I'm cautiously optimistic that the new owners (who name escapes me) will take better care of the site. Since their niche is to let you upload and stream music you already own, it seems likely that we'll get streaming/cloud access to eMu purchases. I'd predict that's going to happen on the new owner's site, not eMu.
I actually doubt this is much of a niche - The market for paid mp3 downloads must be plummeting. But any investment is probably better than just letting eMu twist in the wind, as it has been since they dropped all the editorial content.
Triplay is their name: "While eMusic will stay true to its download roots, TriPlay will now be offering its users the ability to match up those songs with tracks in the cloud to access them across multiple devices — breaking down one of the limitations of the download model."
Wasn't sure I'd get the credit seeing as i'm just waiting for my next month to start on the 27th but lo I have £10 in the account. intrigued to know what the changes might be but if it's a pay to stream i already have that with Spotify and I hardly ever use it it apart from a little classical sampling. Life is a waiting game.
How about this "update from the eMusic product team"? That's probably the highest concentration of straight talk ever seen on the old messboard. I have little doubt that the new owners find themselves with quite a few engineering challenges to deal with.
It's interesting that a common comment on the emu board has been that the one thing they never managed to break in the past was the part of the site that took our money each month - it turns out that is because they never updated it. There are encouraging signs that one result of this takeover is that emusic may now be owned by technologically competent people.
I'm quitting emu. Thanks to everyone on this forum for pointing out some great bargains.
Here's the rant I left on the message board on my way out the door:
I'm out of here. I've been a member since August of 2003 but I'm done, the crappy search has pushed me over the edge. Why do albums constantly show up in search results but give me "Page Not Found" when clicked?
If everything that showed up in search results was actually here I'd stick around, but I'm tired of being disappointed.
Plus I'm also sick of wading through the piles of probably-bootleg compilation crap in the jazz section. I just started listening to Gerry Mulligan, but it's a headache trying to sift out his actual albums from the questionable compilations.
Wikipedia says Mulligan recorded 42 albums during his career. But your Gerry Mulligan artist page lists 85 albums and 48 compilations. Which is amazing since eMusic doesn’t even carry all the labels that Mulligan recorded on.
I’ve discovered some wonderful musicians in the 12 years I’ve been a member. And I’ve gotten some great deals. But it’s reached the point that the money saved isn’t worth the time it takes me to find stuff.
Good luck, I hope you’re able to stick around for a while.
-Jamis
FYI below is a list of "Page Not Found" results if anyone is interested or able to clean up your search function.
I do see your point dell. I'm hanging in there at the moment, but really it is just an addiction. I was actually hoping that the move to a 'new' plan would mean an increase in price so that I could justify leaving. It is sooooo slooooow at the moment. I want to buy some classic jazz albums but it is just so confusing with so many option for, eg, Duke Ellington, to know what to get. I've been on hold several times as the first step to leaving but have always succumbed and gone back. What is the emusic equivalent of Alcoholics Anonymous?
For all the problems*, they still have the best deals on mp3 downloads**, almost always. That new Josh Abrams album being the latest example - Half the price of iTunes, not even available at Amazon.
*For some reason, I have been almost completely unaffected by the recent site access/billing issues.
**For those of us cavemen still downloading mp3's...I am getting to feel like an 8-track tape/Betamax holdout. (Only guess what, "Magnetoception" isn't even on Spotify...)
@dell for me the secret to living with eMusic is compiling a shopping list in advance. I found that using google site search made that task easier. After a while I had so many items I filtered the list down to just the best bargains. The list is still over 300 items, which will keep me busy for quite a while and I don't have to deal with the site's quarks when trying to spend my allotment.
[I'd post a link to the list but I've already posted it once and don't want to spam the boards]
For decades the wet dream of broadcasters was to get people to pay to listen to the radio. Digital radio didn't do it. Satellite radio sort of worked. Now streaming seems to be taking off.
Personally I don't think you are a caveman. I think you are the smart one.
From software licensing to laws against modifying hardware, there is a long on going movement to undermine the right to ownership. The main goal is to do away with the so called "first sale doctrine" ( the right to resale what you have purchased). MP3s have contributed to undermining that as well. I remember reading a thread on these boards about how to pass on one's digital music collection; a bit tricky legally.
If the history of cable TV is any guide, once streaming is the majority of the market, expect to see the return of advertising; despite paying a monthly fee.
If the history of cable TV is any guide, once streaming is the majority of the market, expect to see the return of advertising; despite paying a monthly fee.
You have probably hit the bullseye with that one. A bit like Amazon having killed bricks and mortar book stores is now opening them...
I stick around for the double booster credit sales. The technical billing issues on music are ridiculous, but the indie deals are still good. Also, I find amazing that emusic's deals on albums are often significantly less than that on bandcamp for the same albums. When I choose to buy an album, I feel like I am committing to it in a way you don't do when you stream something. At the same time, the prices on some albums are way too high. It reminds me of the 1980s... do you remember when single albums used to cost 10-12$ and you felt lucky if you could afford a handful of albums. When albums are $5 or less, I take a chance on a lot more stuff.
I remain suspicious of streaming services for ripping off smaller artists and suggesting playlists that are populated with lots of stuff from the labels.
Anyway, even with emusic's discounting, the artist typically makes a fairly significant percentage of sales. Also, they still have a lot of Russian and world music -- a lot that Amazon does not.
I realize that keeping track of downloads is a pain -- at the moment I have 180,000 -- most of which is NOT pirated -- but it also gives me flexibility. I keep about 20 gigs of albums on my tablet.
One thing I've been doing is downloading the South by Southwest torrents -- slowly listening and rating the tracks, and then using that to check out albums by artists I like.
I remember ECM albums costing £18 which at the then exchange rate was about $32 lord knows how many albums I would have bought for the pricey UK equivalent of $12!!! Mind back then we had actual specialist music shops, artists that made a living and of course record execs with a nice nasal habit. we live in interesting times.
Latest problem over there is that you cannot listen to samples. I had planned to scan through some new jazz releases, too complex to find at emusic, listen at Amazon and then buy from emusic. Another nail.....
Samples were down for me too yesterday but are back now - and the terrible lag when initiating downloads also seems fixed. Everything is performing quite well today.
ETA, on the other hand, downloading from Google Play music is not working well today.
Because of site problems, my membership has been suspended for 3 weeks. Every time I try to activate it, emusic charges me for membership but keeps it in the suspended state! After a few emails with tech support, my understanding is that as of Feb 17, my suspended state will revert to normal membership, so they want the problem to fix itself. Well, that day came, and still nothing. (I will give it 24 more hours before I complain). I haven't lost any money and I did get to purchase booster credits, but it's been inconvenient not being able to bookmark things or access favorites.
I know they don't deserve my membership (if they are too chintsy too hire an extra customer support person), but I'll give them one more chance. I found some incredible things to buy.....
Sorry to hear about your difficulties. 3 weeks is a long time to be cut off. When I was blocked for just a week, I had already started trying to figure out how to untangle from eMusic and switch gears to something else. It was an odd feeling to shift my focus back to eMusic once the problem was corrected.
"it's been inconvenient not being able to bookmark things or access favorites. " I would highly recommend not to store your bookmarks only in eMu. Use a spreadsheet or some other tool as well. In fact I consider my SFL list only as backup and just handy for ease of use. That way you could continue to google search while locked out (I understand eMu's search is even less reliable if you are not logged in).
Since there are rumblings of eMu getting some decent tech assistance it may be worth while to hang in there. It would be better it eMu had some competition on price but that seems difficult to find and certainly not all in one place (that I'm aware of).
I am still on the outside, since December 8. I still get billed, but I cannot access my account. The last update found an old email that I may have used seven years ago to get an extra 50 free songs. eMu tech support said that once they discovered that they thought they would have me up "soon," although that was last week.
If they start looking for emails I used for that free 50 for the new user and 25 for recommending a friend, I might be in trouble - I have no idea how many times I recommended myself using various email accounts!
Refresh due in a week or so, with enough credit for about 20 tracks. I will download those today and then go on hold for three months. I've realised that around 60% of what I've downloaded from emusic in the last three months I haven't listened to yet, but more telling, around 75% of my emusic downloads in the last twelve months have only been played at most 2 times. I might as well go onto Spotify for that.
Update: I misread the emusic support email -- they said that my account would be suspended until March 17 -- not Feb 17. I guess I can live without them for an extra month.
When I click on "Download Free Track" I'm taken to the Plan Options page. Where I'm encouraged to upgrade to the next most expensive plan. If I click "Cancel", I'm taken to my account summary.
Back to the daily download takes me back to plan options. I then tried going to the album page to find that, for now anyway, the track isn't actually free.
So, in summary: anyone interested in a free track is instead given the option to upgrade their plan; at least that is my experience today. This is the kind of BS that gives marketing a bad name. Differently not cool in my book.
Comments
The Chart page is screwed up today, looking to spend money, not much I fancy there
There are encouraging signs that one result of this takeover is that emusic may now be owned by technologically competent people.
Here's the rant I left on the message board on my way out the door:
emusers. Although I'm not sure how effective it is...
For all the problems*, they still have the best deals on mp3 downloads**, almost always. That new Josh Abrams album being the latest example - Half the price of iTunes, not even available at Amazon.
*For some reason, I have been almost completely unaffected by the recent site access/billing issues.
**For those of us cavemen still downloading mp3's...I am getting to feel like an 8-track tape/Betamax holdout. (Only guess what, "Magnetoception" isn't even on Spotify...)
[I'd post a link to the list but I've already posted it once and don't want to spam the boards]
For decades the wet dream of broadcasters was to get people to pay to listen to the radio. Digital radio didn't do it. Satellite radio sort of worked. Now streaming seems to be taking off.
Personally I don't think you are a caveman. I think you are the smart one.
From software licensing to laws against modifying hardware, there is a long on going movement to undermine the right to ownership. The main goal is to do away with the so called "first sale doctrine" ( the right to resale what you have purchased). MP3s have contributed to undermining that as well. I remember reading a thread on these boards about how to pass on one's digital music collection; a bit tricky legally.
If the history of cable TV is any guide, once streaming is the majority of the market, expect to see the return of advertising; despite paying a monthly fee.
I remain suspicious of streaming services for ripping off smaller artists and suggesting playlists that are populated with lots of stuff from the labels.
Anyway, even with emusic's discounting, the artist typically makes a fairly significant percentage of sales. Also, they still have a lot of Russian and world music -- a lot that Amazon does not.
I realize that keeping track of downloads is a pain -- at the moment I have 180,000 -- most of which is NOT pirated -- but it also gives me flexibility. I keep about 20 gigs of albums on my tablet.
One thing I've been doing is downloading the South by Southwest torrents -- slowly listening and rating the tracks, and then using that to check out albums by artists I like.
Latest problem over there is that you cannot listen to samples. I had planned to scan through some new jazz releases, too complex to find at emusic, listen at Amazon and then buy from emusic. Another nail.....
ETA, on the other hand, downloading from Google Play music is not working well today.
I know they don't deserve my membership (if they are too chintsy too hire an extra customer support person), but I'll give them one more chance. I found some incredible things to buy.....
"it's been inconvenient not being able to bookmark things or access favorites. "
I would highly recommend not to store your bookmarks only in eMu. Use a spreadsheet or some other tool as well. In fact I consider my SFL list only as backup and just handy for ease of use. That way you could continue to google search while locked out (I understand eMu's search is even less reliable if you are not logged in).
Since there are rumblings of eMu getting some decent tech assistance it may be worth while to hang in there. It would be better it eMu had some competition on price but that seems difficult to find and certainly not all in one place (that I'm aware of).
If they start looking for emails I used for that free 50 for the new user and 25 for recommending a friend, I might be in trouble - I have no idea how many times I recommended myself using various email accounts!
Refresh due in a week or so, with enough credit for about 20 tracks. I will download those today and then go on hold for three months. I've realised that around 60% of what I've downloaded from emusic in the last three months I haven't listened to yet, but more telling, around 75% of my emusic downloads in the last twelve months have only been played at most 2 times. I might as well go onto Spotify for that.
I finally got around to listening to the monthly freebie albums from Chandos/Classical Shop. Really great stuff; Loved the Music from the time of Velasquez, etc. Also downloaded the 2016 torrent for South by Southwest Music festival (which I posted about here: http://emusers.net/forum/index.php?p=/discussion/1722/new-sxsw-torrents-are-here-new-sxsw-torrents-are-here
I admit though that I check to see if music by artists I am discovering have albums on emusic.