{"id":591,"date":"2007-12-15T04:00:34","date_gmt":"2007-12-15T12:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/12\/15\/dg-takes-on-itunes\/"},"modified":"2013-02-07T18:25:22","modified_gmt":"2013-02-08T02:25:22","slug":"dg-takes-on-itunes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/12\/15\/dg-takes-on-itunes\/","title":{"rendered":"DG opens web store"},"content":{"rendered":"

Several music<\/a> bloggers<\/a> have already<\/a> written about the recent unveiling of Deutsche Grammophone<\/a>‘s online store<\/a> for high bit-rate (320kbs) mp3 files without DRM (digital rights management).<\/p>\n

I decided to wait until I’d actually gone through the process of purchasing and listening to some of their product. Especially nice are the several hundred previously out-of-print titles<\/a> that have been reissued as downloads (100 of these are exclusive<\/a> to the DG web shop).\u00c2\u00a0 Here’s a brief summary of my experience at the store.<\/p>\n

The process of searching and browsing the shop is quite easy – and it helps that the search parameters are geared towards what you want to search for in a classical web store – title, composer, format, ensemble, artist, etc. I found a title that I’d long been wanting to buy – Augustin Dumay and Maria Joao Pires’ recording<\/a> of the three violin sonatas of Johannes Brahms.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The process of opening a free account and paying for your items is clear-cut and simple. The downloading of the files gives you three options: (1) use the download assistant, (2) download individual tracks manually, or (3) download a zip compressed file of everything you’ve purchased this session.<\/p>\n

I chose to do option three because my browser wasn’t kicking into java to download the applet that manages downloads, and I didn’t want to do option two and have to sit around and wait for each one to download. So, I downloaded the very large zip file, imported the files into itunes and put them on my ipod. Since the files are 3x larger than the typical itunes file ( 320kbs vs. 128kbs) the downloading process takes a bit longer.<\/p>\n

The sound quality from the 320 kbs files? Excellent – as close to CD quality as my ears can discern. I wasn’t unhappy with the 128kbs files from itunes, but I’d read that the higher bit rate can make a difference, and this I found to be true. The depth and detail of this recording were significantly better than other comparable files that I downloaded from itunes. The lesson for me? I’ll buy DG issues from their own web store and if I buy from iTunes I’ll only buy their iTunes+ files (at 256kbs) unless I can’t avoid it.<\/p>\n

I hope that the rest of the Universal family of classical labels will follow DG – I’d love to see a lot of the Decca and Philips recordings that I love out in this new format (or perhaps they’ll simply be available via the DG site?).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Several music bloggers have already written about the recent unveiling of Deutsche Grammophone‘s online store for high bit-rate (320kbs) mp3 files without DRM (digital rights management). I decided to wait until I’d actually gone through the process of purchasing and listening to some of their product. Especially nice are the several hundred previously out-of-print titles […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[115,168],"tags":[67,3669,3659],"class_list":["post-591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music","category-recordings-music","tag-classical","tag-music","tag-violin"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-9x","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2324,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/04\/13\/internet-killed-the-music-store\/","url_meta":{"origin":591,"position":0},"title":"internet killed the music store","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 13, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"From today's New York Times - Joseph Patelson's Music House will soon be closing its doors after over 60 years in business in its location across W 56th Street from Carnegie Hall.\u00c2\u00a0 Read the entire story here.","rel":"","context":"In "music"","block_context":{"text":"music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/Patel600.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1014,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/06\/17\/gig-story\/","url_meta":{"origin":591,"position":1},"title":"gig story","author":"Charles Noble","date":"June 17, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I played a gig at a local mall.\u00c2\u00a0 It was for the opening of a new hearing aid store which specialized in their own brand of high-end hearing aids.\u00c2\u00a0 The ensemble for the group was a traditional string quartet. 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