Why Doesn’t Emusic Carry Over Unused Tracks Every Month?

I’ve grown very fond of eMusic lately. In a world where online music retailers have only recently begun to offer DRM-free tracks eMusic lies ahead of the pack. Their claim to fame is that they shun DRM completely with high-quality DRM free MP3s. Not only was it a wise business move to forgo DRM (it made them one of the few online music stores compatible with iPods), it was also an extremely rare pro-consumer decision in a business that often treats consumers like thieves. Offering higher quality tracks than the iTunes store’s 128kbps AAC tracks is just the icing on the cake for eMusic users.

Of course their anti-DRM stance has ensured that they wouldn’t be able to offer some tracks from the big music labels (although this is changing slowly). But thus far their selection has been more than adequate for my needs. I have a fairly eclectic taste in music, just check out my Last.FM page to see for yourself, and I’ve been able to find most of what I’ve wanted on their site without much fuss.

So they have high-quality DRM-free MP3s along with a fairly wide selection–I technically shouldn’t have anything to complain about right? I thought as much myself, until I realized a crucial problem with their billing plans.

Although they’ve given up on their “all you can eat” pricing scheme from previous years , they’ve settled on some reasonable monthly and annual subscription ranges. I’ve chosen their low-end scheme since I wanted to test the service for a few months before committing serious funds to the site. Said low-end plan is $10 per month for 30 tracks.

I was quite happy with this plan until a month passed by when I hadn’t purchased anything from eMusic. Fully expecting to have an extra 30 credits waiting for me when I logged in the month afterwards, I was surprised to find that my credits still sat at 30. A quick glance at my credit statements showed that I did in fact pay for the previous month’s service, but apparently eMusic resets your download credits every month regardless of how much you’ve actually used.

Now all of this information is readily available so I don’t feel hoodwinked at all. I’ve accepted the fact that I’ve lost that month’s worth of credits. My question is simply this: Why?

It’s not as if eMusic will lose anything if they roll over extra credits every month instead of resetting them. (Sure their bandwidth costs may jump a bit, but any major online media outlet should be prepared for that.) If I pay for a month’s worth of credits I don’t see why any remaining credits should disappear. It’s not as if they’re offering a physical product or anything that justifies a monthly expiration date. All they’re doing is arbitrarily granting me access to download files based on how much I pay. So why can’t they just as easily roll over unused credits?

It just seems odd to me that customers can so easily pay for a service that they never actually receive.

I can’t really think of any other subscription-based services online that function similarly. The only other similarity that comes to mind are cell phone plans, and it’s not as if roll-over minutes are anything new there. Without rollover, eMusic will always be fatally flawed to me. It’s a shame too, because there’s just so much to like.

I’ve sent eMusic an inquiry regarding their lack of rollover, but I don’t exactly expect a response. My other big surprise upon discovering this is how easily eMusic users have accepted these terms of service. I’m not sure exactly why this is the case, but I welcome any reader thoughts on the subject.

Update: I should mention that an eMusic rep contacted me soon after posting this article with an apology and credited my account with 50 downloads for the lost month and trouble. I still maintain my love for eMusic, especially after a move like that, but I still hope they come around with some sort of roll over plan. As I mentioned in the comments below, they could just as well limit it to only roll over 2-3 months worth of credit. It’s still better than the situation right now.