eMusic.com
I received a notice from eMusic.com in my order for Musician’s Friend yesterday. If I sign up for a free two-week trial, I can get 50 free downloads. On top of this, they offer monthly subscriptions starting at $9.99. The difference between their subscription and, say, Napster is that you are entitled to download as many as 40 songs per month for $9.99 and you own the songs. With Napster, you’re limited to “renting” the songs. If you cancel your subscription with Napster, the songs become void and will not play. eMusic also offers songs in MP3 format, making them compatible with all MP3 players (imagine that!). Napster, and most music services offer songs in the evil Windows Media format. iTunes (not quite as evil) offers their songs in AAC format, making them only compatible with an iPod.
Reading all of this, I’m thinking, “this is great!” I excitedly went to eMusic.com to start browsing their catalog. This is where I discovered the catch. Their offerings are rather poor right now. I was unable to find a lot of the music I listen to on a regular basis.
It seems eMusic has the right idea. Or, at least they have some good ideas. But, until their catalog improves, I’ll be sticking with Napster & iTunes.
powered by performancing firefox