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Technical Questions

Q: What do I do with these EMP (or EMX) files?

A: To download MP3s instead of EMP (or EMX files), please read the instructions for your operating system:

Windows Users

Make sure you have downloaded and installed the eMusic Download Manager from this web page: http://www.emusic.com/dlm/download.html.

If you have an EMP file on your hard drive and you have already downloaded and installed the eMusic Download Manager, please do the following:

  1. Right-click on the EMP File.
  2. Choose "Open With..."
  3. Select "Choose Program..."
  4. Select eMusic Download Manager from the list of programs.
  5. Check the box to "Always open this type of file with this program."
  6. Select OK.
  7. Try again to play your track.

If you have an EMX file on your hard drive, make sure you have downloaded and installed eMusic Remote (at the bottom of this page). If you are still having problems, please do the following:

  1. Right-click on the EMX File.
  2. Choose "Open With..."
  3. Select "Choose Program..."
  4. Select eMusic Remote from the list of programs.
  5. Check the box to "Always open this type of file with this program."
  6. Select OK.
  7. Try again to play your track.

If, after following these steps, you see an error message that states "File not available", you will need to re-download your track(s) from our site. You will not lose download credits.

Mac Users

For EMP files, make sure you have downloaded and installed the eMusic Download Manager from this web page: http://www.emusic.com/dlm/download.html.

If you have an EMP file on your hard drive and you have already downloaded and installed the Download Manager, please do the following:

  1. Control-click on the EMP file on your desktop. A menu will appear.
  2. Choose "Get Info". The information window will appear.
  3. Under the "Open With:" section, select eMusic Download Manager from the drop down menu and click on the "Change All..." button to set the eMusic DLM to download your track.
  4. Please try your download again. You will not be charged for any re-downloads.

For EMX files, make sure you have downloaded and installed eMusic Remote from this web page: http://www.emusic.com/dlm/download.html.

If you have an EMX file on your hard drive and you have already downloaded and installed eMusic Remote, please do the following:

  1. Control-click on the EMX file on your desktop. A menu will appear.
  2. Choose "Get Info". The information window will appear.
  3. Under the "Open With:" section, select eMusic Remote from the drop down menu and click on the "Change All..." button to set the eMusic DLM to download your track.
  4. Please try your download again. You will not be charged for any re-downloads.
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Q: I am getting a "Server name or address could not be found" error.

A. If you are seeing an error that states "Server name or address could not be found," please make sure your firewall settings are enabled to allow the eMusic Download Manager to download.

Please note that once you download a song from eMusic, you can re-download it as many times as you like without losing credits as long as the album is available through eMusic.

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Q: How do I transfer tracks to my MP3 player?

In order to transfer your eMusic Downloads, please follow the instructions for your preferred Media Player (i.e. iTunes, Windows Media Player) or MP3 Player (i.e. iPod). You can also try eMusic Remote Beta, which will automatically copy your eMusic downloads to your preferred Media Player. eMusic Remote can be found at the bottom of this page.

iPod/iTunes

  1. Once you've finished downloading your tracks, launch iTunes.
  2. Drag and drop the My eMusic folder on your computer's desktop into your iTunes Library. If you have chosen a different directory for your eMusic files, use that directory instead.
  3. Your eMusic downloads will now appear in your iTunes Library. You can now add these tracks to your iPod once you've connected your iPod to your computer.

** Please note that as you download more tracks or albums from eMusic, you will need to repeat this process.

Lyra

  1. If your Lyra Digital Audio Player isn't already connected to your computer, connect the Lyra Digital Audio Player to the computer using the USB cable that came with your player and press the ON button.
  2. Go to the My eMusic folder located on your desktop and copy all of the files/folders you wish to add to your player.
  3. Open your Windows Explorer by clicking the Start button on the lower left corner of your screen and selecting My Computer.
  4. From Windows Explorer, paste all of the files you want to transfer to your Lyra Digital Audio Player by navigating to the drive letter that is associated with your player.

iRiver

**In order to copy music to your player, you must use Windows Media Player 10. If you do not have it installed, you can obtain it here: www.microsoft.com/windowsmedia/download/
  1. Connect your USB cable to the USB port on the player and to your PC. Turn on your player.
  2. Open Windows Media Player.
  3. If you have not already done so, add your eMusic files to your Library by dragging them from the My eMusic folder on your desktop and dropping them into All Music.
  4. Locate the track(s) you wish to copy from the Library and right-click on the file(s).
  5. Select "Add to - Sync List". A "Sync list" will appear on the right side of Windows Media Player listing all the tracks to be added to your player. Repeat for all the tracks you would like to add to your player.
  6. Click the "Sync" menu button. On the right side the Sync screen choose your player from the download list.
  7. Click Start Sync to transfer the items on your Sync list to the player. A progress indicator will show each file transferring.

When complete, copied tracks will appear in the "Synchronized to Device" list on the left side of Windows Media Player and in the specified folder on the right side of the screen. You may disconnect the player from your computer.

iAudio

  1. Make sure that you have installed the JetShell software that came with your product
  2. Turn your player on and connect it to your computer using the cable provided by the manufacturer.
  3. Locate the My eMusic folder in the "File Management Window" (the files and folders listing that appears in JetShell).
  4. Select the files you wish to download to your player and click the Down arrow.
  5. A window will appear indicating the status of your download. Do not disconnect your player until your download has completed.
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Q: Which operating systems will work with eMusic?

A: eMusic will work with the following operating systems:

  • Mac OS X
  • Windows Vista
  • Windows XP
  • Windows 2000
  • Windows ME
  • Windows 98/98se
  • Linux

Mac OS 9 will work with eMusic, technical support is not available from eMusic Customer Service.

Other operating systems may work with eMusic but eMusic will not be able to provide support for them.

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Q: How do I listen to eMusic's music or book samples?

To hear a 30 second sound sample, just click on one of the play button arrow images located throughout the eMusic site. If you are using one of eMusic's supported browsers and you have Adobe Flash Player version 9 installed, you can stream sound samples directly from eMusic without opening your default Media Player (iTunes, Winamp, Windows Media Player). If you do not have Flash 9 or are using an unsupported Internet browser, and you click on the play button, your default Media Player will launch and play the sample you selected. To hear all of the samples for a particular album, click the "Listen to all" icon located at the top of each album listing. If you are having trouble listening to sound samples, try re-installing Adobe Flash Player version 9.

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Q: How do I download a track from eMusic?

A: In order to download a track from eMusic, please follow these basic steps:

  1. Download and install the eMusic Download Manager from http://www.emusic.com/dlm/download.html
  2. Login to your eMusic account.
  3. Click on any blue download button to queue and download the tracks in the Download Manager.
  4. Downloaded tracks can be found in the "My EMusic" folder on your computer's desktop. If you choose to use a download manager other than the eMusic Download Manager, the location of your downloads may be different.
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Q: How long should it take to download a track?

A: Users with high-speed Internet connections can download a track in less than a minute. Downloading a 3-minute track on a 56.6 modem should take about 7-8 minutes.

Please note that download speeds will vary depending upon any number of factors including your particular Internet service provider and the amount of network traffic.

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Q: How do I download an entire album in one click?

A: Here are the basic steps to downloading full albums in one click at eMusic:

  1. Download and install eMusic Download Manager from http://www.emusic.com/dlm/download.html
  2. Login to your eMusic account.
  3. Visit any album or audiobook page.
  4. Click on the Download Album button to queue and download the tracks.

If you are using the eMusic Download Manager, you will find their downloaded music in the "My eMusic" folder on your computer's desktop. If you choose to use a download manager other than the eMusic Download Manager, the location of your downloads may be different.

If you do not see the "Download All" buttons under the "Download" column on any album page, then you must enable it.

To enable the eMusic Download Manager:

  1. Login to your eMusic account and visit http://www.emusic.com/account/download.html.
  2. Click the button marked "Enable Download Manager."
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Q: How do I play eMusic Download Manager on my computer?

NOTE: Please make sure you have the eMusic Download Manager installed. The eMusic Download Manager makes downloading from eMusic easy and will help organize your downloads. Check to make sure you have a folder labeled "My eMusic" on your computer's desktop. If you do, you're all set. If you do not, click here for instructions on how to download and install eMusic Download Manager.

A: Once you have downloaded tracks from eMusic to your computer you can add them to your MP3 software by following the directions below.

Adding downloads to Winamp

  1. Click on 'File' in the top left corner of the main Winamp window
  2. Click 'Add Media to Library' symbol next to 'Desktop' to display all the files and folders on your computer's desktop
  3. Select the 'My eMusic' folder
  4. Click 'OK' to import your new downloads
  5. Click here to download the latest version of Winamp

Adding downloads to iTunes

  1. Open iTunes
  2. Click on 'File' in the top left corner of iTunes
  3. Click 'Add Folder to Library'
  4. Select the 'My eMusic' folder
  5. Click 'OK' to import your new downloads

Adding downloads to Musicmatch

  1. Click on 'File' in the top left corner of the program
  2. Click 'Add Tracks to Library'
  3. Click on 'Desktop' in the left hand side of the window
  4. Select the 'My eMusic' folder
  5. Click 'OK' to import your new downloads

Adding downloads to Windows Media Player

  1. Click on 'File' in the top left corner of the program
  2. Click 'Add to Library'
  3. Click 'Add Folder'
  4. Select the 'My eMusic' folder
  5. Click 'OK' to import your new downloads

Adding downloads to RealPlayer

  1. Click on 'File' in the top left corner of the program
  2. Click 'Add Files to My Library'
  3. Click on 'Desktop' in the left hand side of the window
  4. Select the 'My eMusic' folder and click 'Open'
  5. Select the name of the artist you would like to import and click 'Open'
  6. Select the name of the album you would like to import and click 'Open'
  7. Select the files you would like to import and click 'Open' to import your new downloads
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Q: What is a bitrate? At what bitrate are eMusic's MP3s encoded at?

A: Bitrate is the number of bits per second used in the encoding process. A higher bitrate (a.k.a encoding rate) usually means a larger size file and higher quality sound. eMusic currently encodes its MP3s using VBR (Variable Bit Rate). VBR is a type of audio compression that different sections of a track at different bit rates. Intricate portions are encoded at higher rates while simpler portions are encoded at lower rates. This is different than standard bit rate encoding, which encodes all sounds at a fixed rate. The average bit rate used for VBR on eMusic is 192k. We choose to encode using VBR to give you the best possible sound quality with the smallest possible file size.

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Q: What type of encoder does eMusic use to encode it's VBR MP3s?

A: To encode the files on eMusic, we used LAME version 3.92. The import option that was used is -alt-preset standard.

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Q: How much hard drive space does an MP3 take up?

A: Typically, one minute of music is equal to 1 megabyte (MB) on your computer's hard drive.

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Q: If there is a quality issue with an MP3 that I downloaded, can it be repaired?

A: Please note that a temporary issue may have prevented you from successfully downloading your track. Please try to re-download your track(s) again-you will not lose download credits.

While eMusic makes every effort to make sure our recordings are of the highest quality, some errors do occur in the encoding process. Please let us know by clicking here.

When submitting a problem track or album, please be sure to provide us the URL or link of the album in question, so that we may more quickly provide assistance. The URL is normally found at the top of your browser and will look like the following:
http://www.emusic.com/album/Deep-Purple-Shades-of-Deep-Purple-MP3-Download
/10879380.html

After receiving your submitted web form, we will attempt to locate the defects and republish the track if necessary. The amount of time needed to republish a track can vary.

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Q: What equipment do I need to make my own CDs from MP3s?

A: The standard CD burning process is this:

  1. Make certain you have MP3 files on your hard drive.
  2. Open your CD burning software.
  3. Use the CD burner software wizard to add MP3 files to your blank CD or drag and drop MP3s into your CD layout.
  4. Record the CD.

Another good reference for questions regarding CD burning is the The CD-R Faq.

We recommend the following programs:

  1. For the PC: Roxio's Easy Media Creator or iTunes
  2. For the Mac: iTunes or Roxio's Toast
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Q: I am having trouble logging in to eMusic.com.

A: Please read the list of suggestions below, make any required changes and try logging in again. If you continue to have trouble please contact eMusic Customer Service.

  • Make sure you are using the correct email address and password for your eMusic account. Please also note that passwords are case sensitive. For example, using "A" is different than using "a".
  • Make sure that the date and time on your computer are correct.
  • If you are running Windows, make sure that cookies are enabled for www.emusic.com:
    1. Go to Start, then Control Panel
    2. Select Internet Options. If you see a screen that says Network and Internet Connections, click that link and then select Internet Options.
    3. From the Internet Options screen, select the tab marked Privacy.
    4. Click the button marked Sites.
    5. Under Address of Web site type www.emusic.com and click Allow.
    6. Hit OK at the bottom of the window and close out the rest of the open windows by hitting OK.
    7. Exit your Web browser program and then re-launch it. You may also need to clear your Temporary Internet files before attempting to log in again.
  • If you are using firewall software such as ZoneAlarm or Norton Internet Security make sure the program is set to allow cookies from www.emusic.com.

If you are not sure what your email address or password may be, please click here for steps to reset your password.

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Q: Which Internet browsers does eMusic support?

A:
Internet Explorer 6.0
Internet Explorer 7.0
Firefox 2+
Opera 9+
Safari 2+

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