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Comments on news posted 2003-10-09 19:52:58: On-line music service E-Music has been purchased by a new owner who doesn't much care for the "unlimited" selling point. ..
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HiPacketDrifter
@adelphia.net
| Emusic History Lesson Am I the only one here who remembers when Emusic's business model was IDENTICAL to iTunes?
Yes folks that's right, Emusic when it first came out sold
BY THE DOWNLOAD. And the price? Does $.99 per track ring a bell anywhere?
Emusic abandoned the per download business model. Why?
Not enough revenue. Why? Because they couldn't sign up
a major label. With only indies or nearly out-of-print recordings to sell they HAD to switch to a subscription model in order to survive. Sure the price per download went way down, assuming you were a regular downloader. If you were like me and were far more picky about what you were willing to buy the subscription model didn't work out so well because I wasn't downloading enough to make it pay.
So now we're coming full circle again. Yes I see them upping the subscription price and limiting downloads. This is all probably some type of ploy that they hope will land them a contract with a major label. Expect to see the per download model reappear when a major (i.e. current) artist's label signs on. Maybe even the pay per download model will return.
Won't do too much for you indie label or garage band fans, but Emusic isn't the only provider of such material, shop around. | |
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Iowan5
Premium
join:2002-11-27
Des Moines, IA | :) If I can get it for free, I will not buy it no matter the price!
Actually I will never buy another CD/song. | |
| | | | | PolarBearWY
join:2002-02-20
Laramie, WY
| Re: :) Too bad they aren't "artists." It's sad that the very definition of artist includes "singers."
My dog sings to a full moon, and I dare you to call him an artist. Wolves sing throughout the mountains around here, and I don't consider them artists. Whales sing, and I wouldn't call them artists. Just because sound comes out of Jessica Simpson's mouth shouldn't make her an artist. Now the people that wrote the song and music... they are artists.
Computers can be programmed to "sing." I wouldn't call a computer an artist. Remember the movie The Fifth Element? Half of that song sang by the diva was synthesized. Should we give platinum records and beaucoup bucks to the Casio? | |
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pianotech
Pianotech
Premium
join:2002-12-30
New Castle, PA
| Re: :) But what's your point? Emusic's music was comprised of music by artists signed to indie labels. This wasn't hack stuff that was uploaded by 13 year olds with a copy of Ejay.
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Independent Composer & Pianist. | |
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viperpa33s
Why Me?
Premium
join:2002-12-20
Bradenton, FL
 ·Bright House
| Can someone answer a question for me This question has to do with the word, unlimited. Why do some people relate unlimited to fair use?
Emusic complained about people downloading to much even though they promoted unlimited service. I don't think people were taking advantage of a service that Emusic promoted as unlimited. People can download 2 songs or they can download 100 songs, unlimited is unlimited. How would someone know how much to download if the company doesn't state it. Am I suppose to be a mind reader, pick a number out of my head, and say that's all I am going to download?
Comcast is another company that promotes unlimited when in fact it's a limited service. I seen some people complain about other people downloading. Since cable is a shared system, when one uses more bandwidth or there is alot of people using the internet at the same time, the system will suffer. Do you blame the people using the system or do you blame the system itself? If cable can't handle the bandwidth or a lot of people, then the system is flawed.
It doesn't even have to be the internet, few companies have unlimited in there title. Go to a amusement park, pay one price, and you have unlimited use of the rides. Go to Ponderosa's, pay one price for all you can eat. Pay one price for cable and you can watch t.v 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Verizon promotes unlimited night and weekend phone calls. Even Netflix promotes pay one price for all the videos you can watch. More and more companies are starting to promote unlimited cause that's what brings customers in the door.
Some people say other people take advantage when a company promotes being unlimited. That everyone should be fair, but how do you know what's fair or not when it's unlimited? If a company actually provides limited service, then they should state it. If a company promotes unlimited service when in fact it's limited, then the company violated the law for false advertising.
Remember the old saying, you get what you pay for. | |
| | PolarBearWY
join:2002-02-20
Laramie, WY
| Re: Can someone answer a question for me The difference between this and ComCast is that Comcast states that they do not want any servers run on their network. Since ALL file-sharing programs are technically servers, you aren't supposed to be running them. Without running one of these programs, you cannot possibly hit their invisible cap. Comcast is in the right. | |
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pianotech
Pianotech
Premium
join:2002-12-30
New Castle, PA
| Ponderosa advertises an all-you-can-eat buffet, sure enough. Yet, I bet that if you went to up the buffet and started taking entire pans of food to your table, in an attempt to clear out the buffet, they would stop you. Unlimited doesn't mean unlimited all at once. You can't go up there and take the ENTIRE tray of ..ahem.."meatloaf," or the entire tray of mac and cheese, or the entire bowl of salad.
Some people were treating Emusic the same way..they would download a thousand tracks in a day and discard half of them because they didn't like them. That would be the equivalent of carting the entire salad bar to your table, eating 1/4 of it and then throwing the rest of it way because you're full and can't eat any more.
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Independent Composer & Pianist. | |
| | | PolarBearWY
join:2002-02-20
Laramie, WY
| Re: Can someone answer a question for me I think everyone in the world (well, the USA is really the only country that has so many buffets to please all the fatties we have) knows what "all you can eat" is. It isn't all you can fit in your fridge. You go to a restaurant to buy a meal, not groceries for a week.
eMusic really isn't any different. They say unlimited music, but it should be understood that they are really saying "all you can listen to." eMusic doesn't want to cater to people with insatiable appetites for music. People that download 3000 tracks in a month (their invisible limit) can't even listen to all of it. Assuming an avg song length of 4 minutes, they would have to listen to that new music for almost 7 hours EVERY day of the month. No one listens to new music for 7 hours a day, 30 days a month. No one~!
That's why they identified 3000 songs per month as a limit.
So, you can't argue that unlimited didn't mean unlimited. They allow enough downloads per month to get by until the next month. Their limit simply removes the ability for someone to pay for one month and download everything on the site. The site is designed for those paying monthly, year to year. And the site allows those people to download more music than is possible to listen to each month. | |
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Jumbo Lump
join:2003-01-19
Linden, VA | blecch Something has to give.
I enjoy music but I will not strap myself financially to have it anymore.
I feel alienated, robbed, and left behind by an antiquated music industry I pumped thousands of dollars into. | |
| | PolarBearWY
join:2002-02-20
Laramie, WY
| Napster is BACK !! Well, I just received an email from Napster saying they will be back on Oct 29.
They will be charging 99 cents per track, or $9.95 per album and are claiming to have more than 500,000 tracks.
So even if their new price structure doesn't do them in, Napster will. Bye bye to eMusic.
[text was edited by author 2003-10-12 02:22:45] | |
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neutral
faith in the future
Premium
join:2001-08-04
Ringgold, GA
 ·AT&T Southeast
| Re: Napster is BACK !! Man it's all a big waiting game now. 
If Napster has the catalog they're saying they'll have it'll be interesting. Some of the terms are weird though....
»www.napster.com/terms.html
You get unlimited downloads for 9.95 but you can't burn them, or keep them when your subscription expires.
Usage Rules -- Additions.
A "Download" is a Track that you may save to the hard drive of your personal computer and play back as many times as you want for so long as your subscription is current. You may make an unlimited number of Downloads while your subscription is current. You may copy each Download to up to two additional personal computers that you own (i.e. a total of 3 copies). You may not share Downloads with anyone else. Napster automatically renews your rights to all of your Downloads at the beginning of each Subscription Month (as defined below) so long as your subscription remains current. This means that in order to play any Download after the end of a Subscription Month, you must log on to the Service so that Napster can renew your rights for those Tracks. The Client will count the number of times that you play a Download, including while you are offline, for royalty accounting and analysis purposes.
Kinda makes me wonder if I'd have a hard drive full of unplayable files in Napster went poof again.
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you told me that you missed me, but you meant with the grille and hood
irc.fj33r.com - #dslr||Werewolves of Folding | |
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SuperJudge
Magus
Premium
join:2002-11-14
Albany, GA
clubs: | Ogg Vorbis I'm tired of 128k MP3s, I think that OGGs would sell better, they have better quality IMHO, and most players are supporting it now.
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MediaXPeer | |
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