Digital overtakes physical
Mon, Mar 29 2010, 4:00PM
I was really interested to read this article on the news page about download sales overtaking CD sales. Obviously, it takes other genres of music into account rather than just classical, but I wonder what the feeling is out there about classical music downloads? Will we soon be saying goodbye to the classical music CD, or are we a harder market to crack?!
Personally, I have not yet downloaded any classical music and stick to good ol' CDs, but I'm interested to hear what others think.
Tue, Mar 30 2010, 8:04AM
#2
RE: Digital overtakes physical
I know what you mean about CDs taking up space! I'm rather over-run with them, but I think I would miss the booklet notes if I went digital.
Tue, Mar 30 2010, 9:29AM
#3
Digital overtakes physical
I know what you mean about CDs taking up space! I'm rather over-run with them, but I think I would miss the booklet notes if I went digital.
You can always get the info from the internet. I occasionally even print out really interesting articles.
I'm pretty well convinced this is the way to go. I remember wondering if the small booklets in cds could replace the cover notes on lps. I used to feel that vinyl records were possessions whereas cds were just a medium, but soon I outgrew that as the convenience of the cd became apparent. I think that digital will be the same.
Tue, Mar 30 2010, 11:01AM
#4
RE: Digital overtakes physical
Yes, I moved all my CDs to a Homeserver and stream them everywhere in the house I want to.
When traveling, I have part of my collection with me on my iPod (as 160GB of storage is too limited)
The only thing I sometimes think about, is that I inherited some great 78rpm disks from my grandfather, and with data sored somewhere on a server, this is less tangible, especially as my family ia s bit less computer literate.
Tue, Mar 30 2010, 11:23AM
#5
RE: Digital overtakes physical
Good points made there, thank you. Are you downloading single tracks or entire albums generally? Also, what sites would you recommend? I think I need to try this out.
Tue, Mar 30 2010, 1:51PM
#6
RE: Digital overtakes physical
Electronic liner notes are the one thing in which downloads are lagging. iTunes does not make them available except for new releases from DG. The DG webshop includes liner notes in PDF format for almost every download and certain smaller labels do also. Chandos does an excellent job of including them as does Hyperion. But by now all the labels should be including them with the download itself. One shouldn't have to go to the label website to download them. Overall, I am very happy with the classical music I have downloaded from both emusic.com, DG webshop, and iTunes even at lower bit rates. It is convenient to have the music already in digital format instead of having to rip it to the computer and the synch it to an iPod or other player.
Tue, Mar 30 2010, 1:57PM
#7
RE: Digital overtakes physical
I recommend emusic.com because many small and large classical labels are already on board such as Sony, Harmonia Mundi, and many smaller labels that produce rare recordings. One such labels produces a complete collection of French art songs or mélodies for those interested in such things. Of course there is also iTunes which has the big labels such as EMI, Decca, DG, and so on. The DG webshop also offers good recordings with the plus of excellent color liner notes in PDF format.
Tue, Mar 30 2010, 3:28PM
#8
Digital overtakes physical
Electronic liner notes are the one thing in which downloads are lagging. iTunes does not make them available except for new releases from DG. The DG webshop includes liner notes in PDF format for almost every download and certain smaller labels do also. Chandos does an excellent job of including them as does Hyperion. But by now all the labels should be including them with the download itself. One shouldn't have to go to the label website to download them. Overall, I am very happy with the classical music I have downloaded from both emusic.com, DG webshop, and iTunes even at lower bit rates. It is convenient to have the music already in digital format instead of having to rip it to the computer and the synch it to an iPod or other player.
Watch out, the Audiophiles will get you.
Fri, May 7 2010, 10:17PM
#9
RE: Digital overtakes physical
For people always on-the-go, it can make sense. For a slug like myself, no.
Sat, May 8 2010, 5:28PM
#10
RE: Digital overtakes physical
The way I look at it, if you buy the electronic file, the first thing you have to do is make a physical backup to disc. I prefer to start with a physical disc (with liner notes) and make my own electronic copies.
Another problem is that some "electronic shops" still don't offer lossless files (e.g. FLAC). Why would I buy MP3s when I can buy the CD, and then create FLAC, OGG, MP3 and whatever else I like. The price is often the same or similar.
Another annoying habit of some electronic shops is charging a premium if you want lossless files. In other words, "if you want your downloads to be CD quality, we're going to charge you more". That bugs me.
Having said all that, it is undoubtedly the future, and once things settle down, it should herald a wonderful renaissance in recorded music, as musicians bypass record labels and make their own recordings, using digital distribution to keep costs low while reaching global markets.
I've got quite a few classical works that I downloaded and having just bought a new bd player that takes a usb flash drive and recognises flac and other lossless formats and plays them well, I'm becoming more and more inclined to move to this format.
Considering my first classical music came on 78's I think things have really came a long way.
I've lost count of the number of cds and lps I've got, but I do know the amount of space they take up.