That can often be a problem due to the distribution layers. I just had a problem with an eMusic track where it was 6 minutes of silence. I checked the other retailers (iTunes, amazon, etc.) and found that it was the exact same thing there. So instead of even bothering with eMusic, I just went straight to the digital distributor,
Metalhit, got excellent service from them, who got the fixed track for me to download a week or two later. It seemed like Metalhit still had to go back to the label to get the corrected track.
So I think in a lot of cases, eMusic or whoever doesn't have an actual CD that they can re-rip from. They have to go back through 2 or 3 layers of various levels of professionalism to get back to the original source, so it doesn't surprise me that sometimes it never happens (maybe the original label has since gone out of business, doesn't give a shit, etc.)
In general, I really like what Metalhit seems to be doing, it looks like they're distributing a lot of really underground bands and tiny labels who wouldn't otherwise have the motivation or interest to sell their stuff electronically. Essentially they're doing their best to solve the problem described in the original post.
Neil
I never thought of it that way. That would seem to make sense if the label is just e-mailing the MP3's directly to eMusic or whatever other outfit that is selling them. If I run across another bad download, I'll have to try what you did and report it directly to the distributor as well as to eMusic (so they are aware of it and they can also go and fuss at the distributor as well).
That may also explain why there are the occasional album that has a missin track as well. Vanishing Point's
Embrace the Silence is missing the last track, for example. At least I already had the CD in my case. My guess is the label/distributor did not want to make the full album available for some reason (perhaps to try to get people to also buy the CD as well?)
Thanks for the clarification on that.
And commenting in general about iTunes and Amazon. I personally don't use iTunes, as I'd prefer everything in standard MP3 format, as I have much more than just iPods that I'd like to play my music on (my rack-mounted music server, for example, does not do the iTunes formatted AAC. Also, at least in the past, I've avoided iTunes for the simple fact that I did not want DRM'd files (which was one of the main reasons why I oppted to go with eMusic in the first place). Of course, that has since changed. eMusic is still the cheapest and best value when it comes to downloaded music. Also, since I get my 50 downloads per month, they are all already paid for, so might as well use them up.
Now, I have used Amazon from time to time - typically to get something that eMusic may not have (and don't feel like waiting for the CD to arrive in the mail).
Oh yeah, I've just grabbed Ivory Tower's
Beyond the Stars and
Ivory Tower last night off of eMusic. Listened to
Beyond the Stars in the car on the way to and from work and was actually quite impressed with how good it was. Granted, it is a somewhat generic Dream Theaterish type of progressive metal, but I found it to be very well done and quite engaging to listen to.
Additional edit! I see they got Ivory Tower's most recent one (
Selective Enemy) on there that I did not see before! Needless to say, I grabbed it! The previews are pretty sweet (now - that leaves me with 20 downloads that I gotta figure what to grab with - plenty of choices but never seems to be enough downloads - how I miss my 90 downloads/month that I used to get).
An additional additional edit! Well - that killed my downloads for the month. Ended up grabbing Elysion -
Silent Scream and Savage Circus -
Of Doom and Death. Still got a ton of stuff in my "Save for Later" that I still want to get, including Shadowkeep -
A Chaos Theory and The Divine Madness -
Neverworld. I guess I'll have to wait till next month.
