Amazon was creating the redundant file folders on my system for as long as I can remember. I was just cleaning up some space on my disk by deleting out emu's multiple files when I noticed an Amazon music folder that wasn't in the spot it normally got placed. I want to say that as far back as seven years ago, they were doing that.
I can't get the new downloader to be recognized by Chrome or Firefox. And in the process of importing old purchases, lots of partial albums came over. I got like 6 of those various 99 song comps and none of them have 99 tracks - a couple only have 20. Yet they are still available for purchase from Amazon...
To get it to load my new album on my iPod, I had to move the folder from the Amazon folder to the iTunes folder. If this is the permanent new process, it's going to cut down my frivolous whim purchases from amazon by a lot. Which maybe is a good thing - I didn't really need that Skrillex album.
Oddly, Amazon's problems are making me feel a bit of sympathy for emusic. Amazon's a lot bigger with a lot more resources - maybe this shit really is hard to get right.
I bought the BeeGees 99 cent album this morning, but the DLM did not launch as usual. I went to the Cloud player and started the download, files went to my Amazon directory, nothing copied to iTunes, no redundant files.
I find that dragging files into iTunes works fine if I want to add an album to iTunes or my iPod. For example, the Big Mahler Box is not something I have room for on my iPod, but I like to have it on my 500GB Laptop for the office. Usually I use Tag and Rename to fix the artist to Composer, then I "drag and drop" into iTunes. iTunes is set *not* to copy files to the iTunes library, it just plays the files from the original location.
sympathy for emusic. Amazon's a lot bigger with a lot more resources
I had the same thought, especially after spending over 2 hours yesterday trying to get amazon things to work, talking to CS, and eventually being told "yeah, it's not working, we'll hopefully get it fixed in due time".
@amclark2 - I'm assuming this is punishment for me blowing 99 cents on both Skrillex AND Rush. I'm just pathetic.
But really Amazon being idiots and refusing to just let us download the AMZ file is no excuse for eMusic's incompetence. Seriously, Amazon, I don't give a flying fuck if you can detect the downloader. Let me get the AMZ file and my computer and I are smart enough to handle the rest. There's no reason the browser needs to do anything else.
But then again, these are the guys that won't sell you an album with a digital booklet if you're on your phone because... well I still don't know why.
And seriously, how are they not providing updates via twitter? And is it really necessary for me to finally buy Bleach for $2.99 when I haven't listened to Nirvana in about 10+ years?
OK: The new sound upgrade feature makes up for the ordering and downloading difficulty; spent the weekend turning a bunch of old 128k rips into 256, and I like having it as an online backup, so I think I'll be making a lot more use of the amazon cloud.
I feel the same way about the fact that the Amazon shopping ipod/ipad app allows you to purchase many a thing from the Amazon store - except Kindle books. It lets you find them but not click "buy", so you have to wishlist it, leave the app and fire up a browser and find the book. So you can buy it from the device but only as long as you are not using Amazon software to do so. And all this should be unnecessary because there ought to be in-app browse and purchase in the Kindle app.
You might already know this, but Apple demands a 30% cut of every in-app purchase on iOS, so I wanted to note that it is they who are being unreasonable.
I doubt that Safari purchases would have to pay the Apple fee, they are targeting apps which are free, then charge for "upgrades" for the features you wanted in the first place. My guess the free kid's games (pet hotel is my kid's favorite) were the real target, along with Kindle. Apple would have probably done something about purchases in the Kindle app just to annoy Amazon.
Anyone played around with the new Importer program? From all the hype via Amazon, I thought it would spend less time uploading and more time matching my tracks with their catalog, much like iTunes match.
So far my experience has just been more uploading. It works faster their their uploading program and is less likely to stop uploading, but it's still going to take awhile to upload everything.
Too bad Apple was the one that bought that technology from Lala... er... I mean came up with it completely on their own after inventing the concept of musical notes...
I took a look at Prime Music - doesn't have anything to offer to anyone already subscribing/using any of the standard, far superior services like Rdio, etc. Amazon's streaming catalog is an order of magnitude smaller. Catalog depth is negligible: e.g. Amazon streams 2 Jimmy Giuffre albums, Rdio 31.
I've found a few things to listen to on Amazon Prime - the most recent Nightmare Air album is there, a couple of Dodos albums, some Frankie Rose material, things like that. It's nice if you've already paid for Amazon Prime, which in turn is useful if you don't live close to a major city with lots of specialty shops and don't like having to wait up to 2 weeks for free "economy" shipping. You've probably heard all that before, but what really concerns me about Amazon now is the person in charge of naming the products. "Kindle" was bad enough, but then they came out with the "Fire TV' boxes and now the "Fire" smartphone...?
Given the precarious state of the South American rainforest, I'm a little concerned that someone there is almost obsessively associating the word "Amazon" with burning things. What's next, the "Amazon Torch"? The "Amazon Flamethrower"? The "Amazon Ultra-Hot Carbon Emitter"? The "Amazon Clear-Cutter and Endangered Species Destroyer"?
I'd submit that if one finds any use at all for Prime Music, they'd very likely find it more than worthwhile to just subscribe to a much better streaming service. Web-access subscriptions are $5/month, which is peanuts ($10 for mobile). I recognize that Prime Music offers mobile access "for free", but any music fan with interest in on-demand streaming is surely better served by the several much-better options at very low cost.
I don't think Prime is banking on actually being better than the dedicated services at many of the things it does; it's the bundle effect that it's selling: buy everything from Amazon and pay for "free" shipping and we'll throw in some music and movie access. (Which is why I am avoiding it for the moment - Amazon is useful but I am unwilling for them to lock me in too tight).
I think the prime streaming is going to convince me to buy less music from amazon. Since I'm always inches away from getting the prime service for video and shipping purposes, now when I see an album on sale instead of buying it I'll just wait until I end up with the streaming service. Even though I might never end up with the streaming service...
Gp, I agree - my comment is directed at any music fan who finds themselves using Prime Music - my guess is just that they would find themselves better off using another service.
I got a Prime account for the shipping benefits quite a while ago. Then they added stream and improved the streaming service so that it is competitive with netflix. Now they toss me a few hundred albums for free, so I am not going to complain. I find the way they handle the streaming is weird, you add albums or playlists to your cloud, just as you would an uploaded album or an auto-rip purchase. This means I am not going to actually buy the music that is in Prime, but there is little there I can't live without.
If someone chooses Prime only because of the music, they are not really thinking clearly.
FWIW, 30 Classic Rock Albums free for Amazon Prime members. Playable in the Amazon Player only, but not bad for free.
I noticed some were $5 on CD, free shipping for Prime Members, plus a free "autorip" so you can download the mp3s right away. Prime members also have the option of taking a slower shipping option ad get a $1 credit for mp3s.
Comments
Amazon was creating the redundant file folders on my system for as long as I can remember. I was just cleaning up some space on my disk by deleting out emu's multiple files when I noticed an Amazon music folder that wasn't in the spot it normally got placed. I want to say that as far back as seven years ago, they were doing that.
And, yes, it may be something in my settings.
Oddly, Amazon's problems are making me feel a bit of sympathy for emusic. Amazon's a lot bigger with a lot more resources - maybe this shit really is hard to get right.
I find that dragging files into iTunes works fine if I want to add an album to iTunes or my iPod. For example, the Big Mahler Box is not something I have room for on my iPod, but I like to have it on my 500GB Laptop for the office. Usually I use Tag and Rename to fix the artist to Composer, then I "drag and drop" into iTunes. iTunes is set *not* to copy files to the iTunes library, it just plays the files from the original location.
But really Amazon being idiots and refusing to just let us download the AMZ file is no excuse for eMusic's incompetence. Seriously, Amazon, I don't give a flying fuck if you can detect the downloader. Let me get the AMZ file and my computer and I are smart enough to handle the rest. There's no reason the browser needs to do anything else.
But then again, these are the guys that won't sell you an album with a digital booklet if you're on your phone because... well I still don't know why.
So far my experience has just been more uploading. It works faster their their uploading program and is less likely to stop uploading, but it's still going to take awhile to upload everything.
That post clearly belongs in the WTF thread
Given the precarious state of the South American rainforest, I'm a little concerned that someone there is almost obsessively associating the word "Amazon" with burning things. What's next, the "Amazon Torch"? The "Amazon Flamethrower"? The "Amazon Ultra-Hot Carbon Emitter"? The "Amazon Clear-Cutter and Endangered Species Destroyer"?
If someone chooses Prime only because of the music, they are not really thinking clearly.
I noticed some were $5 on CD, free shipping for Prime Members, plus a free "autorip" so you can download the mp3s right away. Prime members also have the option of taking a slower shipping option ad get a $1 credit for mp3s.