From the help page: "eMusic stands alone as the only digital music service 100% focused on serving the needs of independent music fans and independent labels. eMusic is among the top digital music services, offering a diverse catalog of 400,000 tracks from established and emerging artists in every genre." I found a lot of new stuff that I couldn't find elsewhere. The ability to find new artists before they are available elsewhere greatly broadened my music collection. The downloads are in MP3 format, not some proprietary format that restricts you from copying the files to another computer, CD or other player like some services do.
eMusic gives you editorial features as well as personalized recommendations and a variety of community features that help to promote your personal discovery of new artists.
You can also rate the tracks you download, or read the ratings that other people give a track before you download it.
eMusic is so sure you will like their service, they give you a free trial with 50 (50!!!) free down loads before they charge you a cent. Even my favorite, Napster, charges you for the tracks you download during their free trial. (Napster's free trial gives you unlimited streaming and full access to everything except saving tracks to your hard drive. See the Napster review here. Another plus is that you can get songs for as little as 22 cents each, while the other premium sites charge up to 99 cents a track.
Another plus: Once you have downloaded a track, it can be downloaded again without counting against your monthly total.
The service is web based, so you don't have to install their software. They do, however, have an optional download manager you can use if you want. I like the web interface because I can download the same tracks to different machines using the same account, and only have to pay for the track once. If I'm on the road and want to download music to my laptop, I can without a lot of hassle.
If your are looking for the Billboard top 100, you won't find them here.
eMusic does not offer streaming of tracks, but does offer 30-second previews so you aren't shooting entirely in the dark. I consider this a minor problem at most.
Like some cell phone plans, if you don't use all your downloads in the monthly period, the remaining ones do not carry over to the next month. I hope eMusic will change this policy in the near future. After all, if you paid for the downloads, you should get them.
I give eMusic 5 smilies. eMusic has found it's niche, and serves it very well.
I suggest you read the entire help
section. It's very well written, and shows a lot of time and effort has been put into the service.
You may wish to check out the Members Agreement
here. If you are an independent artist, this is a good place to get published, and paid for it, too!
eMusic is a great way to get into the newer, little known artists. After all, even the biggest artist was once an unknown. The price is reasonable, and the FAQ / help section is more extensive and better written than most services.
eMusic Basic - 40 Song Downloads per month - $9.99 per month.
eMusic Plus - 65 Song Downloads per month - $14.99 per month
eMusic Premium - 90 Song Downloads per month - $19.99 per month
Once you hit your subscription limit, the service will tell you, and you can either upgrade to the next level, or buy a booster pack. It does not automatically charge your credit card more when you hit your limit, which I find a big plus.
You can also buy a gift subscription for someone else, or someone can give you a subscription.
From the help page: "eMusic stands alone as the only digital music service 100% focused on serving the needs of independent music fans and independent labels. eMusic is among the top digital music services, offering a diverse catalog of 400,000 tracks from established and emerging artists in every genre."
If your are looking for the Billboard top 100, you won't find them here.
Like some cell phone plans, if you don't use all your downloads in the monthly period, the remaining ones do not carry over to the next month. I hope eMusic will change this policy in the near future. After all, if you paid for the downloads, you should get them.
I give eMusic 5 smilies. eMusic has found it's niche, and serves it very well.
I suggest you read the entire 
eMusic is a great way to get into the newer, little known artists. After all, even the biggest artist was once an unknown. The price is reasonable, and the FAQ / help section is more extensive and better written than most services.
