Anna (or any other Emusic subscibers),
 
I'd go to your local Circuit City or Best Buy and see if they have any of the '65 download cards' left. They are gettting rid of the rest of the inventory and are selling for 4.99. It says 'starter pack' on them but you can use them as if they were gift certificates on an existing account. Use 'em the same as if you have an iTunes gift card. Just enter the code on the back of the card and start downloading! Also you'll notice that they have an expiration date of April 2008 on the box but that's not valid so don't get scared away. Emusic just sort of announced (I say "sort of" because they just mentioned it on the discussion boards) that you just have to enter the codes by the end of September and they'll still be valid. I think the date is a couple of weeks later for the Best Buy ones but I've only found them at CC. Once you enter the code you have 60 days to use the downloads. And use can stack them so your download count may end up looking quite
 impressive - $20 for 260 downloads impressed me.
 
I'd say that's the best bang for your buck right now at Emusic. You may have a hard time finding them (check up front where they keep the candy and other impulse buys) and the cashiers often have problems ringing them up because they have to manually override something, but it's worth it if you make it out the door. 
 
That's probably more than anyone wanted to know about all this :)
 
Brian (back to lurking)

--- On Mon, 9/15/08, Drew MacDonald <drewmacdonald1@gmail.com> wrote:

From: Drew MacDonald <drewmacdonald1@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Emusic help
To: audities@smoe.org
Date: Monday, September 15, 2008, 2:18 PM

Steve D: Check your bill. They ended that grandfathered "early bird"
40-download deal last month. It's now some nominally larger fee for
the 50-download minimum plan. That's where your "extra" downloads
are
coming from. Not free, but still an impressive bargain.

Anna B.: I wouldn't go the "splurge now and get all the stuff I
want"
route. My advice is to start with a relatively low download plan until
you have had time to explore the site for a while. Otherwise, you'll
do what I did early on: drown yourself in music. I know you'd say
that's not a bad way to die, but I suggest you take your time, make
liberal use of the "Save For Later" button, and by all means, follow
the "[member] also likes" and "member list" links.
You'll see some
familiar names with tastes you can trust.


-- Drew