I had one cell phone, once. A prepaid that I only used because I'd get called in for last-second gigs, so they had to reach me somehow. It only cost me if I called out, and I rarely used it, so it lasted forever. Once I got married and left Chicago, no need anymore. We don't have a landline anymore... just wasn't worth it and got spammed so often on it, it's much more peaceful now.
But I'm not against phones per se. And I support all the tech jumps reflected by the phones (ie, music). I just prefer when people are around me, that they not use them. What they do with their cell phones in the privacy of their own homes is their business.
I just started to feel sick tonight. So just now I emailed in sick to work for tomorrow. So yeah, I like my smartphone. Although I hardly ever use it as a phone. I'd be fine with email, text and web.
I'm terrible at just about everything these days...
As for the main topic here, how much does eMu suck these days? Is it even worth it for me to try again? I feel like I'm just standing on the sidelines missing out on great new music now that Amazon killed their daily deal.
I've been out of emusic for more than a month now - I gather from here it still sucks.
Amazon's been copying all google's $3.99 and 7dig's $5 sales and both of those usually have some new music. I think the real show seems to increasingly be Bandcamp.
Thom, as being a longtime cheerleader for eMu I'm sad to say that its not worth it. For the past year I've been putting my accounts on hold for 90 days and each time it refreshes it is harder and harder to find ways to spend the paltry sum I fund it with. The site is slow, frustrating, the UI incomprehensible, all of which make the experience miserable. I've been finding more on Bandcamp, 7 Digital, and Amazon with occasional foray into iTunes (the Google Music experience plain sucked in terms of getting what I bought off their servers). Lately, I've been funding more music projects via Kickstarter and the Drip.fm subscription has me really excited.
I have gone back to E Music to get 4 albums I really wanted, then back on hold.
Finding plenty of other good music at Bandcamp, the odd Amazon offer and using the library to find some great obsure stuff. I am also playing the music I have not had time to listen to, lots of great stuff that I have discovered and forgotton I even had
Yes I'm going through a hold cycle with emu, then going back for a month etc. Plenty of good music elsewhere for free or very little cost. I don't have a smart phone, but my wife has an iphone. I'm waiting for her initial contract to end so I can have it! I'd use it for email more than anything else. I've got a pay as you go phone, rarely used, other than the odd text or call. But glad I've been away for a couple of days and missed the emusic problems!
each time it refreshes it is harder and harder to find ways to spend the paltry sum I fund it with.
This is a problem I do not have--S4L is holding steady at about 180--although I am down with the "paltry sum" part of it. I find the semi-regular Twitter deals to be a fairly good inducement to stay. They are in danger of losing me if album prices keep creeping up...6.99 has become standard on many labels.
I'm still on emusic and still find it worth it provided you are willing to put up with the lousy interface, randomly sorted catalog, lack of basic features, constant bugs etc. I still find cheap music but am not discoering music there any more.
Yes, I was following a twitter account called Hysterical Laundy (ie, tweets like "THERE'S COLORS IN THERE! STEP AWAY FROM THE BLEACH, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!!!!!") and realized that is completely the opposite of how I am with laundry, so created the Denier account.
As overloaded with work as I am, I always find ways to waste time.
@doofy, it's less the selection and more the album prices creeping up. I look at them and think it's easier just to spend the dollar more at Amazon for the friction free purchasing. The subscription portion coupled with the price hikes makes the service unattractive, it'd be better if they went towards an Amie Street model at this point where you can fund your account at anytime, boosters are like that but I'm less inclined to use them because of the subscription. </non-rational actor in the marketplace>
Funny, I was going to start a thread asking if anyone has used drip.FM yet. I keep putting it off, but there's even more cool labels up there now. I'd love it if they could tie all of them together for like 25 bucks a month.
Yeah, I don't necessarily need all of the labels, but I'm already looking at doing 3 of them for a month. One of them does reissues of funk and psych music from around the world. And they have a 4 disc set up there right now.
I'm seriously intrigued by drip.fm (especially Ghostly), but for now I'm sticking with mTraks. We'll see what happens when they get up and running again, though.
This is a large factor for me in keeping many an album languishing on the SFLs - it's made what were interesting things to consider into overpriced luxuries. It's helped delete hundreds of weak sisters from the SFLs already. The same fate probably awaits the majority of what remains, but I look at them and think this was worthy of consideration and just postpone judgment. At $6.99 or more/album the sun isn't likely to shine on them though, especially those moldy oldies that are only 30-40 minutes in length.
Three or four months ago I just chopped my SFL down from nearly 500 to about 100. It was quite easy actually, as I decided to start with anything that had been there more than 6 months I'd probably not miss. There were a couple in that category that I downloaded, but the rest went. I then went through recent months and chopped out a few more. It was amazing to see how my tastes had actually changed over 2 or 3 years.
Even owning an iPhone, there's reason I still use my ipod nano:
- the iPhone's smart playlists still don't live-update - no idea why, it's a blatant bug
- no album shuffle on the iPhone
I use both in my listening, so the iPhone can't act as a complete substitute for my ipod.
Yes Greg, its down again, is getting silly, they are supposed to be a company where you can download when you want but it seems they are just not able to do this.
Comments
In other news, I am exhausted. And, lately, a wacko.
I had one cell phone, once. A prepaid that I only used because I'd get called in for last-second gigs, so they had to reach me somehow. It only cost me if I called out, and I rarely used it, so it lasted forever. Once I got married and left Chicago, no need anymore. We don't have a landline anymore... just wasn't worth it and got spammed so often on it, it's much more peaceful now.
But I'm not against phones per se. And I support all the tech jumps reflected by the phones (ie, music). I just prefer when people are around me, that they not use them. What they do with their cell phones in the privacy of their own homes is their business.
Craig
I am totally addicted to Twitter. Well, not that you could tell by my inattentiveness to the MiG account.
If it makes you feel any better, I'm also really bad about tweeting on my other accounts: @MrHandsomeRobot, @LaundryDenier, and @MorseTheImpaler.
As for the main topic here, how much does eMu suck these days? Is it even worth it for me to try again? I feel like I'm just standing on the sidelines missing out on great new music now that Amazon killed their daily deal.
Amazon's been copying all google's $3.99 and 7dig's $5 sales and both of those usually have some new music. I think the real show seems to increasingly be Bandcamp.
Finding plenty of other good music at Bandcamp, the odd Amazon offer and using the library to find some great obsure stuff. I am also playing the music I have not had time to listen to, lots of great stuff that I have discovered and forgotton I even had
This is a problem I do not have--S4L is holding steady at about 180--although I am down with the "paltry sum" part of it. I find the semi-regular Twitter deals to be a fairly good inducement to stay. They are in danger of losing me if album prices keep creeping up...6.99 has become standard on many labels.
Yes, I was following a twitter account called Hysterical Laundy (ie, tweets like "THERE'S COLORS IN THERE! STEP AWAY FROM THE BLEACH, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!!!!!") and realized that is completely the opposite of how I am with laundry, so created the Denier account.
As overloaded with work as I am, I always find ways to waste time.
Now we're talking! Or even a bundle of 2 or 3 related-ish labels for something in that price range.
Craig
- the iPhone's smart playlists still don't live-update - no idea why, it's a blatant bug
- no album shuffle on the iPhone
I use both in my listening, so the iPhone can't act as a complete substitute for my ipod.