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Ridiculous bargains, CDs and MP3s thread

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574K views 2.7K replies 195 participants last post by  Oldhoosierdude  
#1,368 ·
Welp, I've got my comparative listening cut out for me. In the past little while, I've picked up three new complete Beethoven piano sonata cycles on the US Qobuz store, for just $4.99 each as a CD-quality download.

First, the cycle by Malcolm Bilson et al. on period instruments, mentioned a few pages back (note: it's listed twice-be sure to select the one that comes with a digital booklet).

Second, a cycle by Llyr Williams that also includes several filler pieces, not least of which is the Diabelli Variations.

Third, a cycle by International Chopin-competition winner Garrick Ohlsson. It doesn't include a booklet, but you can download individual booklets for each of the volumes from the label's corresponding product pages.

These same titles are generally going for much more elsewhere. Pricing error, perhaps?

So far, I'm enjoying each set for different reasons. I was saddened, however, to see that the US store is no longer carrying Melodiya titles.
 
#1,475 ·
Another big sale seems to be in progress at Qobuz, including Perlman's Complete Warner Recordings from 1980-2002 (44 hours of music) for $19. Hopefully the other half (Complete Recordings 1972-80) also goes on sale soon. Seems like listing the sale is still a work in progress, at least in the US.

The Perlman set: https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/album/i...k-perlman-the-complete-warner-recordings-1980-2002-itzhak-perlman/0825646070916

Other titles here: https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/search?q=boxsets-and-anthologies-special-offers&i=boutique

Another good find: Tribute to Rudolf Barshai, 24 hours of music, $8: https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/album/a-tribute-to-rudolf-barshai-rudolf-barshai/5060244551367
 
#1,526 ·
Knorf said:
Every time I try to download the Supraphon Reiner box, after it finishes and I try to open the zip file I get "invalid file format." Before I try to communicate with the Czechs, any suggestions?
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I've had the same issue. I don't know what file size you ended up with, but I don't think it's downloading all the way for me. That said, I have had success downloading individual discs, though that's a bit tedious.
 
#1,537 ·
Knorf said:
Ok, maybe I'll a collossal imbecile, but even with Music Brainz Picard more than half of these Supraphon Reiner downloads' metadata and file titles are FUBAR.

For example, the Also Sprach Zarathustra album matched only 4 of the tracks in Music Brainz Picard, and misnumbered them.
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Another thing I've just discovered and found helpful in MusicBee (others may have similar features) is the ability to infer metadata from the track names. So, if the tracks follow a certain convention for naming (ie, Artist - Album - Disc/Track# etc.), it will automatically pull that data and tag the files accordingly. You'll still have to tweak things, but it does get you part of the way there. Just select the tracks, right click "Auto-Tag by Track" => "Infer and Update Tags from Filename." You have to make sure the formula matches the pattern for naming the tracks matches, and then BINGO. Here's the pattern I'm using to auto-tag the Giulini box I'm downloading: <Album Artist> - <Album> - <Disc#>-<Track#> - <Artist> -
 
#1,543 ·
Manxfeeder said:
Sorry for being obtuse, but I think we're all learning here: How do you select tracks in MusicBee?
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No problem. First, just be sure to import (drag and drop) the files into MusicBee, where they should show up as either albums or individual tracks, depending on your view settings.

Then, if you do see albums instead of tracks, be sure to click the album (probably "UNKNOWN," since there's no metadata) so that it shows the tracks FIRST, then hit control-A to select all of the tracks. (If you right-click the album directly, it doesn't show the option to autotag tracks). From there, you should be right click and complete the above steps. That help?
 
#1,568 ·
New month, new deals, it seems. Chandos.net is offering 40% off LSO Live downloads and 25% off select string quartet recordings, all in CD-quality FLAC.

The symphonic cycles are probably the best bang for the buck. I'm kind of tempted by Haitink's Brahms for ~$6, or maybe Colin Davis' Elgar symphonies for the same price. If I didn't already have Gardiner's Mendelssohn cycle (which I've enjoyed despite not generally being a fan of Gardiner's work), I'd consider that as well.

Qobuz, meanwhile, has some kind of mega month long sale featuring discounts on such labels as Warner Classics, Naxos, Orfeo, Haenssler, Bis, and more.

Stand out values here include probably include comprehensive volumes of Debussy and Grieg's orchestral works, for $5.99 each. I'm sure there are some hidden gems that I missed in my quick scan, though.

Also on sale is Diapason magazine's series of digital box sets focusing on an "Ideal Discography" for particular niches, such as Brahms' chamber music or Schubert's piano music hand-picked from historical recordings by Diapason critics and invited musicians. They even come with booklets (in French) explaining why they picked the particular versions they did. I bought several of these at at full price last year and have enjoyed dipping into them from time to time. The mastering is generally good despite the age of the recordings.

Diapason's other series of "indispensable" historical recordings (not box sets) is also discounted.
 
#1,610 ·
Supraphon has one of the gems from their catalogue available for free download in CD-quality FLAC on their digital music store: the Pavel Haas Quartet playing Dvorak String Quartets #12 & 13.

You do have to make a (free) account to download it. This was a Gramophone Record of the Year award winner, if that matters to anyone :cool:
 
#1,843 ·
Manxfeeder said:
I noticed there are different prices for m4a, 16-bit, and 24-bit FLAC. Does anyone know if it would be worth paying for the higher priced formats, since the sound on these isn't first-tier anyway?
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I purchased this set a while ago in CD-quality sound from another retailer. Although the sound isn't great, especially in the first few discs, by the last few recordings (from 1952 or so), there is a fair amount of detail and dynamic range. Out of curiosity, I opened the fourth movement of the 1954 Beethoven 5 recording in an audio editor, and here's what I saw:

Judging by the little orange lines, the recording captured overtones up to/over 15 kHz (or maybe that's surface noise-what do I know?). In any case, as someone generally sceptical of hi-res (greater than CD-quality) releases as well as lossy compressions, it might be worth springing for whichever quality you usually prefer, regardless of the musical content. That said, I'm sure the difference with the 320kbps mp3s is subtle at best.
 

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#2,000 ·
Algonquin said:
Regarding Presto downloads, I have noticed with the Decca and DDG labels that when a symphony takes up an entire album like Shostakovich, for example, it is often cheaper to buy the tracks separately than purchase the entire album. Look at Nezet-Seguin's Rachmaninov No. 1 and Symphonic Dances or Nelsons' Shostakovich No. 10. I must add that purchasing this way will forfeit the digital booklet.
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You didn't hear it from me, but I've often found that I can locate digital booklets online with some savvy searching. For instance, Googling "nezet-seguin rachmaninoff dances filetype:pdf" (without quotation marks) turns up the booklet in the first few results. I did the same thing to find booklets for several of my Supraphonline purchases, such as the Igor Levit Beethoven cycle.
 
#2,111 · (Edited)
Quite possibly a pricing error (since the corresponding digital albums on Amazon and Qobuz are priced much higher), but DG's upcoming Chopin Masters box set is currently available as a FLAC download from Presto for just $13.00, at least here in the US. Over 28 hours of music by excellent musicians including Martha Argerich, Rafal Blechacz, Maria Joao Pires, etc. There's even a digital booklet. I already have some of these recordings but this seemed too good a deal to pass up.
 
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