I didn't know why it was down. I thought maybe the RIAA hit them because some Artists still on contract were releasing songs on MP3.com and they quickly got taken off the service.

99 cents a song is still better than not having yet another source to download from. Yet I do agree that it was a good way to learn about new groups and get their songs for free. No such thing as free music anymore, or if there is, I cannot find it except for P2P File Sharing apps that are having users of said apps being hit hard by the RIAA for sharing MP3s.