Can anyone speculate on why Apple has never made iTunes purchasing available as an online store? It's the prospect of installing iTunes that keeps me away as well.

I've used Google Play when I couldn't find something on Bandcamp because it lets me purchase and download the album in a browser. But even then you have to have an account.

It's all part of their one-size-fits-all approach.

They want to make sure everyone uses their software that runs on their overpriced hardware, and DRM is yet another way to enforce that.

well to be fair iTunes isn't as bad as it is on windows. granted it was better when I started using a mac. around ~10.9 but I regulary buy music there. it's simple and iTunes is fast on mac and I like how it organizes music.

but yeah I never liked it/like it on windows.

I never had an issue with it on Windows. Recently, they even added HiDPI support!