Emusic announced two enhancements to their service last week. They started selling Audiobooks and released a new download manager called Emusic Remote. The Audiobooks require a separate subscription to eMusic Audiobooks, which costs $9.99 for one month and entitles you to one book credit.I'm paying $9.99 for 40 music downloads, so $9.99 for just one book in MP3 form seems a little steep, but a bargain compared to the cost of audio books on Audacity or iTunes (they cost $20-30 each -- as much as hardbacks). I just don't have the patience to sit and listen to a book, and unlike songs, I'd probably only listen to an audiobook one time. It just seems overpriced.
Emusic Remote is the new download application that was initially required just for their Audiobooks, but when I tried to fill my quota of music downloads last weekend, I couldn't download with the old manager and had to get Remote. I couldn't download anything at first, and had to disable the iTunes integration (after checking the message boards). From the posts on their message board and 17dots, a lot of Emusic users were having the same problem.
And Emusic is not without it's problems. It's an integrated browser window designed to work like iTunes, but it's nowhere near as versatile. First, it doesn't keep my password, so I need to log in everytime the program opens. It's also kind of buggy, and shows downloads as complete when they aren't, so you need to download the songs again.
With all the issues I've been having the past few days, I'm thinking of scrapping Emusic entirely. They haven't been adding many new albums on the day of release anymore, and it's hard to find the older stuff they've added. I just discovered a few days ago that they have Dear Catastrophe Waitress, the one Belle & Sebastian album I didn't own (mostly because it wasn't available on emusic).
1 comment:
Hmm. The Emusic browser remembered my password, although it didn't automatically log me in (it took me to the login page, but my login and password were right there for me). I also didn't experience the download problem you describe - or at least, I didn't do anything to cause me to notice it, like shut down the browser before downloads were complete (would that stop them? No idea...).
Incidentally, it's too bad eMusic doesn't seem to have newer titles on Asphodel: I confess to a sick curiosity to hear the live, orchestral arrangement of Metal Machine Music that came out recently. (Not on US iTunes either - although the label's website has an iTunes link...)
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