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June 02, 2009
Two of those big yellow taxi moments
eMusic has finally hooked a major label, and will shortly have Sony back catalogue. In return, they are 'adjusting' their prices in two directions; plan costs rise, and tracks per plan reduce. There's no sign that existing users will be grandfathered. Like many longstanding emusic regulars, I have the October 2006 email that guarantees to honour my existing plan as long as my account is in good standing -- US members have been told that these plans are now being 'retired' which is an interesting use of the word 'guarantee' that m'learned friends are now considering. People with grandfathered plans like mine are facing typically a doubling of per-price track. Guess what, chaps? If I download 45 tracks instead of 90, you do not make any more money. If I download 0 tracks instead of 90, which is not impossible, you make less. The good news is that there will, finally, be a per album price for some albums with many tracks. So, we shall see. It seems very strange given Spotify, too; but yes, I have a workaround where I can listen to albums on Spotify and then choose whether or not to buy them.
Meanwhile, I learn that Birdsong Radio has gone off the air. Since getting a radio that could have multiple alarms tuned to different stations, we used this as our weekend 'alarm'; instead of being woken suddenly by music we were woken gently by birdsong. Apparently some radios do it themselves now, and this radio can use music on an SD card as an alarm. But still.
Posted by Alison Scott at June 2, 2009 09:12 AM
Comments
eMusic probably do make more money if you download 45 tracks instead of 90, because they're probably having to pay Sony per download.
Posted by: Mike Scott at June 2, 2009 03:26 PM