Oh, barfballs.....not because of Barry or Barry, but, I mean it's lovely I guess that eMu has added 266 titles yesterday from the Sympathy For The Recording Industry label, but weren't some of these here before? I am pretty damn sure I got some things there, and I know I had the 5,6,7,8's on one of my Lists (from whence they have of course disappeared). Just more BS of having no access to history of previous downloads because of distribution changes - BTW, does this kind of crap happen to anyone at any other download service than eMusic? To the best of my knowledge every single thing I've ever downloaded from 7digital is still present in my Locker, and a double download has never reared it's ugly head at Amazon. And (best Christopher Walken voice) I'll be damned if I'll pay $6.49 album/$0.69 track for the same stuff I got so much cheaper in the past - well, and not to mention the utterly cheap load of SFTRI titles I got back at Amie. OK, rant over.
I took the V-Day credits and decided to cancel before my annual plan renewed. I know I will miss stuff off my SFL but know I will still get music from here and there, but will try to listen to the crazy amount of music (185 GB) I already have.
My refresh day later this week. I've still got three quarters of my 100 credits to download before then. It really is beginning to become a chore in the last few months to search or scan emusic that I am seriously thinking of leaving even though I get very well priced music from them. The first thing I look at now when wondering what to download is Jonah's Jazz Picks - if that didn't exist I think I'd have already left. It no longer is the joy to explore to find downloads. I'll probably give it another month or two to see if things get better.... but the enjoyment has gone.
Someone posted a link to the Charlie Rouse - Julius Watkins box set on eMu, 230 minutes over three CDs, priced at $5.84. I bought the set, but it did not download. I tried the usual things (clearing cache,etc.) but eMusic/J just never did anything with the files. I sent a question to Customer support, tried their advice, still no dice. Finally CS said the file name are too long, which seemed obvious, why I didn't try that is a mystery. I changed the settings in eMusic/J, it is downloading without problems.
Here's the weird bit. CS credited me the cost of the album, along with the cost of another album I bought that day which downloaded fine. Along with the VD day bonus, it is like getting a month free.
With my emu membership canceled, I'm realizing how many electronic, jazz, classical, and gray areas of the three I've gotten through Emu. Just checking on a few out of curiosity, I realize especially with electronic, emusic often has the best price and sometimes stuff that isn't available elsewhere. Have you guys noticed something similar? How is MTraks on these three genres?
@choiceweb0pen0 that sounds right. The converse is that a big part of what has kept me at emusic through all the sinking ship stuff is that if you're into obscure electronic stuff and gray areas it's still the best place to look. A while back I went through my (then larger) emusic save for later list and checked them all against MTraks. The ones that MTraks had were few enough that I was able to clear them there in two months. MTraks is improving its selection all the time, it is gaining some of the smaller electronic labels (Hibernate is there now for instance, though 12k isn't) and worth checking back but it still does not consistently have enough to float me there on a monthly basis.
I was pondering similar things today out in the physical world. I had an appointment across town and finally took the chance to check out Corner Records, which is the opposite side of the city to me and reputed to be cool, and also checked in at Vertigo Records, which is more central. Those are the two main connoisseur-oriented new and used record stores in town. I wanted to support them; I tried. I was game for upgrading pretty much anything in my 2011 top 20 to CD if they had it and the price was reasonable. But between them they had almost nothing on my want list or more generally in the genres I most listen to. Loads of pop, oldies, indie rock, masses of punk and metal, but almost no electronica (and what they had was techno), and classical was limited pretty much to famous old composers. I came away with a couple of Miles David CDs from Corner so that the trip would not be a bust (older jazz is to be had aplenty) and the 2011 Esmerine CD from Vertigo (only thing I could find in the store that I wanted). So I did buy a couple of things, but I was not leaving the store leaving behind anything I might return for.
One result of that foray was that it occurred to me on the way home that a large proportion of my mental want list was by European artists and probably on European labels, apart from being non-mainstream, so I probably should not be so surprised. I've basically lived in the land of online stores for so long I tend not to think so much about things not being from here. As if to underline the point, I just bought two of the CDs I was looking for from home for a total of $5 from a guy in Portugal via Discogs.com. (I need someone to fly me to Berlin - there's this really cool record store off the Ku-damm...)
GP: Glad I'm not the only one to think that. Maybe I'll come back some day when I'm tired of all my music, which doesn't seem slated to happen anytime soon.
Most records stores do see to have a tiny electronic section, much of which will be something to dance to. Jazz and Classical section may be the same, unless it's near a college with a big music program. I've bought some new releases of indieish music there, things I think I will want to own the physical CD.
I must admit I'd be lost for music without emusic. We have very few independent record retailers in the UK, with one national chain, HMV. They are regularly rumoured to be in financial problems. I've been into two different HMV stores in the last few days. In Birmingham, UK's second largest city, I found a Miles Davis boxed set and another Miles CD that I wanted, but nothing else to persuade me to spend money. In my local store on Monday I got Bruce Springsteen's new CD; I looked at the jazz section and found it had about 10 CDs. World and Folk were just as bad. At least threequarters of the floor space is either video or games. I did find Retromania in their selection of about 30 music books. Here the supermarkets have taken over the chart CD market, with most other things being sold on-line. ( I read somewhere that we have more on-line music retailers than anywhere in the World) But if you want a decent selection of, eg, contemporary jazz emusic is the site to go to. So I'll probably not give up whatever the cost or difficulties in using the site.
I'm actually curious about how much weight each of the following factors has in the mismatch between me and local record stores. I suspect they are cumulative:
(i) reading blogs gives me the false impression that there are more than ten other people who want the stuff I buy, and it would be in no store's interest to stock it.
(ii) a lot of the stuff I buy is released in foreign countries and thus expensive and hard to get and high risk for the store. (As a teacher of German I find it incredible in the internet age how much palaver is sometimes involved in getting a book from Germany to Michigan)
(iii) Grand Rapids, MI is teeming with punks and metalheads but all of the electronic and "neo-classical" fans could meet in the nearest Starbucks.
(iv) people who listen to the things I listen to are the demographic most likely to get things online, legally or otherwise.
(v) so much of what I buy is on small labels and they are not so plugged in to the store-oriented physical distribution channels.
(vi) it's so hard to be a record store these days that they can't afford to branch out into interesting rarities.
Yesterday was my Refresh day and I never even logged in (so I got to miss another round of Oops apparently). Truthfully the day was pretty hectic, but I was at the computer a few times and it never crossed my mind. eMu has rendered itself to an estate of little consequence for me, which is sad in a way given the volume of really good music it has put in my digital coffers over the last 7 years. I still got some good stuff last cycle but all back catalog or repackaged jazz, latin, and Mr. Big - no new trails anymore. On the other hand it's all stuff I will actually be listening to, so how do you value the spirit of adventure against that?
I know what you mean BDB. Below I quote my comment on a thread there that you made the previous comment
I tried downloading a free album this morning - it took several attempts to complete the download, something that rarely happens to me. It was also like the rest of this site - slow and ponderous. It used to be a pleasure to search for music here, but that is no longer the case and if anything it seems to be getting worse rather than better over the last few weeks. I'm still a supporter of emusic and want to stay here, but my patience is getting thin day by day. Please emusic do reassure us it will get better soon, and I mean overall better, not just a few changes that appear to make it worse elsewhere on the site.
By the way, the free SXSW 2012 free album is worth ever penny or cent!
I would hate to give up on emusic but I am getting close despite the fact that I get some great music from there. But at least half of my downloads each month come from Jonah's Jazz Picks. That alone is keeping me going
Greg, I'm flattered by all the kind words. I'm glad I'm helping others find some great music. Emusers is great for that. I keep finding stuff I love based on the recs of others here, too. I am totally addicted to Peter Broderick right now. I listen to three albums of his in a row pretty much every morning. I can't recall if it was GP or BN (or maybe both) who rec'd Float, but it began a surge of Broderick listening.
I thought about reducing my downloads, but when I looked into it it would save me very little for a considrable drop in tracks because I am still on a European grandfathered plan. If I wanted half as many it would cost me more!! What I might do is just have a month off every two or three months if the supply of what I like totally dries up.
It does come down to somewhere between cost and selection. Those were the two selling points of eMusic early on. They're still big selling points, but are much more inconsistent the past few years with labels coming and going, amazon and other mp3 sites, not to mention the crazy eMusic redesign.
That redesign just killed me and my emu account. I still cherish those fun years of pre-Sony eMu. I have over eight hundred albums on my hard drive courtesy of that time, and I felt inspired to start exploring the musical kingdom. That said, between free albums at noisetrade and bandcamp, my once-a-year three-month membership at Magnatune, the time-to-time 75 dls at mtraks, and the weekly trip to one of my local libraries, eMu is completely defunct. Not to mention that there's real quality netlabel releases, some amazing musical experimentation by talented artists too fringe to land a record label or make real money off their art. In most ways, that's where the real beauty lies anyway.
That all said, I would love a grandfathered plan from Europe, and I do miss the major indies releases.
@jonahpwll, I think I might have rec'd float, but BN was reccing Borderick's collab with Machinefabriek at least a year ago, which I finally and gladly bought recently. so it;s all one big happy circle.
Have you listened to Wonders by Oliveray? It's Peter Broderick and Nils Frahm together, and I seem to remember you are rather partial to Frahm also. It's disarmingly unpolished in places, but a really nice album.
@Sort, that's close to where I am at too, though still hanging on at emu for now. There are still just enough things that I really want that are unavailable or much more expensive elsewhere. Though I am seriously considering canning emusic, reducing the download stream, and spending more on select CDs at places like Experimedia instead.
Interesting effect of spotify et al becoming visible - in the last week on the emusic board there have been two posts from people who seem genuinely puzzled that you can't listen to the whole song on emusic. How quickly expectations change.
That's about exactly how I remember it. I think you linked to the Float album stream. And I recall thinking that I didn't much care of what I'd heard of Broderick previously (I think BN rec'd the Machinefabriek, but also maybe just an earlier Broderick album and maybe his collab with Nils Frahm).
But it was one of those days when I had time to follow links to albums stream and just listen. And Float really did, well, float my boat. And y'know how it goes... once a musician makes that connection with me, suddenly I revisit past albums and hear them differently, now that a clearer connection with the artist has been made.
But pretty much now, my every morning is dominated by the music of Peter Broderick and Brian McBride.
Hey, y'know, I think I'm gonna do one of those Mixtape Recipies for MiG. Something along the theme premise of "Music for when the Pain of Morning is Too Much."
1. Brian McBride
2. Peter Broderick
3. Benjamin Koppel
4. Wayne Horvitz
5. Ass
Yes, I think I'd like to do that.
Speaking of Ass, by the way, he has a new album coming out this year, which has me very excited about life.
Comments
Craig
Here's the weird bit. CS credited me the cost of the album, along with the cost of another album I bought that day which downloaded fine. Along with the VD day bonus, it is like getting a month free.
I was pondering similar things today out in the physical world. I had an appointment across town and finally took the chance to check out Corner Records, which is the opposite side of the city to me and reputed to be cool, and also checked in at Vertigo Records, which is more central. Those are the two main connoisseur-oriented new and used record stores in town. I wanted to support them; I tried. I was game for upgrading pretty much anything in my 2011 top 20 to CD if they had it and the price was reasonable. But between them they had almost nothing on my want list or more generally in the genres I most listen to. Loads of pop, oldies, indie rock, masses of punk and metal, but almost no electronica (and what they had was techno), and classical was limited pretty much to famous old composers. I came away with a couple of Miles David CDs from Corner so that the trip would not be a bust (older jazz is to be had aplenty) and the 2011 Esmerine CD from Vertigo (only thing I could find in the store that I wanted). So I did buy a couple of things, but I was not leaving the store leaving behind anything I might return for.
One result of that foray was that it occurred to me on the way home that a large proportion of my mental want list was by European artists and probably on European labels, apart from being non-mainstream, so I probably should not be so surprised. I've basically lived in the land of online stores for so long I tend not to think so much about things not being from here. As if to underline the point, I just bought two of the CDs I was looking for from home for a total of $5 from a guy in Portugal via Discogs.com. (I need someone to fly me to Berlin - there's this really cool record store off the Ku-damm...)
As one of my collection focuses is local music I have no problem finding what I want at the local stores, so that's nice.
Craig
Most records stores do see to have a tiny electronic section, much of which will be something to dance to. Jazz and Classical section may be the same, unless it's near a college with a big music program. I've bought some new releases of indieish music there, things I think I will want to own the physical CD.
(i) reading blogs gives me the false impression that there are more than ten other people who want the stuff I buy, and it would be in no store's interest to stock it.
(ii) a lot of the stuff I buy is released in foreign countries and thus expensive and hard to get and high risk for the store. (As a teacher of German I find it incredible in the internet age how much palaver is sometimes involved in getting a book from Germany to Michigan)
(iii) Grand Rapids, MI is teeming with punks and metalheads but all of the electronic and "neo-classical" fans could meet in the nearest Starbucks.
(iv) people who listen to the things I listen to are the demographic most likely to get things online, legally or otherwise.
(v) so much of what I buy is on small labels and they are not so plugged in to the store-oriented physical distribution channels.
(vi) it's so hard to be a record store these days that they can't afford to branch out into interesting rarities.
I would hate to give up on emusic but I am getting close despite the fact that I get some great music from there. But at least half of my downloads each month come from Jonah's Jazz Picks. That alone is keeping me going
That all said, I would love a grandfathered plan from Europe, and I do miss the major indies releases.
Have you listened to Wonders by Oliveray? It's Peter Broderick and Nils Frahm together, and I seem to remember you are rather partial to Frahm also. It's disarmingly unpolished in places, but a really nice album.
That's about exactly how I remember it. I think you linked to the Float album stream. And I recall thinking that I didn't much care of what I'd heard of Broderick previously (I think BN rec'd the Machinefabriek, but also maybe just an earlier Broderick album and maybe his collab with Nils Frahm).
But it was one of those days when I had time to follow links to albums stream and just listen. And Float really did, well, float my boat. And y'know how it goes... once a musician makes that connection with me, suddenly I revisit past albums and hear them differently, now that a clearer connection with the artist has been made.
But pretty much now, my every morning is dominated by the music of Peter Broderick and Brian McBride.
1. Brian McBride
2. Peter Broderick
3. Benjamin Koppel
4. Wayne Horvitz
5. Ass
Yes, I think I'd like to do that.
Speaking of Ass, by the way, he has a new album coming out this year, which has me very excited about life.