Gramophone drops magazine CD in North America!
Thu, Aug 26 2010, 10:52PM
Greetings,
To my dismay it has been brought to my attention that the upcoming September issue as well as all future issues of Gramophone will no longer include the CD in shipments to North America. A spokesperson at Haymarket informed me that the music will be available online instead. The marketing department at Gramophone is out of touch with their core base of subscribers if they feel this is a wise course of action for a poorly stratagized marketing plan.
I own a $70,000 multichannel system to enjoy the beauty of my music. Children and Teens dominate the Ipod market for POP Music. The very last thing I want to do is listen to the Gramophone picks of the month on a computer with substandard audio.
I will be cancelling my subscription with the September issue. Conversly, BBC Music magazine Managers assured me that they had no intention of ending shipping cd's with their magazine.
Over the years that I have subscribed to Gramophone magazine and because of the included CD I have legally purchased close to 7,500 sacd and cd's based on the cd and reviews.
I will miss Gramophone. Sadly, the end of a golden era has come to pass.
Very Truly Yours,
Edward G. Jones
United States of America
Fri, Aug 27 2010, 8:49AM
#2
RE: Gramophone drops magazine CD in North America!
While not wanting to comment about the (presumably economic) issue of dropping the CD with the North American magazine, Edward's point about substandard sounds via computers ("the iPod market") prompts me to the following.
With digital streaming, music can be accessed online to an amazing level of quality now. With a digital streaming player, Edward could listen online to the CD alternative at a level that would do justice to his current hi-fi and augment it with access to online music at high kbps rates better than FM from all over the world.
Our computers are gateways now, not substandard alternatives.
Fri, Aug 27 2010, 3:57PM
#3
RE: Gramophone drops magazine CD in North America!
Gramophone is indeed launching an online Gramophone Player which will replace and greatly enhance what we can currently offer on the cover-mounted CD (on all editions, not just the North American one). The Gramophone cover-mounted CD has always been about allowing readers an opportunity to hear excerpts from newly released, as well as archive, recordings, but the very nature of a disc's length means this is necessarily limited in what it can achieve. An online audio player, however, will allow us to include more music, and each month will bring:
Longer excerpts from the Editor's Choice discs, including more complete movements
A complete recording, related to one of the magazine's main features
A complete archive recording
Other music excerpts related to features in the magazine (such as the Gramophone Collection).
Gramophone podcasts available to stream
Relevant video, such as from our annual Gramophone Awards
The easy-to-use player – which we will launch in the next few weeks – will stream at 256kps, offering a high-quality listening experience, and will include click-throughs to pages containing further information and links to relevant sites.
We hope Gramophone readers – both of the magazine and the website – will appreciate and enjoy what the Gramophone Player will offer. Since our launch in 1923 we have explored and exploited all that technological developments can offer the music listener, and we feel this exciting step is very much in that spirit.
Sat, Aug 28 2010, 2:11PM
#4
RE: Gramophone drops magazine CD in North America!
Entirely agree-it's called progress! Have thought for a while now that the cd was an anachronism. In fact I recently went through all the covermount cd's that I'd kept and transferred the talks, interviews and excerpts that I wanted to keep onto my iPod. Saving of plastic, paper, cardboard etc and space! How long before the whole magazine goes the same way!
Sat, Aug 28 2010, 6:49PM
#5
RE: Gramophone drops magazine CD in North America!
This is a great move by Gramophone. The stated bit rate will produce impressive sound quality too. This is an obvious and welcome way forward (but stand by for grumblings from the nay-sayers and dinosaurs).
Sat, Aug 28 2010, 7:21PM
#6
RE: Gramophone drops magazine CD in North America!
So will this new streaming facility (which sounds like an improvement) be available through this website or will I need to re-install Tell Jock?
P
Sun, Aug 29 2010, 6:58PM
#7
RE: Gramophone drops magazine CD in North America!
Is the data rate of 256 kps [sic] stated in Martin Cullingford's description of the Gramophone streaming player correct?
Sun, Aug 29 2010, 8:20PM
#8
RE: Gramophone drops magazine CD in North America!
Phlogiston,
Yes, it will be accessed through gramophone.co.uk, and is unconnected to the Tell Jack Listening Room. Martin
Mon, Aug 30 2010, 12:59PM
#9
RE: Gramophone drops magazine CD in North America!
And yes - with apologies for the typo - it will be streamed at 256kbps.
Martin
Mon, Aug 30 2010, 10:08PM
#10
RE: Gramophone drops magazine CD in North America!
Greetings All,
My apologies for not responding sooner - my son has pneumonia - and an extremely nasty fever that wont go away. I have had my hands full taking care of him.
I read each response and need to say a few things. First, my PC is very old and I only use it for email and shopping. It is connected via USB to a cable modem which is truly meant for ethernet. I need to purchase a new PC with an excellent audio card and video card as well as a good deal of storage. I have tiny speakers hooked up to my current PC that are in no way meant for music. I admit to being a technological dinosaur in terms of PC's and knowing where to find High Quality Internet Classical music. I also need high quality PC speakers.
Secondly, intellect over emotions. I got emotional that my current way of purchasing new CD and SACD's by listening to the monthly exerpts was being done away with. With the passage of time I have reconsidered my feelings and am looking forward to the new developments planned by Gramophone.
Lastly, it would be foolish to cancel my subscription as Gramophone is an excellent publication and offers more than just reviews.
Please accept my apologies.
The 256rate mentioned - is this equal to CD quality? Are there any websites that offer CD quality or very high bit rate classical music?
Regards,
Edward G. Jones
Tue, Aug 31 2010, 11:16AM
#11
RE: Gramophone drops magazine CD in North America!
I wouldn' t worry too much about the built-in audio and video provision on your new PC unless you're going to use it as the only way of listening to, and viewing, content.
If you have an existing audio system it's not hard to connect a PC to it to play music, either using a cable, or wirelessly with a device such as Apple's Airport Express. For a cabled connection you'll find all PCs offer a 'headphone' output which can be connected into a hi-fi using a simple cable with a 3.5mm stereo plus on one end and a pair of RCA phonos on the other.
Some laptop computers also have an optical digital output concealed within their headphone socket, while desktop models may well have a digital audio output provided in addition to their line analogue outs. These can be connected to a conventional stereo amplifier by placing a digital to analogue converter, or DAC, between the two, or directly into a digital input on a home cinema receiver.
Alternatively, some DACs now have a USB input, allowing them to function as offboard soundcards, again for connection to a hi-fi system, while there are even some powered speakers available with a built-in DAC and preamplifier, such as the AVI ADM 9.1s reviewed recently in the audio pages.
The 256kbps bitrate MP3 format chosen isn't equal to CD quality – to be assured of that we'd have to be offering one of the lossless formats, such as FLAC. But it does offer an acceptable compromise between the demands it places on streaming speed and audio quality, and we think it will be more than good enough for most users, and the previewing purposes for which it's designed.
After all, that bitrate is higher than all but the very best internet radio stations, and those sound very good indeed.
Tue, Aug 31 2010, 3:23PM
#12
RE: Gramophone drops magazine CD in North America!
Edward,
No apology necessary. Hopefully Andrew's response has helped answer some of your queries regarding the technical aspects, and I'm always happy to receive - and to respond to - any feedback or queries from you and other readers about what is both an exciting but major step for Gramophone.
But most importantly, I hope your son recovers very soon.
Best wishes,
Martin
Tue, Aug 31 2010, 8:33PM
#13
RE: Gramophone drops magazine CD in North America!
Thank you Andrew and Martin. I have a friend at church who is a PC whiz and has offered to replace my current PC with a cutting edge computer that will allow me to wirelessly tap into my AV Receiver.
Thank you for wishing my child a speedy recovery.
Warm Regards,
Ed
Wed, Sep 1 2010, 5:56PM
#14
CD in North America!
Your reply of Aug. 27 remains unclear whether the cover CD
will be dropped in North America (as per title) or dropped
in all markets (as per text). I suspect that the title of the
initial posting is retained for all subsequent contributions to the
thread and, if so, perhaps that should be corrected. I suggest
that the title should appear only with the initial posting so that
replies are not burdened with a potentially conflicting message.
Wed, Sep 1 2010, 7:28PM
#15
RE: Gramophone drops magazine CD in North America!
I'm sorry my reply wasn't clear - by adding in "on all editions, not just the North American one" I thought I was being so. But to clarify, the Gramophone Player will be online for all registered users of the site (and registration is free), and the CD will no longer be produced on any edition of the magazine. As for the subject line, a fair point, but our approach is to leave the title as originally posted whenever possible.
The September issue has arrived in the mail (to US) and did include a CD.