emusic

CD Baby offers DRM-free digital downloads

I've written about CD Baby before. It's a great way for independent musicians to sell their recordings.

For a one-time fee of $35 per album, it will set up both mail-order distribution (for which it takes $4 per CD) and digital distribution through all the major music stores, including iTunes (for which it takes 9 percent of what the store gives its artists, which is usually about 60 percent of the list price).

A couple days ago, CD Baby began offering direct downloads from its site. According to an e-mail I got from a representative, CD Baby takes … Read more

AT&T and eMusic launch over-the-air music store

Today, AT&T and eMusic introduced a new mobile music service that will allow customers to use their cell phones to preview and purchase songs from the second largest online music seller, without having to deal with pesky PC transfers. The eMusic Mobile service gives AT&T customers access to a catalog of 2.7 million tracks from independent labels, and in addition to an over-the-air (OTA) download, a DRM-free MP3 file will also be available for download to your PC at no extra charge. Pricing starts at $7.49 for five tracks, which is about $1.50 … Read more

Alltel launches Jump Music

Alltel Wireless has partnered with Frog Design and eMusic to offer Jump Music, a free application for transferring music from your PC to your cell phone.

Similar to the iTunes Music Store model, consumers can navigate to eMusic directly from the Jump Music interface and purchase songs from eMusic's vast catalog of DRM-free MP3s. New Jump Music users can take advantage of a special introductory offer of 35 free eMusic songs. All this, and you can transfer your existing music collection to your cell phone as well. It's initially compatible with only five Alltel phones: the LG AX8600, … Read more

eMusic poised to gain from DRM hysteria

With all the iTunes/EMI DRM-free ballyhoo going on, it's easy to forget that sites like eMusic have already been offering inexpensive, DRM-free downloads for years. While Apple and Microsoft casually backpedal out of the DRM mess they've made, eMusic is announcing a very attractive new monthly subscription model that offers 25-cent downloads of DRM-free MP3s. It may not be Apple's reported 256kbps AAC quality, but for the average user a 192kbps MP3 sounds just fine--especially at 25 cents a song.

eMusic's new plans (called Connoisseur) come in three types 100, 200, and 300 downloads per … Read more

Buy a Coby MP3 player, get 50 songs free

If you buy one of Coby's new MP3 video players when they become available this spring, you'll also get a coupon good for 50 songs from eMusic.

The flagships of Coby's new models are the 20GB MP-C951 ($249) and the 30GB MP-C961 ($279 to $289), both stylish players with red-backlit, touch-sensitive buttons arrayed on a handsome black plastic case below a bright, 2-inch LCD. Both units can handle a variety of A/V formats--MP3, WMA, OGG, WAV, and Xvid--and include an FM radio with recording capabilities and a voice recorder.

Also eligible for an eMusic coupon are … Read more