EMusic - C/D

do they have anything spotify doesn't?

Yes, definitely - ECM and ReR and also some dance oriented things like Hessle Audio and Hemlock are a few labels that spring to my mind. Also some labels put things up on eMusic on day of release but you might have to wait a couple of months until it's on Spotify (e.g. RVNG)

my main problem with spotify as an alternative to downloading is that i can't take it anywhere! just thinking about that makes me wonder if my walkman still works.

Well, you can pay $10/month for premium and then you get it to mobile devices, and you can set certain albums to play in "offline" mode which is kind of like a temporary download. Of course this is limited by the space you have on your phone or mobile device (a problem for me since mine tends to be full of baby videos at all times).

it also requires carrying my phone at all times and using its battery for something that is not related to the phone so what do i do if i binge on spotify and can't make/receive a phone call?!
i'm a super ambulant person and also paranoid about batteries dying so spotify on my phone just isn't really an option for me
i'm ok with emusic for now! why do i keep talking about this?!

Accidentally found this on emusic today, it's under 6 bucks:

http://o.scdn.co/300/c43c2b8375e245a80b7c23227b9c63018f043357

100 mambo-craze-era songs by a great, weird roster: Henry Mancini, Johnny Burnette, June Carter, Eydie Gorme, Ivory Joe Hunter, Sophia Loren, Lavern Baker, Huey Piano Smith, Ruth Brown, Hank Snow, and on and on.

I was just thinking about eMusic yesterday—I just upgraded a bunch of old 128 CBR mp3s from eMusic through iTunes Match. I'm glad it's still around.

what's the fifth song on that comp?

Ha. There is a version of that, though not the original. (But there are a few others by Perez Prado.)

"As a result, beginning today, we will be exiting the mainstream music business and offering exclusively independent music."

in full support here

Wait what?

(My monthly credits reup tomorrow...)

in full support here

― outback bumfuc (electricsound), Friday, September 26, 2014

wish i had a better idea of what this announcement meant, or what the catalog will look like tomorrow. no major-indies, plus loss of major labels, leaves micro-label and self-released (which was already onsite).

i haven't been an emu member for years now. but if the service again looks like it did in 2010, i might reconsider.

So many of my Saved albums are classical things on labels like bis, Harmonia mundi, aeon, and bridge, and I assume those are indie enough to still be there in the morning.

Bummer to lose sony and warner though.

as a grandfathered non-US type i expect the catalogue will look entirely unchanged to me.

it is probably a bit much to dream that Orchard-distroed labels will return but hope springs eternal

I'm sure they were margin squeezed on the major label releases (eg 0.89 / track at eMusic vs. 0.99 at Amz vs. 1.29 at iTunes).

I haven't forgotten the reason tracks are 0.89 vs the earlier 0.49 is so eMusic could woo the majors.

There's so much "meh" on my saved list I'm sorely tempted to drop.

still plenty of major label stuff on the site - anybody know anything deeper about what's going on here?

It changed today. Universal is gone, warner is gone. Sony still there, though! Maybe they have the best terms. I seem to recall they were the first major emusic got...

All the large indie classical labels I checked for are still there.

Universal is gone

So ironically the new U2 album has been taken down from emusic?

ironically?

Canceled my membership over the weekend. Found an album that got my balance down to zero (Horace Silver's The Cape Verdean Blues, for $4.74) and which is doubtless gone now - Blue Note being part of Universal/EMI.

Oh man- all the Blue Note is gone?! That sucks. At least I grabbed a bunch of the Silvers while they were available. Are they actually adding any new indies or just removing the major labels? My "Saved" list went from about 35 to 10. I may have to consider cancelling if they don't follow through on bringing in new labels to replace the majors.

It still annoys me that you can't carry your balance over from month to month. I have probably lost over $200 in credits because of that.

there is a split (albeit an unauthorized one) of MARS and Furious Pig on emusic!

Merge is now on eMusic in the UK for indie rock fans

How much of that is Furious Pig?

wow, it's still going

Never mind, it's on Spotify, Merge and HMV digital as well!

Anyone else noticed that a lot of new releases have been slow to appear on the site since the change to a Friday release day?

I don't suppose they offer FLAC yet.

No. Recently upgraded to 320kbps MP3 for new additions.

My "Save for Later" list has eroded down to its smallest in 6 years membership (now: ~20 albums). Too many missing indie labels, and I'm more comfortable supporting artists through Bandcamp. Every booster credit sale just hastens my departure.

Bought by yet another company.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/21/business/media/triplay-to-acquire-emusic-a-pioneering-digital-music-service.html?_r=0

i think they finally are letting you carry over your unused account balance? like, as of a few months ago? or am I just imagining things

Good grief.

I'm still hanging in! Independent classical & experimental labels is enough to soak my monthly credits up.

Independent classical & experimental labels is enough to soak my monthly credits up.

Same here, but I tend to do things like not feel like "buying" anything for a month and a half, and then wanting to get a bunch of stuff, and end up getting booster packs, and resenting the fact that the credits didn't carry over.

I buy boosters whenever there's a sale on them

The intention to "roll eMusic into the MyMusicCloud service" doesn't sound initially too promising for my continued membership, but shall wait and see.

http://www.musicweek.com/news/read/emusic-acquired-by-cloud-computing-firm-triplay/063193

i think they finally are letting you carry over your unused account balance? like, as of a few months ago? or am I just imagining things

This has not been the case with my account

I'm not sure what "roll eMusic into the MyMusicCloud service" means, but I'm hoping it means that basically nothing changes, except that if you want to, you can stream your purchases through the cloud (in addition to just playing the MP3s you still get to keep).

That is my hope. I'm just a pessimist who expects something different to happen.

Yeah... No files that come live on my computer forever, no deal.

Streaming is live and works flawlessly; redownloads are coming. There's a 2x booster pack sale on right now.

I should probably test it out again right before saying that -- there's some server problems today.

do you work there? just curious

no, just a long time member

There have been a lot of billing issues as they've tried to upgrade that side of their systems after the takeover. Having said that the streaming has worked perfectly on the couple of occasions I've tried it and from what I can see the new owner is taking customer support and site functionality more seriously than their predecessors.

it would be great if it didn't keep automatically downloading the installer exe file every time i buy something

anyone still using eMusic?
they've just redesigned the website and seem to have changed business model as well but I still have a 10year-old subscription that allows me download a certain amount of mp3's for a couple of bucks every month. So they still do that too for the moment.
But their catalogue is terrible. Loads of labels are simply not involved, I get that. But even for the labels that are on the site you just have to wait if a particular release will show up. Just some examples: new Sorority Noise album. Every other release on the label is on there and even some recent SN singles but not the album (actually, it wás at some point but now it disappeared again). Also: Toitoitoi. On Ghost Box. Label is available on the site. Record is out. It's on Spotify and 7Digital. But not on eMusic.
This is not new buy the way. I've got a folder in gmail of me e-mailing labels asking when a particular record will be on eMusic and them answering back, hm, it should be on there, let me check with the distributor.
The last few years I've been finding it harder and harder to spend my credits each month.

i'm still using it. It's always been great for classical music and continues to be. I don't get much rock/pop stuff there anymore though it continues to be my way of buying new Robyn Hitchcock and Fall releases (though yes the last Fall one took a looong time to show up on eMu. Between new releases on classical and film score labels and archival/reissue electronic and kraut/kosmische type stuff I don't have a problem using up my 24 bucks a month.

I'm not clear yet on how the new model is different other than the site redesign.

I'm amazed that emusic still exists. Used to love them. It's like finding out that there's a big market for 78s. In all seriousness, I got an astounding amount of great music from this service. A billion years ago.

I was over the moon in 2002 when eMusic began hosting all the old Daniel Johnston tapes, just weeks after me getting into him and thinking I'd have to order all these import cassettes