emusic download limits

I’ve talked up eMusic before — it’s the flat-fee, download-all-you-want digital music platform of choice in the crabwalk.com household.
But there evidently is one caveat. “Download all you want” is evidently only true to a point. Crabwalk reader (and ex-CDMOM trader) Scott emails:
Wow, thanks for introducing me to emusic! Of course, I started downloading the albums you suggested and ones from the cdmom’s, and now I have about 2,000 songs. I guess that is where the problem lies. I got an extremely vague email from emusic stating how I have downloaded too many songs. The main issue is that I have downloaded over 2,000 songs in a 30-day period, something that less than 1% of their customers have done or do. My problem is that they didn’t tell me what to do or what is going to happen. I want to download more, but I don’t want to get kicked off.
A couple days later, Scott got another email, booting him from the service.
A little Googling found this page, which indicates Scott isn’t alone. I can understand if eMusic wants to put some sort of cap on downloading, but I think being upfront about what that limit is is a prerequisite for kicking someone off, no?
Really, it’s hard to argue Scott’s been screwed, since 2,000 songs for the roughly $45 he probably paid (for a three month membership) isn’t a bad deal. (I’ve probably downloaded somewhere around 1,500 to 2,000 songs, but over about six months.) But, still, it seems like a dose of bad faith from a company I didn’t have any reason to question before.

11 thoughts on “emusic download limits”

  1. Although I am still a little perturbed, I can hardly say I got screwed. Emusic said they are only charging me for the month I used their service. +130 albums for $15 is quite a deal! It was odd reading how they were refunding $30 even though I have only been charged for $15. I’m sure that was a typo but as it stands I should be getting paid $15. I’m just frustrated that I receieved a warning, then got the axe a couple weeks later without downloading any music in between. I would have liked an email warning me to stop downloading so much so I could still have used my account in the next two months. One last thing: I found it quite odd that after kicking me off their site they concluded the email with:
    “We hope that you decide to use your account in the future. To reactivate your account, log in and click on the “My Account” tab at the top of any page on EMusic, then click on the “Renew your subscription” link.
    Once again, we appreciate your interest in EMusic!”
    Hmm, let me kick you out of my house and then invite you back in the future!! Here’s some directions if you need them!

  3. By work, I mean I used to work in the same office as them. I sent an email to a friend that works there to see what’s up. I’ll post and let you know as soon as I get a reply.
    js

  4. Scott, I suggest you contact cutomer service. Explain your situation and they may reinstate your subscription. Also, include a copy of the email you recieved.

  5. Thanks for looking into that Jason. I probably am not going to worry about it too much though. If you can, just find out why they don’t give a warning prior to the cancellation that would allow users to cut back on their downloading before getting the boot.

  6. I have to admit, that’s a crappy way to handle the situation. A warning would be nice.
    I must thank Sir Crabwalk for introducing me to this service, though. THIS IS INCREDIBLE!!
    I also like the idea that I don’t feel like I’m stealing from the artists, though, at $9.99/month, it sure does feel like stealing.
    Thanks for the heads-ups.

  7. I just signed up with them, too. I think I’ve downloaded about 500 songs so far. I better ease up, I guess. No complaints, though. They’ve got lots of good music, and it’s pretty easy to use. One thing I don’t like, though. If you “download album,” it puts a little file on your desktop, which you double click to cue up the downloads in the download manager. But if you exceed the cue limit (not sure how many songs), it gives you a warning, then deletes the little file. So you have to go back to emusic.com and download the album again. Not sure if this counts against the number of downloads you’re “allowed” either…

  8. Holy crap! I got charged for last month, which I assumed would be waved, so I emailed emusic to make sure I would get my money back. Apparently my email account was “confused with another account” so I am not kicked off of emusic!! I’m pretty happy about that, although I find it odd they could make a mistake like that. I was never unhappy with what happened because I know got a rediculously good deal, but I was a little confused by how things went down. Bottom-line: I would still recommend emusic to any one who has eclectic music tastes. Well, I’m glad I can get back to downloading. I’ll just have to cut back a little.

  9. woo hoo! good for scott. crisis averted.
    james: i’ve run into the same problem — it’s annoying. (james and i are both running the mac os x client — no idea if this bug appears on other platforms.)
    what i do now is to put all those little download files into a folder and duplicate it before i start downloading. seems like it would be a pretty easy bug fix for emusic to make.

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