9malls.com review of eMusic.com, eMusic

9malls.com review of eMusic.com

Rating: **** 4.0 out of 5 stars

Web site: www.eMusic.com

What is eMusic?

According to Alexa.com eMusic has a popularity ranking of 1,802. The official Alexa description of eMusic.com is it, "Sells downloadable tracks and full albums compatible with the iPod or MP3 players." Right now and actually for many months now eMusic is offering customers 25 free music downloads just for trying out their service. I've seen this number of free downloads as high as 40. You should search the keywords "eMusic coupon 40 free" to find this deal.

eMusic Review:

ePinions.com gives eMusic.com a low 2 1/2 stars out of 5. Some 1 star complaints are the free trial is confusing and even "deceptive." One member commented that the so-called "unlimited download" plan was not unlimited getting kicked off because he downloaded "too much." The majority of ePinions low ratings are because of eMusic billing practices. People cancel their so-called free trial, but get billed the monthly subscription price anyway. CNET.com gives eMusic a 7.7 (very good)/10 and users give company 6.1 (good)/10. This is exactly what I'm talking about with the problems with the music industry. CNET points out, "Major labels won't ink deals with eMusic because of the lack of music restrictions; no à la carte downloads; can't stream music." Somehow the music industry feels lack of restrictions is bad, even though they are still getting paid. It's this kind of BS that still makes me a fan of CDs. CNET also mentions, "Open usage policy, a low per-download price point, and intelligent editorial content make eMusic a boon for fans of independent labels."

Finances:

eMusic address is 100 Park Ave, 17th Floor, New York, NY 10017, USA. Phone: 1 212 201 9240 Fax: 1 212 201 9204. eMusic.com revenue is projected by Alexa.com to be between 1-10 million. On 11-13-07 eMusic announced that it was #2 behind Apple's iTunes Store. This is huge! It says it's now the largest MP3 shop outside major labels as well. "With more than three million songs from 20,000 labels, eMusic has the largest independent catalog in the world (http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/98897)." "In the meantime, more than 350,000 customers used the service; indeed, eMusic says that it has gained another 50,000 paying customers in the past six months alone. Its subscribers have downloaded some 165 million DRM-less MP3 tracks, and while that may sound like a lot, iTunes sells almost that amount per quarter (http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/98897)." eMusic still isn't as big as iTunes even with those numbers. I suspect they will catch up even more because eMusic offers one of the best values with 25 free downloads that are yours to ke ep when you sign up. So if eMusic has 350K members that's $3,500,000 in income per month minimum x 12 = $42,000,000/yr.

What I think of eMusic:

Don't get me wrong eMusic.com is an excellent site, but I'm comparing it to other even better music download sites. There is so much competition when it comes to music download sites that the great like eMusic become mediocre when comparing them to a site like Apple iTunes. eMusic is a great site just not the best, so if you have the money to spend sign up with eMusic, Napster, and iTunes. If not just go with iTunes which currently is the best music download service. Even if iTunes software is a resource hog, prices are extremely high in my opinion at 99 cents for an MP3! And iTunes MP3 mostly play just on the Apple iPod. iTunes is beginning to offer DRM-free music so this is a good step in the right direction. Really if you buy an MP3 it should play anywhere I don't get this control issue that Apple seems to have on MP3s/iPod and the music industry. It's a tired business model that needs to go out the window sooner rather than later. All songs downloaded from eMusic can still be used after the subscription has expired. eMusic is at 350K members and counting.

Disclaimer:

Please do your own research especially for financial data. I'm writing this review to the best of my ability based on the information I've obtained and analyzed. Please look at this review as general information and not as a financial statement for eMusic.

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