all things emusic

[John B]

I thought it would be good to have one place to note recommendations or alerts for new releases for those of us who are on emusic.

They just added Frank Lowe's Black Beings on ESP, which has the distinction of being William Parker's first recorded session.

I just downloaded it and will probably spin it for the first time tonight.

[AfricaBrass]

Thanks for starting this thread, John!

One thing I noticed recently is the fact that the Vivendi label stuff (Verve, Impulse, etc...) has been removed. I was saddened by this development.

It is cool that they have a lot of the Atavistic label on their site. I've been exploring some of this stuff and it's interesting. My favorites are the Joe McPhee reissues.

:rsmile:

[Claude]

This is the direct link to the newest jazz arrivals:

http://emusic.com/new/291/

[.:.impossible]

One thing I noticed recently is the fact that the Vivendi label stuff (Verve, Impulse, etc...) has been removed. I was saddened by this development.

That's strange... I was reading the privacy policy and it says that emusic is a part of Vivendi Universal.

Everytime I think I'm going to sign up for the trial, I balk at giving my credit card information. I don't like the idea of entering all of my information on those pages for some reason. Do you guys get spammed a lot more than you did before joining? What about junk mail?

[Claude]

Do you guys get spammed a lot more than you did before joining? What about junk mail?

I do a lot of online shopping (european and US companies) and never get spammed. Just choose NO when an online registration asks if you want "promotional offers from selected partners".

When I ended my 3 month subscription last year, I only received a "Please come back" message and maybe one or two others from emusic.com.

[AfricaBrass]

Do you guys get spammed a lot more than you did before joining? What about junk mail?

Like a dummy, I signed up for emusic with my personal email address (the one I only give to friends). I haven't had any problems, either, with spam or my email address being given out by them.

As far as the Verve and Impulse recordings being taken off the site. I checked the emusic forums and people have been asking about it, but the only comment from emusic that I found said that they "remove items from time to time" - so if you have emusic and you know there is something you want, I would suggest downloading it now. I've waited on things and have seen them disappear off their site. It's just a drag if you signed up because of the Vivendi offerings.

[John B]

if you are a fan of Fela Kuti check out a disc by the Daktaris called Soul Explosion. The band went on to become the Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra. Great stuff!

[BFrank]

They recently added Gary Bartz' "I've Known Rivers" live set. Definitely worth picking up.

I've seen a 2 album set of "Yo Miles!" by Henry Kaiser and Wadada Leo Smith, too.

[John B]

the Yo Miles! set is wonderful, but disc 2 runs over 80 minutes, so it is a nightmare to burn onto a regular cdr. I still haven't gotten around to trying to trim one of the tracks down a bit.

[AfricaBrass]

I got an email from emusic this morning.

Here's a quote "we have increased the bit rate of our MP3s from 128 KBPS to a high-quality Variable Bit Rate (VBR). For those of you not familiar with the "ins and outs" of encoding, this means that the sound quality of our tracks has improved dramatically."

I don't know much about VBR, but it would be great if they improve the quality of their mp3s.

:rsmile:

[Noj]

mp3 sound quality aside, get...

Hampton Hawes NORTHERN WINDOWS PLUS--excellent!

:rsmile:

[AfricaBrass]

mp3 sound quality aside, get...

Hampton Hawes NORTHERN WINDOWS PLUS--excellent!

  :rsmile: 

Thanks Noj,

I just did it! I like what I've heard so far.

:rsmile:

Edited May 1, 2003 by AfricaBrass

[AfricaBrass]

In regards to paying for downloadable .mp3 files, what do you guys think of the new service Apple Computers is now offering?

I don't mind paying $10/month for unlimited downloads, but $1/song seems insane to me, especially as .mp3s.

I know Apple has offerings from the major labels, but I just can't see people paying the money. Though, it could be popular with people who would buy singles, such as teens.

Just curious?

:rsmile:

[Noj]

$1 a song is WAY too much. Considering in my first $10 month at emusic I have downloaded nearly 300 songs...

[BFrank]

$1 a song is WAY too much. Considering in my first $10 month at emusic I have downloaded nearly 300 songs...

Exac-ta-mundo!

[John B]

lots of new OmniTone added, but not listed in the "New" section yet. search by label.

also, both Jimmy Woods discs discussed in another forum are available.

[AfricaBrass]

I finally downloaded Jimmy Woods' Conflict. I have to say that I'm impressed with the variable bit rate mp3 sound quality. I've only listened to it with headphones on my computer, but I'm happy to say that I don't hear any of the whooshiness that I'm used to with mp3's from Fantasy.

The file sizes are a bit bigger, but I think it was a great move of emusic going to VBR.

:rsmile:

[RDK]

Am very glad to hear that they're improving their MP3s. It wasn't so much that 128Kb is itself too low for reasonable quality MP3s, but that they used the worst encoder possible. VBR should help considerably.

I subscribed to Emusic nearly two years ago for a while, and though they had a lot of great jazz available I was never really happy with the sound quality. The upgrade comes at a great time for me since I was planning on subscribing again next week.

Ray

[Rooster_Ties]

lots of new OmniTone added, but not listed in the "New" section yet.  search by label.

Half to say I'd never been to emusic before, at least not until 30 seconds ago. I saw OmniTone, and wondered if Tom Varner's albums were there, and they are.... Anyone who is a fan of Don Cherry's "Complete Communion" really needs to hear Tom Varner's "Second Communion", which is on emusic. Here's the skinny from AGM...

Review of Second Communion, and here's the bio of Tom Varner, who plays French Horn(!!).

You gotta hear this one...

[AfricaBrass]

Thanks Rooster Ties!

I'll check it out.

I know this isn't emusic related, but it's mp3 related. Here's a link to a site that has some cool mp3 downloads. Right now they have a live Roland Kirk show from 1970 and a Miles show from 1975. They alternate the shows, so check it out.

Darkfunk

[Rooster_Ties]

Thanks A.B.!!! - and actually, I downloaded that Kirk show (from Darkfunk) just last night!!! Haven't had the chance to listen to it yet, but plan to in the next few days.

[AfricaBrass]

Thanks A.B.!!! - and actually, I downloaded that Kirk show (from Darkfunk) just last night!!! Haven't had the chance to listen to it yet, but plan to in the next few days.

You're welcome!

I'm listening to the Kirk show right now. It sounds good!

[BFrank]

Alert! - Richard Thompson's "The Old Kit Bag" is now available - the WHOLE album!

+++

I'm VERY impressed with the new MP3's. A huge improvement for the Fantasy stuff, especially. The files are about 50% larger, but well worth it.

The downside is re-downloading everything.

Edited May 9, 2003 by BFrank

[Parkertown]

Thanks for all the tips everyone! (esp. you, BFrank!) Something else I just noticed is that the new version 2.0 of the Download Manager now limits the number of tracks or albums you may queue up. I just got halted trying to add a 4th album to the queue.

Crap!!!

I've loaded that puppy up with about 15-20 albums at once before...maybe that's why...

[Noj]

Is anyone else getting corrupted mp3s with intermittent pauses of silence? Really aggravating to take the time to download a file only to have the music screwed up. I was really wanting this Sonny Phillips track and downloaded it 3 times to no avail.