Where can I download quality music

Hi David

Agree that HDTracks probably has the best selection (if you can pick the good from the not so good - worth doing a quick search against their name as there have been previous threads).

The other source I've found "interesting" is the B&W Society of Sound which, for a reasonable subscription, provides access to mainstream classical and "eclectic" other recordings and is curated by Peter Gabriel. This includes Cara Dillon live which is excellent.

Martin C

agree on all the above. Please also visit Linn Records where you can buy high quality music to download

Iver

So do I. I have made good experience with three further sites: 

theclassicalshop.net: rich choice, not everything available as HD

2L.no: restricted choice, but of high quality

highdeftapetransfers.com: historical recordings, carefully transferred from the original master tapes; I have found some marvellous violin and piano concertos.

adca 

HD Tracks give you the option to pay using 'PayPal' If you do that they don't care where in the world you live. Just don't bother to enter name and address details when you checkout to pay and hit the PayPal button.

Of course you need a PayPal account.

regards

Geoff

Maybe less known to you english speakers as they're French, may I suggest you take a look at Qobuz (dot com) ?

They offer MP3, 16/44.1 and more and more hi-res up to 24/96. They also offer streaming subscriptions up to 16/44.1.

It's only in french for now unfortunately, but there's a search box and that shouldn't be too hard, provided you understand how they call the different formats they offer:

• Qualité standard: lossy downloads; you can choose the format you like: MP3, OGG, AAC, WMA
• Vraie qualité CD: lossless downloads at 16/44.1; you can choose between FLAC, ALAC and WMA Lossless
• Qualité studio masters: high resolution up to 24/96; I think they're in FLAC.

Qobuz affirm that their hi-res downloads come directly from the labels and that they don't reencode them.

You can browse the 'Qualité studio masters' easily in addition to search for a particular artist or album. For instance, in the main menu select 'Jazz'. Below, the secondary menu changes and the penultimate entry is 'Qualité studio masters' (notice the last entry as well, 'Discothèque idéale Qobuz', their desert island list). Click on it and you can browse the list of their hi-res jazz items. Same for other genres.

HTH

Maurice

tried the french site .tried to buy ,it said cant buy in uk. can you get around it like hd tracks  ta

Are web links allowed here?  If so, then go here for an almost definitive list of music sites currently selling downloaded music.

http://www.audiostream.com/category/music-downloads

I haven't downloaded anything from them but Hyperion Records look interesting if you like Classical music.

I had a sample CD a few years back which sounded excellent, if the CD is representative of the quality of their material it should be pretty good.

Richard

Sorry rich, my bad ! I was afraid of this. I must say I don't know because my country is authorized. I don't know what happens if you use PayPal. Worth a try. I guess subscription-based streaming won't work anyway, whatever trick is used, but it might work for downloads.

I'm tempted to rant that this is another example of friendly behaviour from the recording industry, but things might be a little bit more complicated than that I suspect. But still...

My country just got Spotify, so things are slowly moving. At the same time Deezer was closed. Go figure.

PS: Thanks realhifi.

Unless you live in Germany, from where many of the albums at hdtracks.com (from certain labels) now seem to be locked because of IP address. When trying to put anything from these labels into the shopping cart, one gets: 

Among these labels are Verve, Deutsche Grammophon, Island Records, Mercury Living Presence and others. Paypal alone does not help here, one obviously would have to use some kind of proxy.

KR,

Jochen

Perhaps one could go to a European court because of this, since it essentially says: No, we don't sell to other Europeans. This is hardly acceptable in a common market, especially in the euro zone.

IIRC some years ago Volkswagen had to pay a large fine because of obstructing the common market: Volkswagen used to offer their cars in other european countries for much less money than in Germany. However, Germans were not allowed to buy a Volkswagen abroad.

You could with some address they will accept  and pay with PayPal

I have subscribed to Qobuz. As Maurice wrote they provide HiRes files and even what they call studio master which have been produced directly from the original recording. They are thus truly of higher resolution than CDs.

I think that if you can go past the payment problem it is worthwhile.

Michel

Well they would not sell to me in the Netherlands either.

Geoff

As a fellow Dutch inhabitant I have registered.

I believe you can only register with a french address. Maybe you have some french friend, colleague or business association whose address you would be allowed to use just for registration purposes and use PayPal for payments?

I think it is one of the best shops around for classical music and they offer HiRes editions that aren't available elsewhere.

-

aleg

Actually, I might help with the French address.

Michel

Bonjour Michel,

Completely OT (sorry David), I see you're using Apertura Tiny speaker cables. Have you compared them with NACA5, Apertura Reference or other cables ? How would you describe them ?

Merci

Maurice

Bonjour Maurice,

No. I haven't played with different cables. But I will have to change them because I will move house and will need longer cables. I was wondering if I wouldn't go for NACA5 since they are less expensive than the Apertura but I do not know who might sell them in Paris.

Best,

Michel

Thank you Maurice.

They are my dealer but I guess that when I bought the Apertura they were not selling NACA5.

Michel