<div>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. </div>
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<div>Nicole</div>
<div>____________________________</div>
<div>Nicole Biamonte</div>
<div>Assistant Professor of Music Theory</div>
<div>University of Iowa</div>
<div><a href="mailto:nicole-biamonte@uiowa.edu">nicole-biamonte@uiowa.edu</a></div>
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<div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Nov 8, 2009 at 10:46 AM, Victor grauer <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:victorag@verizon.net">victorag@verizon.net</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote style="BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; PADDING-LEFT: 1ex" class="gmail_quote">
<div class="im">At 09:33 AM 11/6/2009, David K Feurzeig wrote:<br>
<blockquote style="BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; PADDING-LEFT: 1ex" class="gmail_quote">I'm interested in SMT-listers' experience with various online audio<br>libraries, such as Naxos, The Classical Music Library, eMusic, etc.<br>
</blockquote><br></div>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.<br>
<br>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!<br><br>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.<br>
<br>Here's how I'd rate Rhapsody for each of your criteria:
<div class="im"><br><br>
<blockquote style="BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; PADDING-LEFT: 1ex" class="gmail_quote">*breadth and depth of repertoire<br> (including whether it includes classicalmusic, modern "art music",<br>
world music, etc.)<br></blockquote><br></div>They have literally everything, as far as I can tell.<br><br><br>
<blockquote style="BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; PADDING-LEFT: 1ex" class="gmail_quote">*file formats & quality<br></blockquote><br>Downloaded format is mp3. Quality on my fairly decent system is excellent.
<div class="im"><br><br><br>
<blockquote style="BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; PADDING-LEFT: 1ex" class="gmail_quote">*ease of use; interface quality<br></blockquote><br></div>Interface is adequate but browsing around can be tedious.<br>
<br><br>
<blockquote style="BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; PADDING-LEFT: 1ex" class="gmail_quote">*platform & browser compatibilities<br></blockquote><br>I think they're compatible with both PC and Mac. Works on Firefox and Explorer for sure.<br>
<br><br>
<blockquote style="BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; PADDING-LEFT: 1ex" class="gmail_quote">*streaming or downloadable files<br></blockquote><br>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.<br>
<br>
<blockquote style="BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; PADDING-LEFT: 1ex" class="gmail_quote">*search functionality<br></blockquote><br>Searching is excellent and you can usually find what you want easily, if you know what you want.<br>
<br><br>
<blockquote style="BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; PADDING-LEFT: 1ex" class="gmail_quote">*pricing, individual and institutional<br></blockquote><br>$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.<br>
<br><br>
<blockquote style="BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; PADDING-LEFT: 1ex" class="gmail_quote">*legality<br></blockquote><br>Everything is licensed, as far as I know.<br><br>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.<br>
<font color="#888888"><br>Victor Grauer<br>Pgh. PA<br>USA</font>
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