Any eMusic subscribers here at GMG?

[Mark]

Aside, that is, from myself and Keemun?

I ask because I thought it would be useful or just interesting if we all added each other as 'Friends' over at the site, enabling each of us to view others' lists, ratings, reviews and download histories - a great way to explore music we might not have come across on our own.

For anyone who isn't a subscriber, here's a link to get you past the initial sign-up screen, so you can have a sniff around and see if downloading music for a monthly fee is something that might suit you: eMusic - Classical.

Don't forget, you get a free 14-day trial when you join, plus 25 free MP3 downloads which are yours to keep whatever you decide to do beyond your first fortnight. And should you want to, you can cancel any subscription plan instantly, no questions asked. Though if you keep subscribing, you can re-download any previously purchased tracks whenever you want or need to - how's that for a collection back-up plan.

Send me a PM or reply in this thread if you're up for getting a 'community' going over at eMusic.

[BachQ]

you can re-download any previously purchased tracks whenever you want or need to -

Why?

[Keemun]

Send me a PM or reply in this thread if you're up for getting a 'community' going over at eMusic.

If you PM Mark, please PM me as well.   

[Mark]

Why?

Well, suppose your hard drive failed and you hadn't made a back-up of your downloads. Or you're round at a friend's house, or in the office, and you fancy hearing something you've previously downloaded but don't have with you - you can simply log on and get instant access to it. Or a file you downloaded months ago suddenly becomes corrupted for whatever reason, and you need to download it anew. Seems a pretty good idea to me.

[marvinbrown]

  To all GMG members who are eMusic subscribers:

  I just joined emusic 2 days ago  !!  I have added Keemun and Mark as friends (yes Mark your file is still there for a period of 60 days after cancellation) and I would like to add other GMG eMusic subscribers as friends.  Please PM me if you are interested in adding each other as friends.

  marvin 

[Brian]

Thinking about joining now that they've upped their offer to 50 free downloads + a free audiobook. You all seem to have had good experiences with the site - but I notice they have an offer for members of the press who want to try eMusic for reviewing purposes. Time to talk to my editors at the school paper ... 

[Brian]

Just opened my account, downloaded Barack Obama's book as my free audiobook and am drawing up a list of eighty things to download...



How exactly do you find other people for 'friends'?

[Keemun]

How exactly do you find other people for 'friends'?

I just sent you a PM about it. 

[marvinbrown]

Just opened my account, downloaded Barack Obama's book as my free audiobook and am drawing up a list of eighty things to download...



How exactly do you find other people for 'friends'?

  Hello Brian.  Once you add Keemun as a friend you will find me under Keemun's friends, my nickname is marvinbrown.  PM your nickname and I will add you as well.

  marvin

[rickardg]

I am now a member again, accidentally. I got an email offering 75 free downloads if I reactivated my account and while I looked at the page at eMusic I somehow managed to click the button to reactivate. Not that I'm complaining, now I've got 101 downloads to spend.

Any recommendations? :-)

[Mark]

Any recommendations? :-)

Spend your 101 downloads then cancel your subscription again.

In all seriousness, I had to leave eMusic for a third time earlier this year. Since September 2006, I'd had three poor examples of customer service; a good many of their rips are badly executed - patchy sound, drop-outs, ends of tracks cut off, etc - their bitrates no longer entice me now that I've discovered illegitimate means of acquiring music in FLAC via P2P and legitimate ways via the new Passionato store; and lastly, they're progressively reducing the amount of downloads in monthly packages while hiking up prices. All in all, not a great show. And particularly saddening as my former loyalty had meant I'd downloaded literally thousands of tracks from them over a couple of years.

[Brian]

Spend your 101 downloads then cancel your subscription again.

In all seriousness, I had to leave eMusic for a third time earlier this year. Since September 2006, I'd had three poor examples of customer service; a good many of their rips are badly executed - patchy sound, drop-outs, ends of tracks cut off, etc - their bitrates no longer entice me now that I've discovered illegitimate means of acquiring music in FLAC via P2P and legitimate ways via the new Passionato store; and lastly, they're progressively reducing the amount of downloads in monthly packages while hiking up prices. All in all, not a great show. And particularly saddening as my former loyalty had meant I'd downloaded literally thousands of tracks from them over a couple of years.

As a current subscriber, when they upped the price of my subscription from $10 to $12, they also gave me ten more downloads each month (from 30 to 40). I do have a lot of downloads with sound defects, mostly clicks or skips or pops, but it's mostly just an annoyance. I had to download Gielen's Brahms 4 twice - still not sure it's "right" (haven't re-listened yet).

All in all, though, for 40 downloads a month and for avoiding having to buy CDs at full price, I don't mind. I'm not an audiophile anyways - mediocre headphones and extremely lax listening style have saved me from that burden. 

[mn dave]

I'm not an audiophile anyways - mediocre headphones and extremely lax listening style have saved me from that burden. 

Amen, bruddah. 

[Lethevich]

I can't believe that these sites still don't know how to rip CDs. If pirates worked out how to make immaculate quality lossless rips circa year 2000, and have constantly been refining this process ever since, this shows just how irrelevant and out of touch this current new wave of legal download sites are.

How hard can it be to use a competent ripping prog on a non-rubbish PC? That's all it takes. No heavy editing while the CD is being ripped if your system can't handle it. No tapping fingers on the front of the CD drive. No using "xTre3m Free CD Ripper". If the CD surface is covered in scratches, it may not extract properly. Not having a hard drive full of viruses also helps. This really isn't rocket science

[Mark]

I can't believe that these sites still don't know how to rip CDs. If pirates worked out how to make immaculate quality lossless rips circa year 2000, and have constantly been refining this process ever since, this shows just how irrelevant and out of touch this current new wave of legal download sites are.

How hard can it be to use a competent ripping prog on a non-rubbish PC? That's all it takes. No heavy editing while the CD is being ripped if your system can't handle it. No tapping fingers on the front of the CD drive. No using "xTre3m Free CD Ripper". If the CD surface is covered in scratches, it may not extract properly. Not having a hard drive full of viruses also helps. This really isn't rocket science

Amen, sister. Give the damn job to me - I'll sort it.

[Keemun]

I recently unsubscribed from eMusic, but only for financial reasons.  I had been contemplating it for a while, but kept putting it off to "next month".  The recent price increase was sufficient incentive for me to finally pull the trigger.  $12/month may not seem like much, but it adds up over time.  I may join again someday, but for now it's simply not in my budget. 

[marvinbrown]

  I too left emusic a few months ago.  I was drawn to their collection of Bach Cantatas (Suzuki) on BIS.  After downloading quite a few of those I decided to spend some time listening to them.  I had to cancel my subscription to prevent further charges......needless to say I never renewed  . 

  marvin

[Chaszz]

A summer 2010 update on emusic.com for any who may be thinking of joining. The download process required some tweaking to work properly, the tech services dept. did not get around to my case for a week-and-a-half after I inquired, and in the meantime I was charged 33 song credits for an opera I never was able to download. Today I called up to ask them to put the 33 credits back in my trial offer but they refused. They also refused to refund my $11.99 first month's charge, said they have a 'no refund ever' policy, but relented when I reacted rather strongly. I also read on web complaints that they charge you $99 for a year at the next month's continuation renewal, even though they lead you to believe it is charged monthly. I would avoid them.