J Larsen Posted July 7, 2003 Report Posted July 7, 2003 I'm considering joining emusic.com. Has anyone used this service? Can you recommend it? Are there similar services out there worth investigating? Thanks. Quote
John B Posted July 7, 2003 Report Posted July 7, 2003 (edited) wait until BFrank sees this thread.... I've been using it for a few months now and have been very happy so far. It was worth the monthly cost for the box sets I have gotten alone. also, check out this thread: emusic thread Edited July 7, 2003 by John B Quote
John B Posted July 7, 2003 Report Posted July 7, 2003 they also recently added Drimala to the list of labels they offer. Discs with Matthew Shipp, William Parker and Joe McPhee are all available. Quote
Noj Posted July 7, 2003 Report Posted July 7, 2003 Among my favorites downloaded from this service: Ubiquity Various--tons of good funk 45s here. Spike's Choice Desco 45s--more good funk 45s Boogaloo Joe Jones Sweetback--the title track is too funky Lee Fields--FUNKY Syl Johnson Mike James Kirkland Cannonball Adderley Phenix & Pyramid, several others Sonny Criss--everything they offer is excellent Joe Pass--Virtuoso stuff Yusef Lateef Charles Earland Pat Martino I've downloaded grips of Fantasy stuff, lots of it good... Desmond Williams Delights Of The Garden--beyond the average album of hip hop beats The Dining Rooms Numero Deux--trip hop/Portisheadish stuff more recommendations, anyone? Quote
Jim Alfredson Posted July 7, 2003 Report Posted July 7, 2003 What are they compressed at? How much does it cost per month? I have to say, I miss my broadband connection. Quote
Soulstation1 Posted July 7, 2003 Report Posted July 7, 2003 http://help.emusic.com/subscription/3207.asp Quote
Saint Vitus Posted July 7, 2003 Report Posted July 7, 2003 They have some Palo Alto sessions from the early 80s that were reissued by Quicksilver. Thus far, I downloaded McCoy Tyner's Just Feelin' and David Friesen's Amber Skies (with Henderson, Corea and Motian). Emusic also has some Vee Jay sessions released on Koch Jazz, such as Expoobident (what does this word mean, anyway?), Fantastic Frank Strozier, & Wayning Moment. Search for GNP/Crescendo and Xanadu releases as well, although they need to re-do the Xanadus. Most files are compressed using the variable bit rates method (probably at around 200kbps). Quote
J Larsen Posted July 8, 2003 Author Report Posted July 8, 2003 In my first day, I downloaded: Pat Martino - East Charles Earland - Black Talk Charlie Christian - After Hours Tatum - Solo Masterpieces Vol. 1 Bob Brozman - Blue Hula Stomp Joe Pass - Virtuoso Don Friedman - A Day in the City Gigi Gryce and the Lab Quintet Other than box sets, I haven't bought many titles from the Fantasy catalog due to their constant availability. Now I'm like a boy in a candy store. I guess my iPod is going to basically consist of the Fantasy catalog. Quote
jacman Posted July 8, 2003 Report Posted July 8, 2003 J Larsen said: Bob Brozman - Blue Hula Stomp Quote
BFrank Posted July 9, 2003 Report Posted July 9, 2003 John B said: wait until BFrank sees this thread.... B) Yes. Great service. For $10/month, there is nothing CLOSE. Do a free trial with 50 downloads, and you will get a sense of the scope of what's available - jazz particularly. Quote
John B Posted July 9, 2003 Report Posted July 9, 2003 In the past couple of days I grabbed the Complete Wes Montgomery Prestige set (12 discs), the Art Pepper Complete Village Vanguard set (8 discs) the Art Pepper Hollywood All Star Sessions (5 discs) along with a few random single discs (Screaming Headless Torsos for example) Not too shabby. I agree that the Desco label is well worth checking out. Beyond what Noj already mentioned I would recommend the Daktaris album Soul Explosion. Great Afrobeat! Quote
J Larsen Posted July 9, 2003 Author Report Posted July 9, 2003 Last night I added three McCoy Tyner abums: Sahara, Echoes of a Friend, and Enlightenment. To download everything they have that I'm interested in, I'd probably need a terrabyte hard drive. Quote
Jim Dye Posted July 9, 2003 Report Posted July 9, 2003 I've read that they now use LAME to encode their MP3's. This is very good news because the LAME mp3 encoder creates the best sounding MP3's. I need my broadband back! How is life with your iPod, JL? Do you have one of the new models? Quote
J Larsen Posted July 9, 2003 Author Report Posted July 9, 2003 I got the new 30GB model last week. It made a lot of sense for me, since I needed a portable harddrive anyway and I get a steep discount on Apple products. I think the people who claim that it gives "cd quality" sound are kidding themselves (I have a pretty bad set of ears and even I can tell the difference), but for a portable device the sound is more than good enough. It's really nice suddenly having such a large library of music in my office without having to lug the discs back and forth between there and my apartment. It will be great for plane trips, too. I just have to get the external battery pack so it can run on AAs, and I'll be all set. Quote
Soul Stream Posted July 9, 2003 Report Posted July 9, 2003 I guess I'll add a dissenting reply. Initially I really liked emusic. However after the initial joy and staggering amount of downloading I did, I found myself 3 months into it and not really downloading that much. Why? Well, to be honest....if I really like an album that much, I'm gonna buy it as a CD with nice packaging, ect. If I'm not into a certain album, like "Oh, I don't have that...I'll download it." 9 times out of 10 it's going to be an album I'm not going to listen to. I've got a huge jazz CD collection (realatively speaking), and I've got more than enough to keep my ears busy for a long, long time. Emusic was just a download fest of music I rarely listened to. So, I let my subscription expire after my credit card expired... Quote
BFrank Posted July 9, 2003 Report Posted July 9, 2003 One of the things that I really LIKE about EMusic is that you can explore music that you wouldn't otherwise spend money on. Different artists, genres, albums are all available in "near" CD quality. In many cases there are albums that I will listen to, but not necessarily want to spend $15 for the "hard copy". Also, I can't see myself running out of things to download any time soon. As I'm pretty open to different styles, there's just too much there. Quote
The Mule Posted September 2, 2003 Report Posted September 2, 2003 Wanted to bring this thread back up since I joined Emusic last week. All I can say is...damn! Very impressed so far. If you're into the kinds of music the people on this board are and you've got a big hard drive and a broadband connection it's a pretty amazing bargain for the money. As others have stated, the best thing about it is the ability to try out some new music without having to plunk down $16.99 just to find out if you like it or not. In addition to the Fantasy, Xanadu, ESP, JSP and other jazz-specific catalogs they've also got a great selection from all the Shanachie labels including the Yazoo titles. There's been some griping about "unlimited downloads" not really meaning "unlimited" and while that's a valid complaint, if you don't make a complete pig of yourself every month it probably won't be a problem. Anyhow, I'm a week in and have no complaints. In fact, I'm waiting for someone to tap me on the shoulder and tell me that there's been a mistake... Quote
jacman Posted September 2, 2003 Report Posted September 2, 2003 i got booted from E-Music. they thought i was doing something illegal. i just downloaded a bunch of stuff. didn't do anything illegal, and had several e-mail chats with them. still got thrown off tho. got an offer to "join" in today's e-mail. Quote
Son-of-a-Weizen Posted September 2, 2003 Report Posted September 2, 2003 I'm all over that Fantasy/Prestige catalogue like a cheap suit. As I said over on that board, the best 'find' to date was the Mose Allison material (Local Color, Autumn Song, etc..)...none of which I had heard. Quote
The Mule Posted September 2, 2003 Report Posted September 2, 2003 Son-of-a-Weizen said: I'm all over that Fantasy/Prestige catalogue like a cheap suit. As I said over on that board, the best 'find' to date was the Mose Allison material (Local Color, Autumn Song, etc..)...none of which I had heard. I've been "filling holes" in my Fantasy collection like a maniac, grabbing those couple of Trane or Miles or Red Garland's I'd been meaning to get around too. Good to know about Mose Allison. I'm just like you were--don't have any. Which would you recommend to start? Quote
Son-of-a-Weizen Posted September 3, 2003 Report Posted September 3, 2003 The "Down Home Piano" Lp was the first one I ran with......the song called "Mule" swings real nice. Quote
The Mule Posted September 3, 2003 Report Posted September 3, 2003 Son-of-a-Weizen said: The "Down Home Piano" Lp was the first one I ran with......the song called "Mule" swings real nice. There's a "mule" song for every mood: Mule Mule Train Mule Boy Mule Man Mule Shoe Mule Walk Me and the Mule Mule Eggs Mule Kick Mule Milk Mule to Ride Mule Talk Po' Mule Mule Skinner Blues Whoa Mule Big Mule Gee the Mule Man on the Mule Mule Blues Mulê Nasip Old Mule Sco-Mule Tan Mule Army Mule Bird Mule Blue Mule Bout the Mule Club Mule Come on, Mule Frog and Mule Mule and a Fool Mule Boogie Mule-Lipped Mule Talked Sick Mule Slam Mule That Mule Whip the Mule Wolf and the Mule Funky Mule ...and my fave is Mingus' Freedom. "Stand fast old mule/stand fast" Quote
Tjazz Posted September 3, 2003 Report Posted September 3, 2003 I like the Buddy Defranco stuff. Quote
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