What about EMusic? When it first burst onto the scene we rejected it for four reasons:

1. Selection
2. Cost (it used to be pay per download and I think it was $1.50 a song).
3. Encoding rate (was 128kbps)
4. Questionable artist compensation (we enquired what the artists got of our $1.50 and they had no clue what we were talking about)

To be fair and to inform you guys I just spent some time on the site. First impressions:

• Improved fee structure. All you can eat is good.
• Canadian Friendly. Many of the new services are available only to Americans. EMusic has no such restrictions.
• 200,000 songs available. Sounds like a lot eh? Try plugging in your top 5 favorite artists and see how many songs they have available for download. I counted 2.
• MP3s! All songs are in MP3 format which of course rocks, but they're..
• Low quality. While many don't mind if their songs are encoded at 128kbps the consumer who is willing to use their credit card online probably does care about quality. I'd prefer to see at least 160kbps.
• They compensate artists!. From their faq: 'EMusic splits all of the profits from membership fees 50/50 with the label or artist.' (Of course we don't know how much the label splits with the artist...)

But hey, if EMusic has what you're looking for your search for music online is over. Of course the astutue reader like Mary will notice that EMusic is now owned by Vivendi who also owns Universal (see David's chart). Of course wouldn't it be nice if Universal content were made available in MP3 format on EMusic? I'd pay for that instead of using Pressplay, an online music subscription for which Universal provides content.

Are there any EMusic subscribers amongst us? Anyone have an experience they want to share?
7:04:40 PM   []

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10:14:12 AM   []