Unsurprisingly, I think someone is monitoring this thread. (Either that or it leads to purchases that tip off labels) I think all of the albums in my long post on page 5 above, starting with the 1201 records stuff, have had their prices corrected upwards. The moral: pounce quickly on anything posted here.
For Plong42, great find on the Tartini. Just out of curiosity, what is the size of all the files when downloaded? (I normally don't like to only stream my purchases, but I may make an exception in this case...
For Germanprof, I learned my lesson the hard way. I posted a deal somewhere (was it here?) before I actually bought it. Then when I went to the emusic page a week later, the bargain price was gone!
Here's a low-cost compilation from an unlikely source. (41 tracks, 140 minutes, $6.99). Trumpeter Eddie Rosner was called the "Polish Louis Armstrong" and toured in West Europe and USA in the 1930s. The Jewish Rosner was persecuted under the Nazis and Stalin, but in the 50s and 60s he led a big band that toured around the U.S.S.R. He later said, "In 1939, it didn't help being a Jew playing Negro music, even if your name is Adolf," (It's true, his first name was actually "Adolph"). About 1/2 of the album is low fidelity, and all of the tracks are interesting -- even though they don't fit neatly into traditional musical categories. Lots of the jazz number have violin and violas -- giving everything a folk/gypsy feel. There are some wacky Western homages -- like the "Cowboy" song (Kovboyskaya). It features several Soviet singers mostly unknown to me.
Here's an added treat -- not on the compilation album unfortunately. In the last part of his career, he provided the jazz band backing for a new 17 year old singer Nina Brodskaya (who later became very famous and emigrated to the US in the 1980s). This sizzling live performance reminds me of Benny Goodman and Peggy Lee singing together. If live performances like this of Eddie Rosner were around, I wish the compilation could have provided more of them!
For Plong42, I can appreciate the effort gone into retagging things. I'm actually writing a book on music collecting where I plan to devote a full chapter to tagging audio files, with special attention paid to classical music. Sometimes you have to balance the need to have good and complete tags vs. the labor involved to get it right. Save that discussion for another thread though.
I dloaded all the files one at a time, retagged them all with the proper name (all they had was the movement), filled in the composer, moved the artist to the comments and copied the the composer to the artist and fixed the genre. (using tag&rename)
I sent customer service a note saying I could not download the who collection presumably because it was too large. Their response was to credit my account $6.99 and the album is still in "My Music".
I assume the bot answering my email could not figure out I had downloaded the set as individual tracks. I think 4.2 GB for free is a great deal, and the two or three cds worth I have listened to so far are excellent.
For Plong42, happily I can report that I could successfully download the complete 4 gig Tartini zip file. It took about 10 minutes to get ready, and then it reliably downloaded at a rate of 2-3Mbps. Took about 20-25 minutes to do so.
For Germanprof, the [ BvDub - All is Forgiven $0.99 ] recommendation is pretty dreamy and terrific -- even though it sort of never ends....
On a slightly disturbing note, the upload feature in My Music doesn't seem to be functioning -- although what is there can be streamed no problem. I also noticed that about 40-50% of things purchased prior to 2015 are unavailable.
Just saw (and purchased) some Art Tatum albums for 99 cents apiece - there are 7 of them starting in 1930 and going up - albums done by label (Brunswick, Columbia, etc.). Not sure that they'll stay at 99 cents, so I picked 'em up quickly. Here's the Columbia and Capitol recordings album 1949-1953.
Bremble, great find on the Art Tatum stuff. (To my amazement I don't have any of his stuff although there are 1 or 2 albums at the local library). It's great to buy all 7 albums in the series; I just wanted to point out that that album names are confusing: You have Columbia and Capitol recordings album 1949-1953. Then you have the Columbia and Capitol Recordings 1949. There are two or three other albums with confusing titles. I didn't look too closely. There's probably some overlap, but not a lot and not enough to worry about at that price.
Before During After by Woodtops, 52 tracks, 227 minutes, $6.99. Compilation of a short-lived 80s British synth band, with one third of the tracks being live performances, remixes and outtakes. Great stuff!
Johnny Hallyday Anthology (All Tracks Remastered) (28 tracks, 68 minutes 99 cents). The “French Elvis” who sang American style rock and roll songs. He died a week ago. (Note that there are two volumes of another compilation at similar prices, but the remastered versions of the song sound better to me).
Finally, I have a large list of Indonesian pop budget albums from the 60s and 70s which I'll be mentioning here soon. Stay tuned!
The Complete Last Sessions Recordings, Jelly Roll Morton, 99 cents, a bit more than an hour of music, on the Doxy and Resurfaced labels, both have it for 99 cents.
Two other compilations: Homenaje 50 Aniversario: The Beatles. 190 minutes of Beatles cover songs as performed by Spanish musicians (some are even in Spanish language). Some occasional gems. $6.49, 56 tracks.
Other Voices is a series of albums which were recorded live for an Irish TV program. Emusic sells these albums, but one of the albums Other Voices 12 is 145 minutes for $6.99. (I know several of these performers on this particular compilation).
Here are 2 great values of Ukrainian pop compilations: Свежачок, Ч. 12 (21 tracks, 78 minutes, 99 cents) and ЛЕТНЯЯ ДИСКОТЕКА 2017 (50 tracks, 3 hours, $4.99). (Both come from Moon Vinyl label).
One band included in the compilation was a great new female duet, ЖЕМЧУГ (Pearl). Here's a 7 track EP by this group for 99 cents called "Любовь с завязанными глазами. "
Also at 99 cents here's a 72 minute EDM track by "Mushroom Jazz" DJ mixer (Mark Farina). Farina has been mixing since the 90s, and all his stuff is interesting.
I love the Doxy and some of the other "bargain" retro compilations. The problem, from my perspective, is that you can buy virtually all of these at similar prices on Amazon (Doxy, the Beatles tribute, etc.). I realize with "booster" discounts they are even cheaper on eMusic, but with the purge of dozens of significant labels on Christmas eve (Thanks for the lump of coal in our stockings following a month of pushing booster sales, eMusic!), it's getting tough to justify sticking around just to save $0.99 on a $1.99 Doxy release. (For example, Mack Avenue, Edition Records, Clean Feed, etc. are all gone as of December 24. Not just new releases - the entire catalogue. And this after the abrupt disappearance of Pi Recordings around Thanksgiving and Sunnyside, etc. earlier in the year).
My hunch is that this is the equivalent of a liquidation sale and that all money coming in from this extended (permanent?) month-long-and-counting "super-discounted" booster sale is being used to recover something for investors that pitched in to enable the $20M acquisition by TriPlay a couple years ago. My guess is that the acceleration in loss of labels and content will continue, with no further effort to reverse the situation. By my count (and I know this only scratches the surface), on Christmas eve alone the labels Mack Avenue, Clean Feed, Edition Records, Unit Records, 482 Music, Motema, and In and Out Music disappeared for good. Another batch (including Pi Recordings) went away around Thanksgiving. (And, yes, you can still purchase some albums on these labels if you have a valid link in a Wish List or from an external site... but the labels are gone, and I don't see them returning).
They'll keep the lights on as long as cash is flowing in from subscription fees and booster purchases, knowing that as content declines they will eventually lose enough subscribers and see booster purchases diminish enough to warrant eventually calling it quits. But for now, I think it's a very long, slow death spiral and liquidation sale that will continue as long as boosters keep getting bought.
a question: how integrated is this Forum with emusic? what I mean is - if emusic, for some reason, goes belly-up, can this Forum continue as a fun place for sharing news about new releases, etc or is it controlled (and paid for) by emusic?
a question: how integrated is this Forum with emusic? what I mean is - if emusic, for some reason, goes belly-up, can this Forum continue as a fun place for sharing news about new releases, etc or is it controlled (and paid for) by emusic?
Good question! I arrived well late under the imprssion that this was a seperate independent group for folks tired of the way the Emusic blog was running.
Comments
For Germanprof, I learned my lesson the hard way. I posted a deal somewhere (was it here?) before I actually bought it. Then when I went to the emusic page a week later, the bargain price was gone!
Here's a low-cost compilation from an unlikely source. (41 tracks, 140 minutes, $6.99).
Trumpeter Eddie Rosner was called the "Polish Louis Armstrong" and toured in West Europe and USA in the 1930s. The Jewish Rosner was persecuted under the Nazis and Stalin, but in the 50s and 60s he led a big band that toured around the U.S.S.R. He later said, "In 1939, it didn't help being a Jew playing Negro music, even if your name is Adolf," (It's true, his first name was actually "Adolph"). About 1/2 of the album is low fidelity, and all of the tracks are interesting -- even though they don't fit neatly into traditional musical categories. Lots of the jazz number have violin and violas -- giving everything a folk/gypsy feel. There are some wacky Western homages -- like the "Cowboy" song (Kovboyskaya). It features several Soviet singers mostly unknown to me.
Here's an added treat -- not on the compilation album unfortunately. In the last part of his career, he provided the jazz band backing for a new 17 year old singer Nina Brodskaya (who later became very famous and emigrated to the US in the 1980s). This sizzling live performance reminds me of Benny Goodman and Peggy Lee singing together. If live performances like this of Eddie Rosner were around, I wish the compilation could have provided more of them!
BvDub - All is Forgiven $0.99
I dloaded all the files one at a time, retagged them all with the proper name (all they had was the movement), filled in the composer, moved the artist to the comments and copied the the composer to the artist and fixed the genre. (using tag&rename)
I sent customer service a note saying I could not download the who collection presumably because it was too large. Their response was to credit my account $6.99 and the album is still in "My Music".
I assume the bot answering my email could not figure out I had downloaded the set as individual tracks. I think 4.2 GB for free is a great deal, and the two or three cds worth I have listened to so far are excellent.
Ólafur Arnalds - Late Night Tales, $6,99, about 2.5 hours
For Germanprof, the [ BvDub - All is Forgiven $0.99 ] recommendation is pretty dreamy and terrific -- even though it sort of never ends....
On a slightly disturbing note, the upload feature in My Music doesn't seem to be functioning -- although what is there can be streamed no problem. I also noticed that about 40-50% of things purchased prior to 2015 are unavailable.
Also 99 cents on the label, Miles Davis. Everything else I checked was $3.99 for about two hours of music.
- Before During After by Woodtops, 52 tracks, 227 minutes, $6.99. Compilation of a short-lived 80s British synth band, with one third of the tracks being live performances, remixes and outtakes. Great stuff!
- Beverly Kenny Compilation albums (6.99 each, 50+ tracks, 120 minutes): Sings for Johnny Smith Etc and Sings for Playboys, etc . Complete collection of albums by the 50s jazz singer who died at 28 from suicide. (A great biographical essay here). I really loved these songs! (all light-hearted and magical)..
- Johnny Hallyday Anthology (All Tracks Remastered) (28 tracks, 68 minutes 99 cents). The “French Elvis” who sang American style rock and roll songs. He died a week ago. (Note that there are two volumes of another compilation at similar prices, but the remastered versions of the song sound better to me).
Finally, I have a large list of Indonesian pop budget albums from the 60s and 70s which I'll be mentioning here soon. Stay tuned!https://www.emusic.com/album/3193709/Various-Artists/12-Hours-of-Christmas-A-Day-of-Classical-Christmas-Music
The label has a similar collection for Miles Davis, John Coltrane (9+ hours), Sidney Bechet (5 hours), and several "essential 100 tracks" collections, Louis Armstrong (5+ hours)
Big Bill Broonzy, All the Classics, 99 cents for about an hour.
Bill Evans, The Complete 1960 Birdland Sessions (Live, Remastered, Doxy Collection)
Two other compilations: Homenaje 50 Aniversario: The Beatles. 190 minutes of Beatles cover songs as performed by Spanish musicians (some are even in Spanish language). Some occasional gems. $6.49, 56 tracks.
Other Voices is a series of albums which were recorded live for an Irish TV program. Emusic sells these albums, but one of the albums Other Voices 12 is 145 minutes for $6.99. (I know several of these performers on this particular compilation).
One band included in the compilation was a great new female duet, ЖЕМЧУГ (Pearl). Here's a 7 track EP by this group for 99 cents called "Любовь с завязанными глазами. "
Also at 99 cents here's a 72 minute EDM track by "Mushroom Jazz" DJ mixer (Mark Farina). Farina has been mixing since the 90s, and all his stuff is interesting.
They'll keep the lights on as long as cash is flowing in from subscription fees and booster purchases, knowing that as content declines they will eventually lose enough subscribers and see booster purchases diminish enough to warrant eventually calling it quits. But for now, I think it's a very long, slow death spiral and liquidation sale that will continue as long as boosters keep getting bought.
what I mean is - if emusic, for some reason, goes belly-up,
can this Forum continue as a fun place for sharing news about
new releases, etc or is it controlled (and paid for) by emusic?