Jari Ketola
9 Oct 2003 15:35
Online music service EMusic will no longer be offering unlimited download service to its subscribers. The 70,000 EMusic customers will have to settle for a maximum of 40 downloads per month for $9.99. Subscriptions for 65 and 300 downloads will be available at $14.99 and $50 respectively. Even at those prices EMusic is much cheaper than its alternatives -- at cheapest a single track costs only 17 cents to download, and even at the most expensive 40 tracks for $9.99 -scheme the cost-per-track is only 25 cents.
The move came soon after EMusic was acquired by Dimensional Associates, a digital music venture capital company. DA stated that the new terms are the result of the "intense financial, legal and technological pressure" the music industry is suffering from at the moment.
The service will continue to provide songs in DRM-free MP3 format, which enables the subscribers to use the downloaded music as they see fit. EMusic's service contains 250,000 songs from 900 independent labels around the world. The company will be adding new labels and features to the service over the coming months.
Source:
The Register