eMusic + Warner Music Group = win!

When eMusic announced it would carry titles from Sony labels, I wasn’t very impressed. Yes, I’ve downloaded quite a number of Sony titles since they became available, but most of the time, I would wish I could go crazy with the Nonesuch catalog.

Well, now I can.

eMusic has struck an agreement with Warner Music Group to carry about 10,000 titles from the label’s catalog. I would have posted this news sooner, but I was too busy filling up my "Save for Later" list.

Unlike the Sony deal, the Warner deal is far smaller in scale — 10K vs. 200K. I did searches for Bill Frisell and Kronos Quartet, and only a handful of their titles showed up. The Replacements, on the other hand, are nicely represented, as is Steve Reich.

Of course, my initial excitement was dampened when I encountered a number of album-only purchases — titles that require 12 credits, regardless of the number of tracks. Many of the John Adams’ discs are album-only. On my plan, it would still be cheaper to spend 12 credits on a two-track album than to buy a CD. But that’s 10 credits that could have gone getting something else.

Despite the limitations of stock, a number of titles I was going to buy from other retailers can now be had on eMusic. I am very pleased by this development.