audiozorro Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 I haven't had any problems with the downloads from Linn Records, but some recent experiences with other sites leads me towards a preference for a physical disc distribution, similar to the Reference Recordings HRx discs. Perhaps my problems are related to free downloads but a couple of bad experiences makes me wonder about these problems or if there aren't other quality issues. Personally I like having a physical disc as backup without me having to burn a disc and I am not fond of long download times. I had problems with the L38 01 96kHz Marianne Thorsen download off the Trondheim Solistene album from 2L. The playing time should be 9:14 but less than 6 minutes plays before MediaMonkey advances to the next track. For some reason the 192kHz version plays fine. I have also had some problems with the tracks downloaded from DesignwSound. The 24bit/96kHz tracks of Lush Life and Freddie play fine, but there are problems with the 192kHz versions. MediaMonkey plays the entire tracks, but the downloaded tracks are not complete. For instance the file size of the 24/192 version of Freddie is 445MB. I have download this file twice and the download stats show that 445MB have been downloaded, but the actual file size is only 294MB. By contrast the 24/96 version is 228MB. Hopefully these are isolated incidents or perhaps I have other problems. Link to comment
flatmap Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 Sorry you've run into these problems. It's frustrating to be sure. Have you contacted the companies and let them know about your problems? It may be that they have some corrupted files up on their servers, and they'd certainly want to know about it if that's the case. On the other hand it could be something in your setup or process. I have, in the past, had occasional trouble with FLAC files I downloaded. But in the end I was able to convert from the troublesome file to a valid AIFF file that worked fine. So I'm not sure what that was about, but I just throw that out as an example. In that case, email with the vendor helped me find a way to make it work. 2013 MacBook Pro Retina -> {Pure Music | Audirvana} -> {Dragonfly Red v.1} -> AKG K-702 or Sennheiser HD650 headphones. Link to comment
kentpoon Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 Hello, I think something wrong with the apple server during the download that you don't actually download the file completely. Last night here in Las Vegas CES, i tried to download both files on 192kHz and both playback okay. Freddie - 24/192 - 445.2MB (466,782,778 bytes) Lush Life - 24/192 - 300.4MB (314,968,740 bytes) Bitrate: 9216kbps We treat this as a sampler for people who never listen our music can try them free, but I agree with you that if this is a purchase copy, it should include the MD5 or similar kind of checksum to make sure people can download the bit transparent copy Link to comment
audiozorro Posted January 12, 2009 Author Share Posted January 12, 2009 Thanks for checking. I will probably try to download these files again next weekend. I was not too concerned since these were free sample files. If I actually purchased these tracks and had problems, I would have contacted the vendors' sales or technical support. How do you feel about offering FLAC, AIFF or WAV files on disc as opposed to the download? I know some people have criticized the price of the Linn Studio Master downloads compared to the same albums on SACD. What's more cost effective for you? As a consumer, I have a preference for the physical disc for backup and to avoid long downloads of lossless files (I have no interest in buying any lossy formats), but I realize that not every vendor will offer that option. Link to comment
kentpoon Posted January 12, 2009 Share Posted January 12, 2009 Oh! We are having our high resolution files on a physical DVD for sales. Moreover, we even include a Premium made CD-R that we measure each of them and print out the individual report chart that match with the serial number on disc. http://www.designwsound.com/dwsblog/?p=1055 Next month we may have an internet downloadable sales online but to me, I treat it like a promotion only at the moment. Link to comment
The Computer Audiophile Posted January 12, 2009 Share Posted January 12, 2009 Hi Guys - Kent provided me the physical disc he is referencing above. I haven't been able to listen to it yet but I can say the package and attention to detail is very nice. One hot topic at CES was about downloads v. physical media v. both. I think it's a win-win for everyone if both are offered. I prefer downloads while it's obvious others do not. Kent - It was great talking to you at the show and dinner. I'm excited about what your doing! Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems Link to comment
audiozorro Posted January 12, 2009 Author Share Posted January 12, 2009 Kent, your website states "We will later provide an order link for people who are outside of Hong Kong. There are 2 lucky audiophiles who found our secret link and actually ordered it via paypal." Please let us know when and how we can order the DVD and Premium CD-R. Also the price, and for me the approximate shipping cost to the U.S., would be helpful. I will pay by paypal. Link to comment
audiozorro Posted January 12, 2009 Author Share Posted January 12, 2009 Chris, I know you have a lot of good info to share with us from the CES. When you can please let us know who is planning to provide lossless audio files on both download and physical media. I have some pent up demand and the high res HRx discs from RR aren't coming fast enough. Link to comment
kentpoon Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 Hello, I will wait Chris to introduce our recording because it is his forum and website. But you can now easily find the order link both on our blog and official website. We have sent the first online orders out this week. Thank you very much for the support. http://www.designwsound.com/dwsblog/?page_id=1065 Bests, Kent Link to comment
The Computer Audiophile Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 Hi Everyone - I'm working on an article about this release and should have it published soon. Trust me you won't be disappointed if you purchase this one without even hearing a single note. It's that good! Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems Link to comment
andrewhollo Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 I'm only new here, and I'd not stopped to consider that an audiophile quality download of a single 10 minute track might be half a Gb in size. I'm in Australia and while we've got pretty fast broadband (at my place it runs about 12Mb/sec), we don't have limitless ISP plans. Mine's pretty big by AUS standards and it's only 150Gb per month. I chew through that reasonably easily, without having even started on the audiophile download journey! Right now, though, I'm in Indonesia, where my internet flicks between 3G (at about 100kb/sec) and EDGE (about 10kb/sec) . . . plainly impossible for large files. So my question: how long before the world catches up to high-definition / audiophile formats and enables seamless digital delivery? Andrew Link to comment
satkinsn Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 I'm probably just being childish, but I'm frustrated by the fact that we don't already have widespread, easy to use, un-drm'ed high quality downloads. On the lossy side, it's better than it used to be, though I don't like having to pick between .aac and .mp3 files, and manage my music library based on what software/machine can play which file. But on the lossless side, things are slow. HDTracks is a valuable start, but isn't even at the eMusic level in terms of stock. And the most complete lossless site - MusicGiants - is both incomplete and encumbered. Examples: I've been searching for Abdullah Ibrahim's "Autobiography" for months; it was briefly re-released on cd in the late 90s, but the price for one was very dear - I was seeing it in the $90s. This is the kind of niche "too few people want it to keep in print" music that would seem to be ideally suited to lossless downloading, but no one is doing it. Ditto for Universal/Verve's reissue of the Freedom America jazz series in 2005. They quickly went out of print, and when you can find copies of the 15 cds at ll, they're expensive. Verve's site redirects you to MusicGiants, which sells lossless copies at a good price - $4 for the Archie Shepp album, as opposed to $36 for the one used copy I've found - but doesn't have the whole run, can't be accessed from my Mac, and has onerous DRM. Do you think this will get better? I have to believe the music companies will at some point start offering drm-less lossless downloads, since we are (I would think) least likely to be burning copies for family and friends - in fairness, I don't get a lot of demands from f & f for Braxton's solo sax work... s. \"...many people are doped up, drunk, compulsive liars or completely bat-s**t insane. And some are all of those, all the time.\" - found on Slashdot, 4.11.11 Link to comment
audiozorro Posted January 21, 2009 Author Share Posted January 21, 2009 Kent thanks, I ordered the recording this morning. I still wasn’t having much luck with downloading when I tried a few days ago and I may have inadvertently deleted one of the 24/192 files on your website. Ordering the disc with the high rez audio files directly from you is the surest and easiest way for me to get (and preserve) your quality recordings. I hope you re-release your previous recordings and I look forward to more releases. Link to comment
andrewhollo Posted January 22, 2009 Share Posted January 22, 2009 This is probably not the place for it, but here it is for 20 Euro: http://www.audio-archives.com/en/catalogue/fiches/e_Jazz_449.htm I'm a big fan of Ibrahim; for years, I'd used a track from Mindif as my 'audiophile' test disc: the delicate piano and the brush work on the cymbals sure separated sheep from goats! Andrew Link to comment
satkinsn Posted January 22, 2009 Share Posted January 22, 2009 Andrew... As luck would have it, I found a copy a few hours ago at Jazz record Mart (Delmark Records' store and web site) in Chicago. Still chasing the Art Ensemble of Chicago's five cd early recordings on Nessa. They popped up on ebay a while ago and I quit at $250. best, s. \"...many people are doped up, drunk, compulsive liars or completely bat-s**t insane. And some are all of those, all the time.\" - found on Slashdot, 4.11.11 Link to comment
joeljoel1947 Posted January 22, 2009 Share Posted January 22, 2009 I hope Kent re-releases Jazz prologue #1 and #2 too on this new "special edition" dvd-r format. I personally like having the physical media, like HRx discs too. Check out my review on Kent's disc, you won't be disappointed: http://www.computeraudiophile.com/node/1404 Regards, Joel Link to comment
audiozorro Posted January 22, 2009 Author Share Posted January 22, 2009 I'm sure the Abudullah Ibrahim CD is a good one, but the audio-archives website leaves a lot to be desired. I tried to place my order twice in English and both times my payment was rejected in French. Fortunately I know a little French but if the same happened to some prospective buyers they might be in the dark. Another problem I experienced on this website is that the number of items in my shopping cart kept changing independently of my actions. C'est la vie. My resolution going forward is to forgo any relatively unknown overseas website that does not accept PayPal payments. In the future I will be limiting my credit card purchases to well known or well established vendors. I do not mean to cast aspersions on the audio-archives website but in this age of fraudulent transactions and identity theft this is my reminder to be careful. Link to comment
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