It's just not fun anymore, in fact it is more of an obligation to find enough to use of my allotment before it expires.
The price creep is troublesome and the customer experience has never been what one might call world class but I think the thing that has pushed me over the edge is the realization that remaining a member no longer provides me any protection should my (when my) hard drive craps out. I still have to repurchase anything that is not backed up.
I've never been one for abrupt change so I have suspended my account for the maximum 90 days. Its possible that I could re up.
But like an old girlfriend who's had one tantrum too many
I guess that depends on emu. If they keep sending me decent rejoin offers, I'll probably keep rejoining. About the only thing that they could do to keep me, aside from rolling back prices, would be to add the LaLa full-song preview. I would probably stick around for awhile if I could do that.
Of course, I often have trouble streaming even their 30 second samples; their site always seems to hang up or the samples never play.
And of course, if by doing full song it begins a domino effect over to Amazon and other sites, then that feature will not be as attractive specifically to emu.
But we'll see. While the price increases have made it significantly harder to find stuff that falls within my price constraints, the typical rejoin offer plan is usually low enough in dollar value that it isn't difficult to use up.
Hey, I stopped getting rejoin invitations. What kind of deals are you all getting? To emu's credit, I think I joined to get the deal and then quit after a month three or four times - can't remember. For my experimental take on music, I magnatune and mtracks and internet freebies cover my new music desires.
I've just been looking at the emusic message board. Is it a holiday weekend in the States? There seems to be very little activity over there for the last few days - far more here for example with a much smaller number of people. Maybe it is indicative of the changes over the last few months....
Us too on Monday. That's obviously not the reason then. I've noticed much less activity over there recently. OK we're not adding as much as we did, but we were only a small proportion of posters. Maybe it is indicative that the 'old timers' have moved on from emusic and they now have a newer clientele who don't want to use their old style message board. I know also only a small proportion of customers use the message board. I think if I hadn't discovered emuisc I'd have left that message board by now...
"a small proportion of posters" carry most of the traffic (as at most board I suspect). Even when there's quite a bit of activity, there are supposed to be 400,000 subscribers byt I recognize the user names of many of those who post. And a number did leave. I suspect that in some cases they took long traditions of arguing with each other away with them.
I got a rejoin offer on my alt account today, 99 cents for $11.99 credit. Got the new Fleet Foxes and Heavy Sugar: The Pure Essence Of New Orleans R&B, and a single Blondie track (for my wife, I swear!) That is a total of 88 tracks for 99 cents. Thanks eMu, see you in a month for another re-up offer!
When the switch from dls to dollars occurred, there was the thing about "newer" tracks (explained as anything within a year of release date) could have higher prices per track. The question that was continually posed was whether after one year, the price per track would go down to .49 once the album was no longer "new".
My memory is that emu never answered this question.
Well, I'm running into albums that have been on emu longer than a year and still have, for instance, .69/track pricing.
Has anybody actually witnessed an album go down in price after it had exceeded one year since release date?
But I'm talking about an entire album of songs, not just individual tracks. For instance, there are some jazz albums on the Clean Feed label that are still .69 even though the release date was about 13-15 months ago. Based on emu "explanation" early on about the pricing changes, I would've expected that the album to go down to .49/track.
However, if track prices don't go down based on release date, if once a track is priced as "new" at, say. .79/track and that's where it stays even when years have passed since release date, that's pretty much a clincher for me to never be a long-term subscriber with emu anymore.
Guh, I hate this emu uncertainty. I've never been involved with a company that had me so damn unsure all the time what the terms of commerce were.
That's my point. 89 cents is reserved for new additions, and I wouldn't expect tracks to stay at that price after one year. 69 and 79 cents are reserved for any track that a label designates as a "hit", even though it is neither a central track nor a popular genre. It's entirely up to the label, and it can encompass the entire album.
I think BT's right, in that I'd expect only the notably expensive $0.89 tracks to come down. I would not expect to see a label like Clean Feed (limited but active audience) to drop their prices much, given their low margins. But looking at their catalog, I see $0.69 prices everywhere, but only 2011 releases are $6.49 albums - before that albums are $5.99. So I guess we'll see whether the early 2011 releases change to $5.99 down the line - check back in 2012!
Jonah, you're right, they never answered it. Just recently I asked it again, directly and clearly in a thread that had the moderator's attention. Other questions in the thread were answered. This one was ignored. Again.
My deduction is that this is not first-year-only but a way of permanently raising prices for anything recently arrived. There were also a number of clear cases of material that was already on the site being raised to match the new prices. I'm now working on the assumption that if the tracks have a higher price I have to decide whether I want them at that price. Waiting is likely futile.
But as far as I know emusic have =never answered the question. My guess is that moderators have been told to avoid that one. Do you think it's worth one more assault on the moderators in a dedicated thread over at the other board? I don't mind raising the question again? Y'all could weigh in and they'd either have to answer or the silence would drown out all alternative explanations...
Even if there were some firm rule that prices would return to 49 cents after a year, the labels obviously can sidestep it by resubmitting their catalogs. It might be more fun to ask the mods when we might expect portals and editorial content for the newly arrived "New Rounder" and "Arhoolie."
still, it would be nice to know what the default is.
Yes, that.
I don't want to waste my time listing albums that I'd buy at a lower price (when no longer "new" after one year) and perpetually checking in to see if they've become cheaper. I feel that emu pussyfooted around the whole issue just enough to insinuate that after a year, prices would drop to .49/track, perhaps to allow member to mistakenly believe so to not make the new pricing system seem so bad. This would not be a new approach for them.
GP, I've quit emu again, so I can't chime in on the thread, but thanks. There's probably a whole bunch of people interested.
A moderator response at the other place regarding whether higher track prices will go down after the tracks are no longer new:
There is no policy regarding this it's all agreed upon by eMusic and the label contractually.
This means prices could increase and decrease at different times, or not at all. It's hard to give a "policy" when each agreement tends to be different.
Comments
The price creep is troublesome and the customer experience has never been what one might call world class but I think the thing that has pushed me over the edge is the realization that remaining a member no longer provides me any protection should my (when my) hard drive craps out. I still have to repurchase anything that is not backed up.
I've never been one for abrupt change so I have suspended my account for the maximum 90 days. Its possible that I could re up.
But like an old girlfriend who's had one tantrum too many
Its time
I guess that depends on emu. If they keep sending me decent rejoin offers, I'll probably keep rejoining. About the only thing that they could do to keep me, aside from rolling back prices, would be to add the LaLa full-song preview. I would probably stick around for awhile if I could do that.
Of course, I often have trouble streaming even their 30 second samples; their site always seems to hang up or the samples never play.
And of course, if by doing full song it begins a domino effect over to Amazon and other sites, then that feature will not be as attractive specifically to emu.
But we'll see. While the price increases have made it significantly harder to find stuff that falls within my price constraints, the typical rejoin offer plan is usually low enough in dollar value that it isn't difficult to use up.
Craig
When the switch from dls to dollars occurred, there was the thing about "newer" tracks (explained as anything within a year of release date) could have higher prices per track. The question that was continually posed was whether after one year, the price per track would go down to .49 once the album was no longer "new".
My memory is that emu never answered this question.
Well, I'm running into albums that have been on emu longer than a year and still have, for instance, .69/track pricing.
Has anybody actually witnessed an album go down in price after it had exceeded one year since release date?
However, if track prices don't go down based on release date, if once a track is priced as "new" at, say. .79/track and that's where it stays even when years have passed since release date, that's pretty much a clincher for me to never be a long-term subscriber with emu anymore.
Guh, I hate this emu uncertainty. I've never been involved with a company that had me so damn unsure all the time what the terms of commerce were.
My deduction is that this is not first-year-only but a way of permanently raising prices for anything recently arrived. There were also a number of clear cases of material that was already on the site being raised to match the new prices. I'm now working on the assumption that if the tracks have a higher price I have to decide whether I want them at that price. Waiting is likely futile.
But as far as I know emusic have =never answered the question. My guess is that moderators have been told to avoid that one. Do you think it's worth one more assault on the moderators in a dedicated thread over at the other board? I don't mind raising the question again? Y'all could weigh in and they'd either have to answer or the silence would drown out all alternative explanations...
Yes, that.
I don't want to waste my time listing albums that I'd buy at a lower price (when no longer "new" after one year) and perpetually checking in to see if they've become cheaper. I feel that emu pussyfooted around the whole issue just enough to insinuate that after a year, prices would drop to .49/track, perhaps to allow member to mistakenly believe so to not make the new pricing system seem so bad. This would not be a new approach for them.
GP, I've quit emu again, so I can't chime in on the thread, but thanks. There's probably a whole bunch of people interested.
It must have been a tough question @ the other mess board, it has been ooopsing for hours.
Eurooooops ! - Nice word :-)
They say they're making exciting new changes. I bet they're signing up that elusive 5th major label right now.