emusic and Linux.
I've been wanting to try emusic for several months now, but had been discouraged by what looked like the need to install special SW to use their site. I decided to try the free trial they offer today and to make things easy dusted off a windows box I keep handy for this sort of thing and hooked it up. I have to say, if you like the kind of music they carry (mostly indie and great for classical) it looks like a pretty neat service.
The main reason I'm posting here is I found out that contrary to their intro and help pages, you don't need to install any software on your linux system to use their service (aside from mp3 codecs if you want to play the mp3s, of course). The preview streams are all m3u files, which you can have open from Firefox with Amarok (or whatever), and they have an option to disable use of a download manager so when you click to download/buy a song, it just downloads like any other link from Firefox. The only reason you would want to install their download manager, is if you want to be able to download entire albums at once, instead of clicking on the tracks individually. I just sent them some feedback letting them know their web site and help pages are likely scaring off many linux users. I know I hate the idea of having to install special SW to do ordinary things. I think this is more of a windows mindframe. |
These guys really don't get it. Here is the reply they sent to my feedback suggesting they let linux users know they don't need to install a separate download manager to use the service. Basically, it points me to a forum for help getting the download manager working in Linux.
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Did you actually buy any music?
I signed up and although the free download and samples are OK, the music that was counted under the subscription was something like .eme files that required their proprietary software manager to download. I didn't spend a lot of time on it as I was disturbed that my account defaulted to the most expensive subscription and there was no easy way to switch to basic, then I also was notfied they were going to reduce the number of songs you could download for that price. At any rate, I did like what I saw, I attemped to download about 3 songs and it showed that I downloaded 3 songs but I got nothing, the manager could not connect ( and yes I had the dnsc running on my Suse 10.1 system) so I cancelled my subscription while I was still in the trial stage. There has got to be a better way for linux users to buy legal music.
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their music and their work attitude suxx :)
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Hold on folks, this is a strong service that offers you mp3's with NO DRM. That is something that is getting rarer and rarer these days.
Although there is no official emusic downloader, there is a perl script that works well. Here it is: http://frumppyoldwoman.com/emusicdlm/decrypt-emp.tar.gz untar it Code:
tar -zxf decrypt-emp.tar.gz (as root) Code:
mv decrypt-emp.pl /usr/local/bin/ (as root) Code:
chmod a+x /usr/local/bin/decrypt-emp.pl Code:
FileMask=%artist/%album/%tracknum %track.mp3 Then when you get an .emp file, which is not proprietary or encrypted music, it is just the set of instructions to get the music, do the following Code:
decrypt-emp.pl /location_of_emp_file/*.emp It's not as 'cute' as the mac or pc emusic dowloader, but it does the exact same thing just as well. I have been getting music from them this way for over a year, and have been using the service for close to 3 years without any problems. |
emusic changes could affect linux users
Just got word from emusic that they will "enhance" the "member experience". In the process of making it "even easier" and "more fun", linux users are so far EXCLUDED from the new download manager. Their online customer relations presence (Robert) has "asked our engineering team to investigate what it would take to get a Linux version built." I, for one, would be perfectly happy if backward compatibility with emusicj is maintained. I've been a very happy emusic user for over 6 years, and a linux user since shortly after Linus's original .9x(?) usenet announcement. If linux support is dropped, I'm gone. I do not use (willingly or knowingly) and will NOT install any MS products on any of my hardware, and although the Mac platform is promising and I have some familiarity with it (BSD UNIX under the hood, after all!), I will not purchase one just to use emusic.
I am very hopeful that they will maintain backward compatibility with emusicj, but I wanted to give everyone a heads up and express my concern. I've already done so to the folks at emusic, and I certainly hope that anyone else who wishes to do the same will do so in a courteous and respectful manner. |
Wow, I forgot I was subscribed to this thread from 2006 about emusic. These days If I want to buy & download music I use Amazon.com They have DRM free music and there is a linux down loader link at http://www.amazon.com/gp/dmusic/help/amd.html.
I like pymazon better: https://code.google.com/p/pymazon/ I buy a lot from Amazon, we even have 2 kindles because they have a Kindle cloud read that works with Chromium in linux and in addition to some free mp3 music they also have some free books |
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-Bob (emusic employee -- Comments/thoughts expressed are my own and not my employer's.) |
emusic and Linux
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It's a great service! |
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Also, just so you know, we love linux as much as you do. Our entire server architecture is almost 100% CentOS, with Red Hat for select applications. |
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