What do you do with your covermount cd?

I agree with the view that, although useful in the past, the sampler format to the covermount disc has been overtaken by alternatives available on the internet, and it is now time to end it.  I suggest that the present excellent series of talks on featured composers could be extended, with more musical examples, to fill the entire CD, with the competition remaining to test reader's CM knowledge.

I like the idea of the CD - especially for the samples - but find I rarely actually listen to the disk (most of mine are still in their shrinkwrap, and I still have everyone since they first appeared); I can't concentrate on it while doing something else (eg., driving) and if I'm going to sit down in front of the hifi for an hour, I'd rather listen to a whole work.

I did thoroughly enjoy the Mackerras Janacek interview - but I think that would be better done as a podcast.  Gramophone would be better dropping the disk (or make it optional for subscribers) and making whole tracks available for high quality download.

Good call from someone on charity shops - I can't bring myself to throw out all those jewel cases.  Are they actually interested in these CDs though?

The Beeb have the boon of a vast archive of recordings for covermounts in its Musaic magazine, which gives what many might regard as an unfair advantage over competitors. I don't see how 'Gramophone' can do the same without some, maybe heavy, expense to itself.  However, the feature on a named composer, which I suggested some time ago could be extended, is definitely a 'winner', with the competition as a bonus at the end.

If you have cherry trees (or other fruit trees) in your garden, don't forget that unwanted CDs are excellent to keep blackbirds away from them.

There certainly will be a competition on the website, though it will be different from the one on the covermount, embracing sound, video and words. As for the Greatest Composer series, we are looking at putting the whole series online, and there are also plans for a new spoken word series. Watch this space, as they say.

I have always found covermount CDs invaluable, since inevitably - whatever one's level of familiarity with Classical Music, there will always be an artist or composer one has not heard before. The CDs from Gramophone, or other magazines, have in the past introduced me to music I wouldn't otherwise have heard, and in many cases I have bought the relevant full-length CD and hopefully broadened my musical experience.

In practical terms, I copy the CD to my mp3 player in order that I can listen to the relevant tracks in tandem with reading the reviews. Then, I tend to pass the CD on to interested friends. The burned copies I save on an external hard drive for reference.

I'd be very disappointed if the CD were discontinued. I know it may sound like a bit of an OCD CD thing, but it's my OCD CD thing, and I'm perfectly happy with it.

Has anyone an idea to obtain older recordings in the plaatpaal radio4.

Ok, By playing with the url on top (changing the number at the end) I get them, but without cd info. It's gessing what cd the tracks come from.

I used to find a place on another website where more cds were covered, but I don't find it anymore. 

The buttons prev and next in the plaatpaal are disabled on my mac.

Thanks