[Smt-talk] online music (audio) service comparison

[Nicole Biamonte]

Our music library subscribes to Naxos and Classical Music Library.  I find
the search feature of Naxos more effective and easier to use, but it's
easier to post links to Classical Music Library on my course website
(there's a button for a static url), and in general I think the performances
on their recordings are of better quality.   Alexander St. Press (the parent
company of Classical Music Library, as well as Smithsonian Global Sound and
others) is supposed to release an iPod/iPhone app in 2010.

Nicole
____________________________
Nicole Biamonte
Assistant Professor of Music Theory
University of Iowa
nicole-biamonte at uiowa.edu


On Sun, Nov 8, 2009 at 10:46 AM, Victor grauer <victorag at verizon.net> wrote:

> At 09:33 AM 11/6/2009, David K Feurzeig wrote:
>
>> I'm interested in SMT-listers' experience with various online audio
>> libraries, such as Naxos, The Classical Music Library, eMusic, etc.
>>
>
> I subscribed to eMusic for a long time and really liked it, especially
> because really long tracks counted as one track, so a classical music lover
> got a good deal. Also because of their wide range of off-beat recordings,
> including lots of stuff only an ethnomusicologist (like me) would be
> interested in. But then they changed the rules, making it much more
> expensive to download longer tracks, so I quit.
>
> After looking around for a while, I discovered Rhapsody. They have a free
> trial which I tried and I discovered that for me it was perfect. In fact
> it's more than perfect, it's changed my life!
>
> You can subscribe for about $15.00 a month and for that you get unlimited
> access to their library, which includes just about everything out there. But
> it's important to understand exactly what that means. You can listen to any
> CD or selected tracks from any CD, more or less as though it was a radio
> broadcast, i.e., you are only listening, NOT downloading music you can keep.
> The $15 a month plan also includes unlimited free downloads to an approved
> MP3 player. However these downloads automatically erase themselves after a
> month or so. If you want to download mp3's to keep on a permanent basis,
> there is a charge for each track, usually about a dollar.  The only thing I
> don't like is the user interface, which makes it much harder to browse
> around in their (huge) collection. You have to know what you are looking for
> and do a specific search. eMusic makes it really easy to browse around in
> the various categories and also easy to find what's new in each.
>
> Here's how I'd rate Rhapsody for each of your criteria:
>
>
> *breadth and depth of repertoire
>>  (including whether it includes classicalmusic, modern "art music",
>> world music, etc.)
>>
>
> They have literally everything, as far as I can tell.
>
>
> *file formats & quality
>>
>
> Downloaded format is mp3. Quality on my fairly decent system is excellent.
>
>
>
> *ease of use; interface quality
>>
>
> Interface is adequate but browsing around can be tedious.
>
>
> *platform & browser compatibilities
>>
>
> I think they're compatible with both PC and Mac. Works on Firefox and
> Explorer for sure.
>
>
> *streaming or downloadable files
>>
>
> Streaming is great, with excellent quality and no interruptions, though
> track changes can be a nuisance -- especially when a track change occurs
> during a continuos performance, as in opera.
>
> *search functionality
>>
>
> Searching is excellent and you can usually find what you want easily, if
> you know what you want.
>
>
> *pricing, individual and institutional
>>
>
> $15 bucks a month for the version with mp3 downloading. If you're not
> interested in that you can save maybe 2 bucks a month.
>
>
> *legality
>>
>
> Everything is licensed, as far as I know.
>
> Rhapsody, like certain drugs advertised on TV, "may not be for everyone."
> But for me it's great, because I can listen to just about anything available
> for a low monthly fee. I know this sounds like an ad, but it's not, I have
> no interest in the company, I just love what it does.
>
> Victor Grauer
> Pgh. PA
> USA
>
>
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