Bargains

[Bryn]

The 15cd Essential Sibelius from BIS can be had as a download for £7.99.

http://www.play.com/Music/MP3-Download-Album/4-/32319634/0/Sibelius/ListingDetails.html?searchstring=essential+sibelius&searchsource=0&searchtype=allproducts&urlrefer=search

I have this excellent box on cd but as a download luddite I have no idea whether mp3 is adequate but the price in comparison with the discs looks a steal. Full contents (assuming the download is identical to the cd box) below:
http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/B...D1697%252F1700

With the mp3s being at 320kbps it's an absolute steal. Might even be worth getting if you already have the CDs, just to save the trouble of ripping and making data compressed versions for pocket or in-car devices. In multi-movement works it might be worth copying and pasting the individual mp3 files together to make a single file of each work. That should get round the problem of gaps between files.

[hafod]

With the mp3s being at 320kbps it's an absolute steal. Might even be worth getting if you already have the CDs, just to save the trouble of ripping and making data compressed versions for pocket or in-car devices. In multi-movement works it might be worth copying and pasting the individual mp3 files together to make a single file of each work. That should get round the problem of gaps between files.

I'll stick with the cds. They work in the car and I can't stand bits of technology stuck in my ears.

[robk]

I downloaded the Sibelius which comes as a ZIP file. When I click on the file I get the message windows cannot open ... folder is invalid. Has anyone downloaded successfully?

[Beef Oven]

I can't stand bits of technology stuck in my ears.

Me neither, that's why I don't wear my hearing aids

[hafod]

Me neither, that's why I don't wear my hearing aids

I'll tackle that bridge if I am unfortunate enough to encounter it albeit bouyed by the distinction between necessity and free will.

[Dave2002]

I downloaded the Sibelius which comes as a ZIP file. When I click on the file I get the message windows cannot open ... folder is invalid. Has anyone downloaded successfully?

I downloaded the BIS Sibelius set a while back, when it may have been even cheaper. I assume you downloaded from Amazon, though iTunes may also have it, and its prices are sometimes similar. Amazon gives mp3, notionally 320mps, iTunes gives AAC.

If there has been a problem it should now be easy enough to download from either of these. For Amazon you need to set up the Amazon player, while for iTunes you need to use Apple's iCloud. I wanted to retrieve one mp3 track which I had years ago from Amazon, and I should have copies on one or more hard drives and also on CDs/DVDs which I have used for storage. In the end it turned out to be easier to download the track again, which is now possible from Amazon Player, and in fact I ended up downloading all the tracks (33) of the Fedoseyev/Glazunov set. I only wanted one or two, but the interface gave me them all. Similar things will happen with iCloud for iTunes purchases.

So, yes, I have successfully downloaded the BIS Sibelius. I suggest trying again. I did not have any obvious problems with that set the first time.

The items in that set are all good, but I was very impressed yet again a few weeks ago when I listened to the violin concerto included in the set once again.

Good luck.

[Dave2002]

PS to last post. That's one of a few sets I actually don't have on CD, though I do have the CD with Kavakos in the violin concerto. I figured that if I wanted the CDs I'd buy them later. I was surprised at the quality of the downloads, and so far I've not bothered to buy the CDs. Maybe I can't tell the difference! Perhaps the digital compression was well done here, though that's not always the case. Someone else can tell me that I'm missing out by not having the CDs.

PPS There appears to be only one version (later probably) of the violin concerto in the MP3 collection, though there are two versions of Symphony 5. On the violin concerto CD there are two versions, the earlier and the later one.

[amateur51]

I'll tackle that bridge if I am unfortunate enough to encounter it albeit bouyed by the distinction between necessity and free will.

My own experience is that if you need them enough, you'll get used to wearing them

[hafod]

JPC has a number of Handel sets on SACD from the Carus label at €9.99 each - Jeptha, Samson, Saul, Solomon, Alexander's Feast, Israel in Egypt and Acis and Galatea.

http://www.jpc.de/s/carus?typnum=3&searchtype=ctx_label

[Thropplenoggin]

My own experience is that if you need them enough, you'll get used to wearing them

<and other sundry backslapping emoticons>

[robk]

I used Hafod's link which was to Play.com. £7.99 for the 15 CD set as 320 bit MP3 files. I think the zip file on their server is corrupted but they think it is my Broadband connection. However I have managed to download most of the files individually. There are 195 so it was a tedious task. I have missed two and the access to them has been terminated. I will continue to pursue this with Play but if it came to it I could buy the two files separately. They do sound good. Better than the cheap but lower resolution Vanska set that I downloaded from Amazon previously.

[GrahamH]

I downloaded the Sibelius which comes as a ZIP file. When I click on the file I get the message windows cannot open ... folder is invalid. Has anyone downloaded successfully?

I've tried three times so far but each time the zip file has been too small, with differing sizes and file names. Decompressing each, I get some of the von Otter tracks. I'm not looking forward to downloading almost 200 tracks individually

I checked iTunes (£120) and Amazon (£55) so I think I'll persevere, but otherwise Google Play have it at £7.49.

[Dave2002]

I've tried three times so far but each time the zip file has been too small, with differing sizes and file names. Decompressing each, I get some of the von Otter tracks. I'm not looking forward to downloading almost 200 tracks individually

I checked iTunes (£120) and Amazon (£55) so I think I'll persevere, but otherwise Google Play have it at £7.49.

iTunes currently has Sibelius by Vamska et al on BIS for £7.99. Amazon has the MP3 for £6.99. However, they do have other listings which cost more so make sure you get the right one. Also, buying the CDs will be more expensive.

I think there may be problems with downloading from Amazon right now. There seem to be potentially at least two ways, having hit the "pay" button. Method 1 is to download the Amazon MP3 downloader, and then use that. This used to be the way to do it, but I gather that there may be problems with it now - perhaps due to interference with the relatively new Method 2. Method 2 is to open up Amazon's Cloud system, and download the album from there. I tried to download the Rachmaninov cheapie last night effectively using Method 1, and I was notified of lots of failures. Oddly, however, a few tracks did download anyway. Others seem to have found that method has become unreliable, and there are records of Amazon acknowledging a problem, which they claimed to be working on.

I suggest trying Amazon's Cloud, and see if that works. Possibly these methods may also be dependent on the browsers used, so try more than one.

I didn't notice that there was a quality problem with the cheapest offering of the Sibelius collection from Amazon. I thought the set I downloaded was OK, but of course these things can easily be changed and manipulated. If the play.com version is better, then use that, as suggested in msg 3056. I'd expect the iTunes version to be OK too - but again, I can't confirm or deny that.

[GrahamH]

iTunes currently has Sibelius by Vamska et al on BIS for £7.99. Amazon has the MP3 for £6.99. However, they do have other listings which cost more so make sure you get the right one. Also, buying the CDs will be more expensive.

I think there may be problems with downloading from Amazon right now. There seem to be potentially at least two ways, having hit the "pay" button. Method 1 is to download the Amazon MP3 downloader, and then use that. This used to be the way to do it, but I gather that there may be problems with it now - perhaps due to interference with the relatively new Method 2. Method 2 is to open up Amazon's Cloud system, and download the album from there. I tried to download the Rachmaninov cheapie last night effectively using Method 1, and I was notified of lots of failures. Oddly, however, a few tracks did download anyway. Others seem to have found that method has become unreliable, and there are records of Amazon acknowledging a problem, which they claimed to be working on.

I suggest trying Amazon's Cloud, and see if that works. Possibly these methods may also be dependent on the browsers used, so try more than one.

I didn't notice that there was a quality problem with the cheapest offering of the Sibelius collection from Amazon. I thought the set I downloaded was OK, but of course these things can easily be changed and manipulated. If the play.com version is better, then use that, as suggested in msg 3056. I'd expect the iTunes version to be OK too - but again, I can't confirm or deny that.

Thanks for this Dave - actually I think we're at cross purposes. The Vanska you mention is a smaller set, chiefly comprising the symphonies and violin concerto. I already have it and am very pleased with it. This other set is the equivalent of 15 CDs and includes loads of other stuff, not least vocal and chamber items, though the Vanska symphonies comprise part of it and there is therefore some overlap.

I take your point about browsers, and had tried Firefox and Safari, but with similar results. I tried again this morning using FlashGot on Firefox, and although I downloaded considerably more it was still incomplete. I've now asked for a refund.

Thanks for the warning re Amazon problems.

[Beef Oven]

iTunes currently has Sibelius by Vamska et al on BIS for £7.99. Amazon has the MP3 for £6.99. However, they do have other listings which cost more so make sure you get the right one. Also, buying the CDs will be more expensive.

I think there may be problems with downloading from Amazon right now. There seem to be potentially at least two ways, having hit the "pay" button. Method 1 is to download the Amazon MP3 downloader, and then use that. This used to be the way to do it, but I gather that there may be problems with it now - perhaps due to interference with the relatively new Method 2. Method 2 is to open up Amazon's Cloud system, and download the album from there. I tried to download the Rachmaninov cheapie last night effectively using Method 1, and I was notified of lots of failures. Oddly, however, a few tracks did download anyway. Others seem to have found that method has become unreliable, and there are records of Amazon acknowledging a problem, which they claimed to be working on.

I suggest trying Amazon's Cloud, and see if that works. Possibly these methods may also be dependent on the browsers used, so try more than one.

I didn't notice that there was a quality problem with the cheapest offering of the Sibelius collection from Amazon. I thought the set I downloaded was OK, but of course these things can easily be changed and manipulated. If the play.com version is better, then use that, as suggested in msg 3056. I'd expect the iTunes version to be OK too - but again, I can't confirm or deny that.

Another point to remember is that if you are using iMatch, any CD you rip, or download from elsewhere will be 'matched' to the Apple iTunes library, rather than uploaded to the cloud.

So for example, I ripped a CD of Rattle's Mahler 2 on EMI (bought more than 20 years ago) to my laptop, and iMatch did not upload it to the cloud, it 'popped' its own version in. The up to date digitally remastered version.

It can work against you though, I uploaded a fusion CD that is AAD and sounds better than the ADD version, but of course iMatch gave me the new version.

Some people are using iMatch to update their old recordings - smart move!