I have now been using the emusic site for a couple of months and have downloaded some real treasures.  The thing is that even though I am happy with what I have got, and satisfied that its good value for money, I shall probably ditch it in a month or two.

At the moment I am paying something like £8.99 for a month and can download 40 tracks, so for the price of a budget CD I can get the equivalent of 4 or 5 albums – or more if you end up with 15-minute tracks.  The problem is that a lot of the music there would only be found on sub-budget CDs.

Right now I am discovering enough stuff which is new or new to me to keep me occupied, but if I carry on I will end up forgetting about it and be paying nine quid for one or two tracks, so I shall quit while I am ahead probably.

This month I have been having a real binge because I noticed that my available downloads jumped to 90 – someone I pointed at the site must have decided to stick with it a bit too.  Having what are effectively free tracks has meant I have experimented a bit more. Here are some of the highlights so far:

• Nouvelle Vague
  Their new album appeared, so I cherry-picked the two albums for the best tracks – laid-back bossa nova covers of 80's classics like Heart of Glass, Don't Go and Blue Monday.
• The Black Angels
  I came across this by accident, browsing in the psychedelic section and loved it so I downloaded all 10 tracks on the album. A few weeks later I started seeing good reviews of it in the press and it appeared in the shops.
• Eagles of Death Metal
  After enjoying their cover of Stuck in the Middle during the free trial period I decided to grab the whole album.
• Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus Three – Ole Tarantula
  Having read reviews of the album and interviews with the band, and having enjoyed one track on a magazine cover disc, I was chuffed to find this new album on emusic and downloaded the whole thing.
• Ambrosia – And… Somewhere I've Never Travelled (live)
  I had an LP by Ambrosia which I liked. Couldn't find it on the site but did find a live version of the best track from it.
• Fatboy Slim
  Got a couple of tracks I didn't already have.
• Metallica covers
  A few tracks from Metallica tribute albums done in an industrial style by bands like Godhead and Inertia
• Emerson, Lake and Palmer
  Live versions of several old songs. Only 4 tracks but 50 minutes of music.
• The Holloways
  Ever since seeing the video of their song Generator I have been obsessed by the song. I found the whole album on emusic so downloaded it. Its a bit like the Arctic Monkeys crossed with the Ordinary Boys.
• Gossip
  This is the American 3-piece band with the chubby lesbian singer who were on the Jonathan Ross show a few weeks back. I got their single, plus the two best club mixes of the 6 which were available, plus another single.
• TV Themes
  To add to my collection of TV themes which might come in handy the next time I set a pub quiz – half a dozen goodies.
• Rodrigo y Gabriela
  Downloaded all the tracks fromRe-Foc and Live at Manchester & Dublin which I didn't already have (from their own site a free downloads)
• Alices Restaurant
  Arlo Guthrie re-recorded the Alice's Restaurant album a while back. I just grabbed the 22-minute title track. It is not exactly the same as the original, but its close, and it has an extra bit at the end.
• Incredible Bongo Band
  A band put together in 1972 to do a film soundtrack who ended up having their breaks sampled for all the old-school NY rap tracks.  I only downloaded three tracks but I think I will go back for more, especially their bizarre instrumental cover of Inna-Gadda-da-Vida
• Billy Bragg
  A couple of old tracks
• Hellfuck Sodomy by Deathwitch
  I wondered what it would sound like…
• Jimi Hendrix
  Playing the Cream song Sunshine of your Love

I make that 6 complete albums, two of them new releases, a handful of vinyl replacement tracks and a veritable heap of interesting odds and sods for 18 quid, and I still have 43 tracks left to get this month. I'd better get troughing.