's say I get booked to a sold out Yokohama Stadium... it's going to be a problem then.