I run a fairly popular mp3 site (live music and bootlegs) and though my current host's heart is in the right place and he has been very professional in communicating with me there have been too many problems with server reliability/download speeds and so I am looking into possibly moving to a new host in mid-February. I currently have +40GB of files and I add more all the time but I do not anticipate ever requiring more than 80GB of disc space. Due to the growing popularity of the site I *will* require unmetered bandwidth. With my current VPS download speeds have been good at ~250-300+ (when things are going well!). I am assuming that given my budget a VPS setup is my only option and I am happy with that if it provides decent download speeds and is *reliable*. If you think you might have something that suits my needs please let me know. I am happy to answer any questions here or via PM.
Which locations are you interested in and would you require any sort of control panel and management?
For $250 a month you could definately get a good-spec offshore server which would handle your needs a lot better. Even with a VPS your host could complain about bandwidth, cpu, memory usage, etc.. whereas on your own dedicated server you wouldn't have this issue. You probably can even do this for under $200.
I think you should go with Dedicated Server with 1GB line-speed and Unmetered Bandwidth. There are lots of provider you can find with $250/m unless it's a typo and you are looking for a hosting with $250/y
Thanks everybody for your replies and PMs. I have enough to go on now that if I decide to make the move I'll be well informed and with options and people to turn to. I'm going to give my current host one more go with a dedicated server, but if things don't work out I will be in touch. Thank you!