Digital Music, classical music, downloads, mp3s, online, shopping

DG Launches DRM-Free Classical Music Store

The Internet always seemed like a logical sales outlet for classical music, which has long been the neglected step-child of the record labels. We're happy to see that last week, Deutsche Grammophon launched a music store that sells DRM-free files of classical recordings—the files are constant bit rate 320 kps MP3s, and prices range "from $/€1.29 for a full-length track to $/€11.99 for an album."

The entire DG catalog isn't available, but one of their vice presidents says they're continuing to go through it "to mine the archives for the best gems," and that DG is making many out of print albums available:

The out of print albums now available on the DG Web Shop are from all across the wide spectrum of the DG catalog, including everything from one of the best ever Beethoven 5th Symphony interpretations from Carlo Maria Giulini and the LA Philharmonic; to wonderful Josquin Des Prez motet recordings, performed by the Orlando Concert; to Mozart Symphonies by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra; to tango albums by the latest generation of Buenos Aires musicians.

"Interview: Classical Music Goes Digital, DRM-Free with Deutsche Grammophon" [Create Digital Music via BoingBoing]

11:16 AM on Mon Dec 3 2007
By Chris Walters
768 views
12 comments

Comments

savvy999 at 11:29 AM on 12/03/07
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Two simple questions:

1) Is it really true that $ = € now? WOW

2) Are 320kb/s mp3s audiophile quality (or as close as you're gonna get with compressed audio files)?
BigNutty at 11:30 AM on 12/03/07
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Being a classical music fan I gotta love it.
ChuckBales at 11:37 AM on 12/03/07
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320kbps is the highest available for mp3, though if you really want all the detail use FLAC, assuming you have enough storage space.
axiomatic at 11:50 AM on 12/03/07
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Did we need DRM on classical music in the first place? I mean, classical music listeners do not strike me as the target demographic for "leet haxors!"
Harvey Birdman at 11:51 AM on 12/03/07
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I'm surprised they didn't go with a lossless format like flac or ogg, but good on them for picking the highest quality, most universal format and ditching the DRM.

@savvy999: Actually, it's $1.46. You might want to skip a trip to Europe.
[finance.yahoo.com]
chus3r at 12:41 PM on 12/03/07
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The pricing varies according to the length of the track. It might be worth noting that some double albums are a steal vs. buying the tracks individually. I'm not a huge fan, but the site is a nice touch for classical fans.
Jozef at 01:42 PM on 12/03/07
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This comes at a time when first stereo recordings of classical music concerts are entering public domain. DG is a little too late.
mikelotus at 01:47 PM on 12/03/07
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@Harvey Birdman: @savvy999:

When its lossless is when I buy. Classical music for iPods? Please.
fairweather at 03:53 PM on 12/03/07
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@Harvey Birdman: I think what savvy meant is that Euros, are the new dollars now.
Guizzy at 05:02 PM on 12/03/07
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@Harvey Birdman: OGG is not lossless, it just is more efficient than MP3.
wHATEver at 06:12 PM on 12/03/07
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Given that DG is the classical music world's version of the Evil Empire (DG == Microsoft), this doesn't exactly fill me with excitement.
FLConsumer at 07:21 PM on 12/03/07
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For those who want lossless classical music:
[www.thephiladelphiaorchestra.com]

MP3 & FLAC, great prices ($4-6 / CD), good performances, and no middleman record labels. They also put some performances up as freebies occasionally.