new eMusic album scheme

eMusic has started a policy that makes many albums cost 12 credits, regardless of the number of tracks (they used to just count tracks instead of “credits”). That is cool if it is an albums with 17 tracks, but a drag if the album has only 7 tracks. They also now have some tracks that are album only (oddly mostly tracks over 10 minutes, much like iTunes).

So if you want to take advantage of the new catalog and get some old Columbia sides, like I Sing The Body Electric maybe, the numbers break down like this.

Old way: 7 tracks for 7 credits, which cost you roughly $0.30 each. You can choose which tracks you do or don’t want.

New way: 6 tracks for 6 credits, which cost you roughly $0.50 each, and an additional 6 credits if you also want “Medley” which is track 5. If you want “Medley” at all you must buy the other six tracks. I’m not sure that there is anything special about “Medley” other than the fact that it is 10:40 long.

It seems that most of the “album only” stuff is about the length of the track. If someone can explain to me how this is better, I might not cancel my subscription when it runs out next month.