Emusic Relaunches - Cheap, DRM-Free Downloads

An anonymous reader writes "Emusic.com has relaunched today. This is important for several reasons. 1) They sell MP3s. No DRM. I can play them on my Linux box or wherever. 2) They are encoding at 192Kbit/s VBR. That's near CD quality (and how I rip my own CDs). They are focusing on lesser known independent music and providing some editorial content to separate the good from the bad. I see lots of great jazz, classical, and folk/country stuff in their library. 4) Subscription rate is 9.99/month for 40 tracks. That is $0.25 a track. Much cheaper than everywhere else. It's near my pricepoint. This is the first online music store that I will seriously consider. (And actually the first that I _can_ consider since I'm a linux user.)"

Comments

Price Point?

[Iowaguy]

Wow, that is a great world occupied by some if 0.25 is near the price point for song. For the rest of us, we tend to pay 15 dollars for a cd, of about 10 songs, which is a $1.50 per song give or take. At a quarter a song,that is $2.50 cents for a cd, which means the editor basically wants his music for free.

It is ok to dream people, but honestly, shouldn't realistic expectations be part of the equation some where. The current offerings are about 1 dollar per song, or about $10 dollars for a cd, which is a savings to the consumer. There is a thing called fair price, afterall. I guess some are not happy until the cost reaches 0. Now, that would be nice...

My two cents,
-Iowa

Re:monthly/per track pricing?

[cpt kangarooski]

What are you talking about, not being legal for USians?

It is not legal for Americans.

Copyrights are national. Thus, a Russian copyright is totally distinct from an American copyright. What Russian law might permit in Russia has no bearing whatsoever on what American law permits in America. What the Russian copyright holder authorizes has no impact on what the American copyright holder authorizes.

To download from allofmp3 results in the downloader infringing on the right to reproduce the work in phonorecords, because the downloader necessarily is creating a new phonorecord as a consequence of downloading. See Intellectual Reserve v. Utah Lighthouse Ministry, 75 F. Supp. 2d 1290, 1294 (D. Utah 1999) holding that "[w]hen a person browses a website [which was illegal under US law], and by so doing displays the Handbook, a copy of the Handbook is made in the computer's random access memory (RAM), to permit viewing of the material. And in making a copy, even a temporary one, the person who browsed infringes the copyright."

Since allofmp3 itself is illegal under US law, since it does not have permission of the US copyright holder, downloading from it is likewise illegal.