Since some have pointed out that I skipped eMusic in my review of online music storefronts I posted last week I wanted to continue the critiques by looking at the design and layout of a few smaller (indie) stores.

eMusic. The undisputed king of indie online stores is eMusic, an increasingly pleasing site that has a large catalog of indie music, good prices, DRM-free files (high quality MP3) and a look and feel quite unlike the larger, more corporate online stores. eMusic is a store for more the kind of astute music consumer who reads reviews, goes to shows, appreciates music's long history and likes to experiment with new musics. The front page of eMusic indicates all those qualities.

DownloadPunk.com. A punk store needs a DIY look and this site has it. Nothing fancy but functionable and easy to navigate. The featured artist sections make for nice features, and the horizontal navigation bar across the top of the page offers easy access to new releases, artists, exclusives and free MP3s. DownloadPunk.com really doesn't look like a music store, really. It looks more like a record label website or a punk zine. The use of space is a bit inefficient and the advertisements aren't something usually seen at online music stores.

Bleep.com. The minimalistic design and few lithe curves speaks of the music on the site: Underground laptronica, art school indie rock and generally progressive music can be found at Bleep.com, an online store created by (but not stocked only by) Warp Records. Since the catalog is not as large as other stores the links on the left of the screen are very helpful: new releases and recent additions are highlighted, and there are text and sound samples for all albums. Very few clicks are necessary to get from A to B.

Magnatune. A jack of all trades, Magnatune is a record label, an online music store and a music licensing site. The front page is much like the other pages in that it doesn't have an appearance one might expect from either of the company's three functions. The splash page, outside of the music-related copy -- gives no indication of the company's purpose. There are no pictures of artists, no top ten charts, nothing to let the shopper know there is a music buying experience awaiting. Having three simultaneous purposes is a tall order and Magnatune doesn't succeed in any of them. (One click away, the artist page is a long list of unfamiliar names sorted alphabetically. It's a poor way to sell music and one that makes the shopper do all the work.)