Update: Since I first published this review, I have begun showing eMusic ads on my site. Don’t worry, I’m not going to be a shill for every product I come across. I was just blown away by the service that eMusic provides, and I decided I would like to spread the word as much as possible. My editorial judgment will not be compromised, but please, if you haven’t already signed up for eMusic, go ahead and click on the eMusic ads, and sign up for a free trial. You won’t be sorry.
Here’s the original review:
All I can say is wow. I wish I would have subscribed to eMusic sooner. It is almost everything you could ask for in a digital music download service. I can see why it’s subscription rate is booming right now. First lets look at the positives, and there are many,
DRM-free Mp3’s. Obviously, this is sort of a prerequisite, especially if you don’t have music from the major labels available.
Very easy to use interface. Browsing for music is made very easy by clicking on category links, which lead to more sub-category links. Downloading is easy and very fast.
Easy to find new music. This is made possible by the category/sub-category layout I described, but also because it seems like almost every album has a description, by the eMusic editors, by users, links to allmusic.com, etc. Very nice to just read and try out new music.
Incentive to buy new music. eMusic is amazingly cheap. Some users have complained about rising subscription rates, but at worst you are paying .33 per song. Tough to complain about that. The low prices give users an incentive to buy and try new music.
Great catalog of indie artists. This was the real kicker for me. I had always assumed that eMusic, because it only had independent labels, wouldn’t have that much to offer. And I assumed that big indie acts like Arcade Fire wouldn’t be on eMusic, either. Wow, was I wrong. I don’t keep track of who is on what label as much as I probably should, but eMusic has essentially a who’s who of independent artists available. To name a few,
The Hold Steady (I’m from Minneapolis, so I had to put them first), Cat Power, Neko Case, The Pixies, Sufjan Stevens, The White Stripes, Spoon, Ryan Adams, The Decemberists, Arcade Fire, Yo La Tengo, Belle and Sebastian…
eMusic also has a large collection of jazz, hip-hop, comedy, blues, and classical music. I’m excited about trying out some of the electronic music. I normally don’t buy electronic/instrumental/ambient music, but with such little price risk, I will.
Easy to move music into iTunes. This was always another worry for me. I like to have everything in one place and not have to worry about it. In hindsight this was silly, since it took all of 2 seconds to move the eMusic downloads into iTunes.
Web 2.0 aspects. Another nice feature is the Web 2.0/community features that eMusic offers. eMusic will look at what you download at link you up with other users that have similar interests like Last.fm. I haven’t really used this aspect yet, but it’s nice to have available nonetheless.
I do have a few problems with eMusic,
Subscription model isn’t perfect. Unused tracks don’t rollover month to month. You get a certain number of tracks each month depending on your subscription, and the ones you don’t use disappear. This makes it somewhat awkward when you have two tracks leftover and you don’t want to lose them, but you can’t find any single tracks to buy. You can buy a “booster pack” which allows to have a certain number of downloads that will rollover, but I still have a minor issue with this. Of course, this is how eMusic makes money with the subscription plans. It’s how Netflix makes money. Make money on the light users, while you struggle to break even on the heavy users.
20 second previews aren’t long enough. Like iTunes, eMusic gives you 20 second previews of songs. For a lot of songs this isn’t nearly enough time to decide whether you like it or not. Especially for stuff like electronic music and jazz. 20 seconds? Come on.
An eMusic radio would be nice. I would love to have a radio station that was based on my preferences and download history and integrated with the store. Just a thought.
In conclusion, I recommend eMusic to everyone, and hopefully the rumored Amazon Music Download Store and iTunes will move in this direction, as they wrestle with the major labels. If not, there will always be some good stuff to find on eMusic.