Emusic Replacement

[Tedstud]

Hey FOT,

I can't think of anyone better to answer this.  Now that Emusic has lost Matador, Merge, and several other indie labels, I'm thinking of canceling my subscription.  The problem is, I think Amazon and Itunes suck and I really like the layout of the Emusic website.  Do you guys have any suggestions on a good replacement for legally downloading music?

Thanks,
Ted

[DS1077]

This doesn't quite answer your question about legal downloads, but as for online streaming services I've been pretty happy with my Mog subscription.  Fairly low cost for unlimited monthly streaming, and the selection is pretty extensive.  They did cut back on some of the social features recently, which was a little disappointing - there's less profile personalization now - but the functionality of the music part of the service hasn't changed.

[Gilly]

+1 on Mog.

[Jason from Huntsville, AL]

I've been using the legal version of Napster for years. Technically, you're licensing music instead of buying it, but there's a lot of stuff on it and you can download tracks to you mp3 player as well as to your computer. You can also stream from any computer.

For purely streaming music, I've been using Grooveshark as of late. It's free.

[nec13]

I'll second Jason From Alaba's recommendation of Grooveshark. Useless for downloading, but great for streaming.

[Gilly]

I haven't used Grooveshark in a few months but as an OCD music fan I could not get used to how unorganized everything was.

[Ojingeo]

Tedstud: i'm right with you. i'm so frustrated with emusic. i don't know what i'm going to do about it. i guess if i want something i will go directly to the label, as i have for my recent Merge purchases.

[Tedstud]

I guess I'll go direct labels but thats pretty annoying.  Thanks for the suggestions!

[jakewho]

gotta say that mog is very much worth the price.  the "you cant actually download the songs" thing is kind of a bummer, but the fact that u can stream from ur smartphone kinda makes up for it.  headphones out into tape deck.  victory.

[Gilly]

There are a lot of streaming options right now and all have their own unique features. Luckily, they all have free trials so you can figure out what works best for you. Mog worked best for me because they have a deep catalog, high bitrates (320 kbps when downloaded which no other service even comes close to), and a stable mobile app.

[fish]

Have you considered joining the Zune community?

[davidgoeschatting]

"We're sorry to see you leave. Cancel now and you will lose:  $0.16 music balance"

Yep, that about sums it up. Goodbee.