On behalf of the exile community
I have had a chance to sample the So-nee offerings and by historical standards I find them to be pretty impressive in a day one sort of way. This So-nee deal has turned out to be quite the, ahem, coup. The place which shall not be mentioned should be congratulated.
That said, it still does not change the fact that you lied. There is an old saying, don't piss down my back and try to tell me its raining.
So do the right thing
Also, I find it reprehensible that the download mangler is so unnecessarily complicated without offering any useful benefit in return. Complication is the refuge of the shiftless and shady
And all this fussing and fighting has literally taken the joy out of the site. I look forward to the day when the world is at peace
That said, it still does not change the fact that you lied. There is an old saying, don't piss down my back and try to tell me its raining.
So do the right thing
Also, I find it reprehensible that the download mangler is so unnecessarily complicated without offering any useful benefit in return. Complication is the refuge of the shiftless and shady
And all this fussing and fighting has literally taken the joy out of the site. I look forward to the day when the world is at peace
Comments
My annual expires toward the end of October. I know I won't be doing another annual. Between now and then, I can see whether or not the new album pricing will work with my downloads without leaving unused downloads, etc.
I do see a bit of Sony I would like, but the pricing sort of puts me out of contention. I did just order a CD from Amazon, something I haven't done in ages. One of my most favorite LPs from the 50s (or maybe very early 60s) -- I Love Paris by Michel Legrand. Maybe it made it to that place which shall not be mentioned today, but I didn't look for it. I want the CD.
I did like Version 3 because it gave me the percentage of a track downloaded, picked up where it left off it my connection dropped, and always worked just as I expected it to work. I miss it.
Someone should post a link to the that place which shall not be mentioned/J downloader
When I get some head space I might give it a try
Since my last 90 downloads on my 2-year premium plan are due to expire in a matter of days, I picked up some good deals under the new album pricing structure: Presley's Sunrise, The Minutemen's Double Nickels on the Dime, and Modest Mouse's The Moon and Antarctica, which was the featured review of the day.
I was dismayed to see that so many albums with fewer but longer tracks have had their pricing ratcheted up to 12 downloads. Thus I avoided Bitches Brew and the like. I'll be keeping an eye out at Amie St. and on amazon.com for their $1.99 - $3.99 bargains, while avoiding the bad deals at emusic.
I'm going to change my plan to a mid-range monthly (probably 50 downloads a month) for the meanwhile and see what else I can find. I fear that emusic won't be able to re-instill in me the sense of enthusiasm that I felt for it over the last five years. And I still think that offering no token of goodwill in the form of an even moderately discounted thank you plan to the older subscribers was a real slight.
Sadly, the emusic PR staff / CEO circle are behaving just as poorly as they ever have: they're largely unresponsive to concerns and questions, sneaky in failing to be forthcoming about the bad side of album pricing, and stubbornly determined to play up all these changes as good things (a la Martha Stewart) as opposed to acknowledging the many drawbacks to the new emusic.
It really is a new emusic over there--a sea change in just a month's time. Those are pearls that were his eyes. I'll splash about in the new pool, but I don't plan on doing any ill-advised backward dives or perform any tricky backstrokes through the waters. I saw Caddyshack.
Then I was alerted to the fact we (outside US, EU, Canada) have now been barred from buying Booster Packs.
Yeeesh. As my sister said in an email, "They really dont like us any more do they?"
So I dunno. I have 29 credits left. And on Tuesday I leave for three weeks holiday in the United States -- yay!! So I guess I'll get some good travelling music, and wait til I get back to see how I feel.
Thanks for this:
new album pricing structure: Presley's Sunrise, The Minutemen's Double Nickels on the Dime, and Modest Mouse's The Moon and Antarctica,
How were you alerted?
So, still no email ;-)
So I propose we try to make this place what we would have the other place be.
I'll start
1. I think this should be a Bitch Free Zone (the verb not the noun) with the possible exception of when you just can't hold it in any longer.
One thing that is at surprisings is just how many artists are owned by Sony. I saw Weird Al pop up on my eMusic freshly ripped page and almost regretted getting rid of his cassettes a few years ago. Will I ever download any of his music on eH? Not sure.
Our efforts at rationalization and logic are probably pretty pointless. (Think scrappy little independent music label/service which just coincidentally happens to be owned by one of the majors) uh huh that's right
Linky
Linky
Linky
I discovered this "new" vibes player that I really would like to check out. Before the most recent unpleasantness I would have just picked an album or two and had me way with it.
But now the friggin downloads are so "valuable" that I am reluctant to explore this music which I already know I am going to enjoy.
Therein lies the problem, they have changed the whole experience. Before it was liking using Chuckie Cheese's tokens that had no real value and you didn't mind putting them in the stupid whack a mole game even though you knew full well in advance that it was probably going to be stupid. But there was nothing else you could do with those tokens and so it was OK. But sometimes you found out that you really enjoyed the stupid whack a mole game.
But now it is like spending real quarters which you can put in the stupid whack a mole game or you can use them to buy candy. And everybody knows candy trumps all else.
Geez TPWSNBS, you really screwed the pooch on this one.
Not the same tracks, but you can sample a Dave Pike playlist on his My Space page. You know the drill - lastfm, You Tube, etc. We just have to do more exploring these days before committing.
I rarely take chances like that. I start with a few trusted review sources. If they highly recommend something new, I'll then go to a second-tier of review sources, then find sample songs on YouTube, MySpace or the act's webpage. If all that checks out, I'll download it, but by that point, it's hardly a spontaneous or risky proposition. Honestly, the AMG review of the Dave Pike album you linked to would likely be enough to keep me from downloading it (unless Pike was an artist who I already knew and loved):
Also, I'm being downgraded to the 100 DL/$40.00 monthly plan, but if I buy a booster pack, I'm back to 150 DL/month for $65.00, which isn't bad at all (either at an absolute level or a per-track price-point). That's still 50 DLs short of what I get on a monthly basis now, but it's still a lot of new music to acquire every month, so I don't feel badly about it.
I discovered another liability -- my spouse. Yesterday he wanted a particular Sony novelty song, and it was album-only. I spent 12 credits to get the album and the song he wanted instead. (It was album-only on iTunes as well.) I need to block the URL from his view from now on if I'm going to spend credits on ridiculous stuff he wants.
OTM. This is one of the reasons I've stayed away from classical works at eMusic. Frankly, I don't see reviews anyplace online for many classical works, even for a lot of titles from highly-regarded classical labels. Eventually, I just picked a label I liked -- based on (a) seeing glowing reviews of one of it's key series (the Beethoven symphony cycle), (b) appreciating the fact that the label's founder appears on the eMusic message boards and speaks candidly to fans of the label, and (c) the great album covers -- and began downloading some titles. But aside from staying with BIS classical works, I'm not sure where to go next with the genre.
My tokens don't work in the machine any more, like they used to do.
I trust my ears completely so I totally rely on the sound samples to determine what I download. On the rare occasions when I do use reviews or professional critiques to help me decide, it usually only as a confirmation of what I have decided based on the sound samples. About a quarter of the time I only need less than five seconds of the sample to know I am in love.
TPWSNBS does not have the album I want. Apparently the album, Pike's Peak is something of a collector's item. And I keep reading something about Dave Pike and Bill Evans but I am not sure if it is this album
I would have been satisfied with whatever leftovers they happen to have at TPWSNBS but now the freakin downloads are so valuable I am afraid to use them. Its not that I don't think I will enjoy the music, I know I will. Its that my number of downloads are now so limited and there are so many new things to spread them over that I am paralyzed. I cannot bring myself to hit the download button.
And I do not delete music from my hard drive, ever! I would only delete music if it turns out to be the most putrid, God awful vileness that should never be heard by human ears. I rarely even finish the sound samples on that type of music, much less download it. And sometimes, I find that music I could not get to at first has a way of morphing on you, especially when you hear it in a different context. So maybe there was nothing wrong with the music, it was just my mood that was wrong.
And as for Pike being innovative or not I cannot tell you. But I can say innovation is not what makes for good music. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a musician putting it in the pocket and letting stay there. Groove, Modal, Funk (as I understand those terms) all have a similar thread. You can find something new in a tune without getting all weirded out.
And, IMHO, folks trying to prove that they are the next Bird is half of what's wrong with jazz. Instead of just playing they music they end up with something more akin to an algebra equation than music. The next new thing will come when it comes and not one minute before and there is nothing anybody can do to force it.
Now I'm debating on whether or not to d/l the Archive Of American Popular Music 1895-1927. 100 tracks for 12 "credits" is awesome, but that doesn't change the fact that I won't listen to it "a lot" - it's the type of archival piece I like having available though. But if I decide not to get it this month, will it magically become a 6 CD set next month? Who knows? It's also the type of set that works better as a CD because some context would make it that much more entertaining.