Music download sites

Qobuz (the best selection/price ratio)

Bandcamp (fantastic for indie, self-released. Bit of a lottery as to what's Hi-res, but not that bothered tbh)

7digital (meh)

HDTracks (too expensive!)

Rich 1 posted:

Hi everyone, apart from Naim and Linn download sites what other sites do UK residents use to to get their Hi res downloads? Thanks in advance, Richard 

qobuz, highrez audio and tidal for europe.

hdtracks for us, canada.

I'd add Boomkat and Juno. Often a bit cheaper but with less choice and no high-res option.

I would suggest to add:

Soundliason (small exclusive)

eclassical (rich collection of albums

fondamenta (some selected "lost" recordings

prostudio master - fine collection mostly also at a decent price

cdbaby for some stuff you can't find anyhwere else (not HD)

hyperion records (a fine classical collection).

I would like to add:

http://monteverdi.co.uk/shop

If you enjoy the music of the Monteverdi Choir.

Fantastic selection you've all given me, thanks very much. I've started going through them, there's quite a few gems in the lists. Rich. 

prestoclassical has downloads  of the item when available

Nick Lees posted:

Qobuz (the best selection/price ratio)

Bandcamp (fantastic for indie, self-released. Bit of a lottery as to what's Hi-res, but not that bothered tbh)

7digital (meh)

HDTracks (too expensive!)

 

Why the comment re 7Digital? I have used them a fair bit for standard and High Res albums and had no problems. The webpage is a bit basic and not a huge choice but it seems to cover most of what I want. Just after release I often find them cheapest.

I totally agree re Bandcamp, and that just buying High Res would shut the door on a lot of great stuff at all locations

Bruce

When I mentioned hi res perhaps I should have said hi quality recordings. I'm quite happy with cd quality. I do notice a trade off with anything lower though. Having said that for general listening I'm happy with Iradio's lower resolution. Rich 

Bruce Woodhouse posted:

Nick Lees posted:

Qobuz (the best selection/price ratio)

Bandcamp (fantastic for indie, self-released. Bit of a lottery as to what's Hi-res, but not that bothered tbh)

7digital (meh)

HDTracks (too expensive!)

 

Why the comment re 7Digital? I have used them a fair bit for standard and High Res albums and had no problems. The webpage is a bit basic and not a huge choice but it seems to cover most of what I want. Just after release I often find them cheapest.

I totally agree re Bandcamp, and that just buying High Res would shut the door on a lot of great stuff at all locations

Bruce

Bruce, it was merely a sign of indifference rather than hostility (which I'd reserve for the extortionate HDTracks). They're there, there's nothing really wrong with them, but for most of what I buy (and I'll confess I might be weird these days) they either don't have it or it's cheaper elsewhere (I also use Hyperion, Bleep and Boomkat for specialist stuff).

Rich 1 posted:

When I mentioned hi res perhaps I should have said hi quality recordings. I'm quite happy with cd quality. I do notice a trade off with anything lower though. Having said that for general listening I'm happy with Iradio's lower resolution. Rich 

+1 for Juno. Dance music emphasis but quite varied. Usually very good value.

French Rooster posted:

Rich 1 posted:

Hi everyone, apart from Naim and Linn download sites what other sites do UK residents use to to get their Hi res downloads? Thanks in advance, Richard 

qobuz, highrez audio and tidal for europe.

hdtracks for us, canada.

almost the same as French Rooster, I find Qubuz very good & High res audio - dont use HD tracks at all

if you want DSD files use the below,  i have dowload couple of DSD albums

https://www.nativedsd.com/

It might be worth bearing in mind when you may notice subtle sound difference between ripped CD and download is that media that is streamed or purchased via download that is distributed by UMG is I understand generally audibly watermarked. Some can be sensitive to this like they are to MP3 artefacts, others don’t mind at all... unfortunately I fall into the former.

Luckily not all distributors watermark, I understand that EMI may not be currently watermarking... but for me as there is no mention of this at purchase time therefore downloads have become too much of a lottery, and I stick generally to ripped CD... even if that means I forgo Hidef.

Rather than start a new thread, I'll mention here that I've just had an email from Technics Tracks saying that they are stopping their download service aa of 31st May.

I don’t think these have been mentioned yet:

• Primephonic.com - good classical selection, with various higher resolution options for some (including DSD), though mostly not cheap - I’ve only bought from them when they had things on special offer.
• 2L.no - smallish selection of classical and others, I think are all their own recordings, with some wonderfully ambient recordings that seem to be a bit of a speciality, can be sampled via embedded links to Spotify. Resultions right up to 384/24 as well as DSD, but higher ones can be pricey. They have something called the ‘hi res test bench’ where you can compare different resolutions - and at the same time sample some of their catalogue.

Eoink posted:

Rather than start a new thread, I'll mention here that I've just had an email from Technics Tracks saying that they are stopping their download service aa of 31st May.

That's a real shame. They didn't have the widest selection but I've bought quite a few albums from them over the last few years.

I note that they are switching over to the 7Digital platform, same as OnkyoMusic.

I am a huge fan of Bandcamp. It's always been a great place to buy both physical artefacts (CDs, vinyl and even cassettes) and downloads, especially if you're into more outré acts.

As someone who now runs a record label (albeit somewhat amateurishly, in my spare time and on a very constrained budget), Bandcamp also offers artists the best deal.

If you can buy what you're looking for on  Bandcamp, go there, as the artists get a decent cut. And you also often get to choose what you pay, and you can 'try before you buy'.

Bleep is also pretty decent.

Kevin-W posted:

I am a huge fan of Bandcamp. It's always been a great place to buy both physical artefacts (CDs, vinyl and even cassettes) and downloads, especially if you're into more outré acts.

As someone who now runs a record label (albeit somewhat amateurishly, in my spare time and on a very constrained budget), Bandcamp also offers artists the best deal.

If you can buy what you're looking for on  Bandcamp, go there, as the artists get a decent cut. And you also often get to choose what you pay, and you can 'try before you buy'.

Bleep is also pretty decent.

thanks for the discovery of bandcamp.  I even installed the app.  For the digital / downloads part, how to know the resolution ?   is it more than mp3?   thanks 

You choose the format at download time. It’s usually 16/44.1FLAC or WAV as desired (with MP3 available if required). Sometimes they specify whether it’s 24bit sometimes not. It’s a bit of a lottery.

Also note that VAT is not included in the advertised price.

Apart from the ordinary features one of the best things is that it will recommend other users to you, depending on what sort of music you buy. You can also follow others whose musical tastes you like. A number of us here follow each other.

thanks Nick.  I appreciate this non commercial site, with new artists to discover.  And a large catalog too.

Not mentioned yet:

Blue Coast Records

Acoustic Records

I use sometimes findhdmusic to know where I could find something.

Forgot, but also add the LiveJazzLounge.com, a site with music for free from live concerts in jazz. Things you don’t get anywhere else.

Another thumbs up for Bandcamp from me. You do feel that there is some connection with the artist, rather than just another commercial transaction. 

I was surprised to find that the price seems to be fixed, regardless of the format you choose, and I’ve got a few FLACs that turned out to be 24/96. 

can’t download nothing on livejazzlounge.com...is it just me?

French Rooster posted:

can’t download nothing on livejazzlounge.com...is it just me?

It took me a while to work it out too. Under the track listing is a clickable link to the .zip file.