emusic

I started an emusic account today. (what? something not w2.0? – thank god!) Pat Goddard sent me a spam for 50 free tracks for trying it out. I haven't used emusic since 1999 or so. Maybe earlier. I sort of have a history with them. They were one of the first players in the pay for download space. They also bought IUMA. Then,  I almost worked for them once. It's really amazing that they're still around. I remember when they were on their last legs.

Here's what I like about them:

1. No DRM! 'nuff said.
2. Browse by Label! I've been wanting this from iTunes and Yahoo Music Engine. emusic has an easier time with this because they only have indie labels; but 18,000 of them. The theory is that indies are easier to browse because their catalogs are smaller. Shouldn't matter, in fact emusic does a good job of label navigation. This feature is important because many labels have a brand off their own and feature a specific style of music. Why shouldn't you see all releases available from SST, Ninja Tune, Matador, etc.?
3. "Save for later" feature. Again this is also something that I'd like to see from iTunes or Yahoo! Music. If I'm interested in something, but don't know if I want to commit, I should be able to keep track of it. Besides if done right there's  a lot you can do with that data. It's great for cross and up-selling.
4. The design. I like the design and most of the interface features of emusic
5. User reviews. Not that they have them, but the majority of the ones they have are well written, insightful and intelligent. The iTunes reviews are killing me. They are terrible and a complete waste of space. They either need to kill them or do a much better job of filtering them.

I don't really care for the limited downloads per month. It's $9.99 for 40 songs per month. I can eat that up in ten minutes. But I guess it's worth it for the lack of DRM and the indie spirit.