Topic: Big Changes at EMusic (Read 9432 times)

rocketsauce · « **on:** October 09, 2003, 03:03:32 am »

http://www.emusic.com/messages/qanda.html

Rob

Deivit · « **Reply #1 on:** October 09, 2003, 04:29:48 am »

I just got this email from EMusic... I think it's self-explanatory:

(Quote)
Dear EMusic Subscriber,

Over the past several years, EMusic has stood alone in its
commitment to providing digital music consumers a service
that offers flexibility and portability. We remain the
ONLY service offering downloads in the standard MP3 format.
We are also unique in our focus on music from the leading
independent labels. Unlike other services, we understand
that many music consumers want to go beyond the Billboard
charts. We remain firmly committed to continuing to
provide avid music fans an alternative to the mainstream.

The digital music industry continues to change rapidly,
and EMusic also continues to evolve. The purpose of this
letter is to inform you of a number of important changes
that will affect EMusic Subscribers.

First, we are pleased to inform you that EMusic.com Inc.
is being acquired by Dimensional Associates LLC
("Dimensional"), a private equity group focused on
providing innovative online music distribution services.
Dimensional shares EMusic's consumer focused philosophy
of providing low cost, convenient access to great music.
Dimensional plans to continue enhancing the EMusic service
with new features and content and you can look forward to
hearing more once the acquisition has been completed.

Although our current privacy policy remains in effect,
http://www.emusic.com/help/privacy_policy.html
when the acquisition is completed, EMusic's privacy policy
will be changing to reflect Dimensional's ownership and your
Personal Information (as defined in the privacy policy) will
be transferred to Dimensional. Please take a few moments to
review this our new policy which will take effect around
October 30, 2003.
http://www.emusic.com/help/privacypolicy.html
As always, EMusic is firmly committed to consumer privacy
and we believe the new policy continues to reinforce this.

As an avid digital music fan, you are also aware that the
music industry continues to suffer under intense financial,
legal and technological pressure. As a provider of music
downloads, EMusic is subject to a complex system of
intellectual property rights and technological challenges
that impose high costs and often uncertain risks on the
company.

In order to respond to these ongoing challenges and
maintain a compelling service for our valued customers,
EMusic will be making a number of significant changes
in the coming weeks and months. As part of these changes,
we will be discontinuing the unlimited service plan and
replacing it with a new service offering.

Unless you visit the link below:
http://help.emusic.com/cu/index.cgi?cmd=step2&st=1&categoryID=1198
and notify us of your intention to cancel your subscription
prior to November 8, 2003, your EMusic subscription will
convert into EMusic Basic. Under EMusic Basic, you will be
billed $9.99 per month for access to the service with no
minimum monthly commitment, but you will be limited to no
more than 40 downloads during your monthly billing cycle.

In addition, EMusic is pleased to present a special,
limited time offer available exclusively to current
subscribers - EMusic Premium. Designed for our most
active subscribers, this plan allows you to download
up to 300 tracks per month (approximately 25 albums)
for a monthly charge of $50.00 - a price of just
16 cents per track - with no minimum monthly commitment.
If you are interested in registering for this subscription
plan, you must complete the EMusic XL registration
form no later than November 8, 2003.
http://help.emusic.com/cu/index.cgi?cmd=step2&st=1&categoryID=1998

You will still have unparalleled access to the best MP3s
available from independent music labels around the world.
You will continue to have the ability to download this
music, take it with you and play it wherever and however
you like. And, over the next several months EMusic will
be adding significant new labels, artists and releases
as well as enhanced features. EMusic remains committed
to providing the best MP3 service on the Internet. We
continue to believe that EMusic is the best value
available and like you, we are passionate about our music.
We believe that the changes we are making today will enable
us to provide an even more compelling service.

To learn more about the new service offering, please go to
http://www.emusic.com/messages/qanda.html
and read our revised terms and conditions at
http://www.emusic.com/bem/new_signup/terms.html
which will be effective as of November 8, 2003. If, for
any reason, you decide that you do not want to become a
member of the EMusic services as described above, you may
cancel at any time during the trial period.

As always, if you have a specific question about these
changes or need additional help with your service, the
following site will guide you through our customer service
process.

http://help.emusic.com/emhelp/

Thank you for being an EMusic Subscriber.
(Unquote)

lise · « **Reply #2 on:** October 09, 2003, 12:19:48 pm »

What a shame. Just last night my partner and I were extolling the virtues of emusic and it's system. He had even suggested joining himself (instead of using my account) just to support them. We were also thinking how we would even pay twice the fee ($20 instead of $10). But now...

Unless they make it so that the total left of the maximum tracks downloaded can be brought forward (and the Q&A says they will not), I'm not sure I will keep subscribing.

Like MANY emusic users, I don't login for months, then I do and download about 5-15 albums (about 4 times/year). And the whole "yes, but it's still only ___(enter value) per track" thing doesn't work with me. I wouldn't be buying these cds in the first place; I use emusic to discover music. If I don't like what I downloaded, I remove it from my drive. If I really like it, I buy the cd on top of having the mp3. Their option to listen to 30 seconds of a track just doesn't work for me.

So, I will probably only renew if a) they bring forward the allowable tracks or b) they let me listen to an entire album before downloading. I don't think any of these will be options. I'm really sad about this.

modelmaker · « **Reply #3 on:** October 09, 2003, 01:05:30 pm »

Yeah, this was very dissapointing. I guess I'll be DLing as much as I can until the end of this month as I'll be cancelling my subscription. 40 DLs /month that's only 3 or4 albums. 40 albums would have been OK. Heck, 25 albums worth would've still been acceptable at 10 bucks a month. And they now want to charge 50$ for 300 DLs?!!

I agree with Lisa, it's a real shame, I also liked exploring both old and new music on this site.

lee269 · « **Reply #4 on:** October 09, 2003, 01:14:31 pm »

Lise - you said it. I too used it intermittently. I liked to tell myself that some day Id try and get into jazz/classcal, download some emusic selections at no risk. I liked that freedom to experiment. But although there were some nice things in the other categories closer to my usual taste, there was not enough on there that I would have bought anyway. The whole point was that you could download and discard as you wanted. For the price I could afford to remain subscribed and pick up songs occasionally. If Im pressured into getting my 40 downloads per month Im going to look a lot more critically at the content. Ive not tried the newer iTunes etc commercial sites, but from what Ive heard about them with the current emusic collection I cant see how it can compete.

zevele10 · « **Reply #5 on:** October 09, 2003, 02:56:47 pm »

I was mad with they new download manager- try to download any modern music or grindcore album with 60 tracks...-

They said that re-downloading in the new format songs you got in 128 kps was not a problem and that the 'unlimited limited ' rules does not apply.

But i got a mail from them saying i downloaded to much.

So ,i just downloaded 18.000 -- yes 18.000- songs the next month and said to my bank to not pay from the coming end of the month.
Bye Emusic.
And i was right .

More and more ,look like p2p are the only way to get music.

Concerning Emusic , if they stay as they plan ,in few months they are close.

Better to buy straight away from Mordan concerning the punk/alternative bands.
Like it you do not give a cent to this corporates...

www.aloffmp3 is for now the only fair option remeaning

Kurt Young · « **Reply #6 on:** October 09, 2003, 03:21:53 pm »

Sigh.

Paying a $10 per month surcharge, just to have the ability to download 2-4 CDs worth of music is completely impractical. I'm assuming you pay the fee regardless of whether or not you download anything. I'm also assuming that unused downloads will not "roll over" to the next month. On that track, I'm predicting that eMusic's membership will plummet over the next 24 hours to nearly nothing.

If they had "mainstream" music available, these changes wouldn't seem so utterly foolish. Look, I'm all for experimental, local, or obscure music/musicians. But dang, why on earth would I pay these prices (the $50/month plan is just plain mentally-challenged) for music that none of my friends have ever heard? "No, I can't get that sweet new song that's on the radio... actually, I can't get any music that you've ever heard on the radio. Yes, I'm paying $50 a month. No, I have no idea why."

Heh, I guess someone at eMusic.com said to the boss one day "Hey boss, let's go out of business! what do you think of this idea..."

lise · « **Reply #7 on:** October 09, 2003, 03:34:54 pm »

Quote

"Hey boss, let's go out of business! what do you think of this idea..."

Funny, when I first read the email from emusic this morning, I just assumed that Dimensional (that's Dimensional, not Dementional) was a competitor, buying out emusic precisely to put it out of business. I couldn'd find much about them online, other than to find out who their legal counsel was.

cct1 · « **Reply #8 on:** October 09, 2003, 04:12:41 pm »

What a bummer. I LOVE Emusic the way it is now. Can't wait to check out the message board over there, bet it's really hummin'....

Charlemagne 8 · « **Reply #9 on:** October 09, 2003, 05:50:52 pm »

Well, Iwas looking for a way out of my contract. Downloading a bunch of songs didn't seem to do it.
Their download restriction to 45 tracks at a time was highly inconvenient. They have some albums that approach that number.

I'm certain that they have many albums OVER 40 tracks. What do they plan to do in that case?

I doubt if anyone will pay $50 per month to download music no one's ever heard of. $10 per month for one or two albums is ridiculous. Like Z said, there are alternatives.

The music companies are (again) doing their part to encourage P2P downloading ... alienating people that are trying to do the right thing and BUY their music.

It's a crazy world.

CVIII

elgibby · « **Reply #10 on:** October 09, 2003, 10:18:34 pm »

I'm still on the fence about whether to continue, tho I'm leaning on telling EMusic to, as a friend would put it, pound sand.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to download everything I want before Nov. 8, and it's been excruciating. Two full lenght CDs and two EPs have been in the download queue for over an hour now, barely halfway DL'd. It's taking forever and a day "requesting file," and then there are connection errors.

Must just be that we're all trying to DL tonight; couldn't be that EMusic would make the experience so frustrating that we'd all just go away; right? Nahhh.

Losing EMusic is incredibly disappointing. I've discovered so many artists, and I've bought a lot of their CDs that aren't on EMusic (listening, music industry?).

One other thing: How about those ol' EMusic business ethics. They're still offering the old deal with no notice (that I can see) that the deal will be good for a month (never mind a notice that "unlimited" doesn't really mean "unlimited").

R.I.P., EMusic.

zurn · « **Reply #11 on:** October 13, 2003, 10:08:51 am »

Though i'm on the fence, too, i'll probably stick with it. Hearing all of you, though, i feel like i should dl like crazy too!

I probably don't download that much more than 40 per month, and i'm usually pretty sure about it--there's so much jazz, blues, folk, country that i'm sure i want to have!

So i guess i'm OK with the new system---as long as it survives! It's disappointing to think that if everyone just jumps ship that it could leave the rest of us (who don't have time to download constantly and just like to browse occasionally) without a good service!

A lot depends on who in the heck these "Dimension" people are--i've noticed that they've retained the right to send you ads for their "other services," even though no one seems to know what those are.

But it sounds like the old model just might not have been making money...if they play this right, and they start making money, maybe it will improve....i'm thinking Netflix: there was a time when i thought they weren't going to make it, but they picked up speed and now they're doing quite well.

steve

cct1 · « **Reply #12 on:** October 13, 2003, 10:47:38 am »

Quote from: cct1 on October 09, 2003, 04:12:41 pm

Can't wait to check out the message board over there, bet it's really hummin'....

Well the message board over there has been down for at least 4 days now...What a coincidence!!!

And downloading is totally screwed up, rarely is it working--used to work great. Probably everyone trying to get their last minute downloads in before bolting. RIP Emusic; I'll keep trying to download until the end of the month, then that's it for me...

lise · « **Reply #13 on:** October 13, 2003, 12:21:43 pm »

I've put more thought into it, and I'm going to stay with it. I looked at the files I've downloaded from emusic in the past 16 months, and there's a whole lot of great stuff. Turns out that on average I was getting 10 albums/month (even though I would only log in every once in a while).

To be fair, I wouldn't keep them all; emusic only allows you to listen to 30sec of a track, which isn't enough for me, and their "listen to" option has become very clunky of late, taking up to 3 minutes to load the 30 seconds, and only working about 20 % of the time. So I would just download entire albums, then decide if I liked them or not.

The point is that 10 albums/month for $13 Cdn is a pretty good deal. Too good.

I think it's very difficult for this business because it springs from the free Napster. If it had started with record companies offering tracks over the net at a price, then the emusic plan would be seem very attractive: good quality mp3s, no limits on what you can do with those files; less expensive than all other plans out there, and a subscription for 'free' tracks, not a subscription to then pay for tracks. Pretty sweet deal, in comparison. Lousy deal compared to P2P.

Personally, I'm 'over' the P2P stuff. I want to pay for my music.

However.... my renewal will depend on being able to EASILY listen to ENTIRE tracks or albums before downloading.

My 2 cents. Cdn.

cct1 · « **Reply #14 on:** October 15, 2003, 09:09:34 am »

Yeah, I noticed that too.

I used Emusic liberally (but never came close to 2000 downloads in a month) to download tunes, put them on my ipod, rate them at work, keep what I liked, and delete what I didn't. Can't really do that now--it would be wasting money. It can be hard to tell if you like a jazz piece you've never heard before from a 30 second clip; with the old plan, I could download it, listen to the full version at my leisure, then decide wether to keep it...

Jazzwolf · « **Reply #15 on:** November 08, 2003, 10:20:44 am »

How the heck did you ever download 18,000 songs?!! Did you ever sleep?

Quote from: zevele on October 09, 2003, 02:56:47 pm

I was mad with they new download manager- try to download any modern music or grindcore album with 60 tracks...-

They said that re-downloading in the new format songs you got in 128 kps was not a problem and that the 'unlimited limited ' rules does not apply.

But i got a mail from them saying i downloaded to much.

So ,i just downloaded 18.000 -- yes 18.000- songs the next month and said to my bank to not pay from the coming end of the month.
Bye Emusic.
And i was right .

More and more ,look like p2p are the only way to get music.

Concerning Emusic , if they stay as they plan ,in few months they are close.

Better to buy straight away from Mordan concerning the punk/alternative bands.
Like it you do not give a cent to this corporates...

www.aloffmp3 is for now the only fair option remeaning

Charlemagne 8 · « **Reply #16 on:** November 08, 2003, 06:46:17 pm »

Zevele sleep?
Unpossible.
I just cancelled Emusic last night (after a year and a half of subscribing) and got an Email today saying that they were refunding $1.62 for my unused subscription time. It really IS a crazy world.
The up-side of the new policy is that there's no subscription obligation.
Maybe I'll reconsider --- someday.
CVIII

Mirko · « **Reply #17 on:** November 24, 2003, 11:59:26 pm »

Cancelled my subscription to emusic yesterday - no refund, I have to pay until december (no big deal *g*).

Besides: I'm also a user who downloads once or twice a year - but when I download, it's usually a lot of stuff. So a "monthly quota" is not worth paying for.

Does anyone know when iTunes is planned to work with Windows in germany?

Mirko

P.S. [web site removed] is a nice one.

KingSparta · « **Reply #18 on:** November 25, 2003, 05:41:49 pm »

Quote

Does anyone know when iTunes is planned to work with Windows in germany?

yes, but first send me beer

Mirko · « **Reply #19 on:** November 26, 2003, 01:23:13 pm »

"send beer to kingsparta"

"you can't send beer to kingsparta"

"give beer to kingsparta"

"beer given to kingsparta"

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Author Topic: Big Changes at EMusic (Read 9432 times)

zevele10