Why use Node js EventEmitter instead of just a plain function

Question

The creation of node EventEmitters is covered in every article on them that I have read. But I haven't come across a specific instance of why using them would be preferable to using a straightforward function. This is an example of how to utilise the EventEmitter class on a custom object via its function Object() { [native code] } from a book I'm currently reading.

var util = require('util');
    var events = require('events');
    var AudioDevice = {
        play: function(track) {
            // Stub: Trigger playback through iTunes, mpg123, etc.
            console.log("playing song: " + track);
        },
        stop: function() {
            console.log("song stopped");
        }
    };

    function MusicPlayer() {
        this.playing = false;
        events.EventEmitter.call(this);
    }

    util.inherits(MusicPlayer, events.EventEmitter);

    var musicPlayer = new MusicPlayer();

    musicPlayer.on('play', function(track) {
        this.playing = true;
        AudioDevice.play(track);
    });

    musicPlayer.on('stop', function() {
        this.playing = false;
        AudioDevice.stop();
    });

    musicPlayer.emit('play', 'The Roots - The Fire');

    setTimeout(function() {
        musicPlayer.emit('stop');
    }, 1000);

---

However, the following gives me the same result:

---

var AudioDevice = {
    play: function(track) {
        // Stub: Trigger playback through iTunes, mpg123, etc.
        console.log("playing song: " + track);
    },
    stop: function() {
        console.log("song stopped");
    }
};

function createMusicPlayer() {
    var musicPlayer = {};
    musicPlayer.playing = false;
    musicPlayer.play = function(track) {
        musicPlayer.playing = true;
        AudioDevice.play(track);
    },
    musicPlayer.stop = function(track) {
        musicPlayer.playing = false;
        AudioDevice.stop();
    }

    return musicPlayer
}

var musicPlayer = createMusicPlayer();

musicPlayer.play('The Roots - The Fire');

setTimeout(function() {
    musicPlayer.stop();
}, 1000);

When working with nodes, do event emitters come as a design choice or are they required? I'm aware that it's important to understand them because many modules use this design pattern, but I'm keen to know if choosing factories over constructors, for example, is a similar decision. Is there anything I can do with EventEmitters that I can't do with functions, to put it another way?