Bach on iTunes

Jan Hanford wrote (February 4, 2006):
iTunes recently added a lot more classical to its store including Bach.

It looks like the entire Hanssler Bachakademie edition may be there which is very exciting since many of those cd's are no longer available.

Although I have mixed feeling about iTunes because of their DRM (Digital Rights
Management) and their samples are only 30 seconds long, having this much Bach available for download is great news.

I know there are plenty of digital download naysayers on the list but for the rest of us I think sites like ITunes, emusic.com and audiolunchbox.com are great resources.

At this point I buy downloads almost exclusively rather than cd's.

Drew wrote (February 4, 2006):
Jan Hanford wrote:
< At this point I buy downloads almost exclusively rather than cd's. >
I agree that this is a wonderful technology (and surely the wave of the future). It is much more convenient than hunting down rare CD's. But that's the catch -- how many good, classical releases (esp. Baroque) are available for download?

I'm not saying that all the "good" recordings are released by the big companies: Universal, etc. But, for example, does Harmonia Mundi (a consistently excellent label) offer any of their recordings for download?

Many labels are turning to the SACD hybrid format -- some exclusively (e.g., BIS, Channel Classics, etc.). Is there serious talk in the industry about offering entire catalogs in downloadable format? I know that Naxos has a subscription program for online listening (but can the music be downloaded?).

Kirk McElhearn wrote (February 4, 2006):
Drew wrote:
< Is there serious talk in the industry about offering entire catalogs in downloadable format? I know that Naxos has a subscription program for online listening (but can the music be downloaded?). >
Yes, the genie is out of the bottle. Chandos is selling all their discs by download; I've heard suggestions that Naxos will soon do the same. It's only a matter of time before the rest do it, at least the non-majors.

Giampiero wrote (February 4, 2006):
[To Drew] beware: http://www.downhillbattle.org/itunes/

Kirk McElhearn wrote (February 4, 2006):

[To Giampiero] OK, so it says the artists don't get much, but then links to P2P software where the artists don't get anything... Is that the solution?

I'll note that it links to Magnatune ("We are not evil"), but advocating stealing while complaining about how the record labels are screwing artists is disingenuous and typical of the type of discourse heard around this issue...

Giampiero wrote (February 4, 2006):
[To Kirk McElhearn] sorry I don't care about artists earning I am concerned about compression and sound quality :-)

Kirk McElhearn wrote (February 4, 2006):
[To Giampiero] Well, I'll be polite about your first comment...

But don't complain if you get something for free and it's not up to the quality you want.

Leech.

Giampi wrote (February 4, 2006):
[To Kirk McElhearn] I wasn't able to explain my thoughts (english isn't my first language). I meant I like better to BUY a Cd in a shop (with best possible quality) than downloading from itunes or similar, still not able to give me the same product because of compression problems. I told the words about earnings because what I'm looking for is only good sound and audibility and market issues don't trouble me. Sorry for misunderstanding.

Kirk McElhearn wrote (February 4, 2006):
Giampiero wrote:
< I wasn't able to explain my thoughts (english isn't my first language) >
OK.

< I meant I like better to BUY a Cd in a shop (with best possible quality) than downloading from itunes or similar, still not able to give me the same product because of compression problems. >
I actually know a fair amount about compression. First, most people can't hear the difference between a compressed file at a decent bit rate and the original. Second, you can buy lossless files from more and more places now, and soon compression will be less of an issue.

Paul Dirmeikis wrote (February 4, 2006):
Kirk McElhearn wrote:
< First, most people can't hear the difference between a compressed file at a decent bit rate and the original. >
I totally agree. I think it's more a kind of "attitude" to systematically denigrate compressed sound files, than something actually based on what your ear really did or didn't hear, compared to the original audio file.

Drew wrote (February 4, 2006):
Kirk McElhearn wrote:
>> Yes, the genie is out of the bottle. Chandos is selling all their discs by download; I've heard suggestions that Naxos will soon do the same. It's only a matter of time before the rest do it, at least the non-majors. <<
Thank you for the heads-up about Chandos. However, there appears to be some limitation to what they provide. The one Chandos recording I am most interested in acquiring right now is the recent (released last summer / fall) recording of Handel's "Partenope." But is it unavailable for download. The second most desired Chandos recording: Handel's "Chandos Anthems" (also unavailable).

I also see that they do not have the excellent Mass in b minor (BWV 232) (Hickox) available for download. Is this because they eschew large-scale vocal works? Or do you expect that these will be available in time?

Kirk McElhearn wrote (February 4, 2006):
[To Drew] No idea. You'd have to ask them. It's entirely possible that contractual issues (singers with contracts with other labels) might prevent their selling everything.

Jan Hanford wrote (February 4, 2006):
[To Giampiero] I agree except iTunes does pay musicians when it's the musicians themselves who have the distribution deal with iTunes and not through a major label. The major labels are evil and do not pay their musicians. Their corruption is common knowledge. I don't buy major label music usually except for classical.

But many musicians have contracts with iTunes, as well as services like cdbaby.com who distribute digitally via iTunes and I know for a fact that those musicians do make money and often a decent amount of money.

an Hanford wrote (February 4, 2006):
[To Drew] A large number of Naxos releases are available at emusic.com and udiolunchbox.com, as well as iTunes. The benefit of the non-iTunes stores is they don't have DRM and you can re-download later if you lose your files for whatever reason.

I don't know if they have the entire Naxos catalog but the listing is vast and I've bought a lot of Naxos downloads.