eMusic Review
I recently subscribe to eMusic, due to pushing, prodding and general gentle attacks from my co-worker.
It’s great 
If like me, you are interested in the music, not the artist, then you can find a treasure trove of new and interesting sounds, and very cheaply. Even if you’re generally shopping in the chart section of HMV, you’ll still find much to like and most likely, broaden your music tastes at the same time.
It costs a set amount per month. The cheapest option is 9 quid. With that you get 40 downloads. Which at about 5 albums, is a bargain relative to the shops When you sign up you get 2 weeks and 25 free tracks, a great deal for the unsure. I was unsure. The free trial absolutely sold me.
To start with I typed in a few artists I knew, not many were there. But eMusic suggested artists that it thought were similar to the ones I’d requested. So I previewed some tracks. When you are a member you get 30 second previews, which often isn’t enough really for some genres, eg trance, where tracks are often 9-12 minutes of very progressive build up. But for most genres you get a good feel for an album with 8 or so 30 second samples.
Install the eMusic download manager, it makes it much simpler to download whole albums.
The user reviews are useful for judging those albums/tracks you aren’t sure about.
The user submitted playlists, and neighbors are very useful for finding new music that is similar to what you already like.
I personally am very into instrumental, ambient and post-rock currently, and for these genres eMusic is terrific, and terrific value for money too. These tracks are often 30 minutes long, but they cost the same as 3 minute tracks
Heartily recommended, not much popular music, but I don’t miss it, maybe you won’t either. All the tracks are high quality MP3s, so share them with your friends, put them on any device, enjoy music again