amclark2, yes, you click a track, and it takes you to a page with all the album's tracks (oh, and starts playing whether you want to or not). But still, no album title! In fact, at no time in any of that clicking (even if you add the album to a playlist), is the album title displayed at all. Positively bizarre. (I'm using chrome.)
@kargatron - That was one of my earliest complaints, but it will always be fairly track-centric just by it's nature. There are definitely pains, but once you learn how to get around the site and how to trick it into showing you what you want, it's worth it.
I'll say that, aside from the obvious benefits of tons of free music, G has become invaluable for just letting me explore like crazy. It kind of reminds me of back in the day with eMu - especially the CC card debacle when I was basically downloading great jazz albums for a quarter. Heck, I just grabbed the latest Taylor Swift because some of her music is catchy and I figured why not?
Additionally it's breaking me of the habit of avoiding some of the indie labels because I want to buy directly from them. I figure if I really love the album, I'll end up buying a physical copy anyway. Who cares if I buy it twice when one of them was free?
One thing that is highly annoying to me with regard to searching Guvera is the fact that hitting return does load everything. You have to stop short of hitting return and click on the individual album. So "Miles Davis" and a return gets you hundreds of album covers. I too hate the track oriented system, since I almost always download whole albums. It takes a great deal of effort to find the album I want, then dload each track, which I then move to a directory and run through Tag&Rename to re-tag the files with proper artists, genre, and year (usually missing from ECM releases) and to enter track numbers (also usually missing from ECM). I then rename the files (track title, T&R also fixes cap problems if any), since Guvera titles are long and sometimes crazy looking. Then I can drop them into iTunes and get them "to the cloud" for future use. Perhaps this is more anal / OCD that most, but it saves me frustration later.
But on the other hand....these are free albums of excellent music, and the Guvera system is alot better than it was a few years ago. I do not think I could ever afford to grab 30 albums of Keith Jarrett from any other source.
@Plong42 - I usually tag and rename about once a week. So all of my downloads will sit that long before I get a chance to listen to them. But this goes for all digital services - the Guvera ones just take longer. The first week of January I realized that there were purchases and downloads from November still waiting to be sorted!
G has become invaluable for just letting me explore like crazy
This is because you don't subscribe to a cheap streaming service? I cannot imagine trading my $5/month Rdio account for free streaming from Guvera with its magnitudes-worse interface. I think I'll use Guvera to stream ECM (and maybe pick up an album or two from my slow accumulation of occasional credits from clicking on ads), but that will be about it for me. I'm not up to trying so hard for "free" music. I'm glad other people find utility in it though.
@karg - I use streaming services from time to time, but a lot of my listening ends up on mobile devices. There's just no way I'm spending 10 bucks a month because I want to play things from my Nexus 7 instead of sitting in front of my computer. Make me pay $5 for the app, but to have to pay extra to use a different device when they're both going over Wifi is BS.
With Guvera I can download the album and put it up on Google music to use anywhere. It's a bit more cumbersome, but I never found any of the streaming services to have very good interfaces for music discovery either.
I discovered that Ipecac records has a bunch of stuff there; people here might like Isis or Zu or Beak> or other things from them.
Also discovered a comp called "American Folk Music", which looks the same as one I that was on emu that was a track for track retread of the classic Anthology of American Folk Music; I didn't check all the tracks yet.
Just discovered this one - 6 discs, Keith in the mid-90s with his usual groups. Depends on your tolerance/appreciation of Jarrett, turns out mine is pretty high.
Was just reading about these - Sonny apparently has a big archive of live performances, including tapes made by a loyal bootlegger, from which he gleaned these. Vol 1 is complete at Guv, but vol 2 is not.
dddanmar mentioned the other day that they were very soon going to be re-adding all the problem tracks. Perhaps that broke the site. Or perhaps it has to be down while they add?
Yes, reading those articles makes me think I'll clear out a few of mine if/when it comes back up. It's just hard to find enough time to keep researching things. At the moment about once a week I find another artist that I like the sound of and then clear out a chunk of their catalog with accumulated credits.
On another but related note, does anyone have in their head or via a link a quick way for me to figure out which Terje Rypdal albums are his jazz guitar work and which his classical compositions?
It's just hard to find enough time to keep researching things.
I think it comes down to find a label, start downloading. If you like a lot that you hear from ECM, you might as well get it all at this point. I downloaded 2 GB in two days just getting stuff on Green Linnet and Greentrax, which on its own makes an impressive collection of Irish and Scottish music. When Gu comes back, I'll go hard on Rounder and Sugar Hill.
Bummer, I gave up last night because I kept hitting my problem with ECM albums rarely downloading. Then it was a few other labels. Hate to see all those downloads go to waste, but at this point I really can't complain if I never get another freebie. But I do hope it comes back online and I can hit up that ECM list.
Also, if it does return, these are the albums I found from that "100 Most Influential Albums" list floating around Facebook:
The Pretty Things - S.F. Sorrow
Wire - Chairs Missing
Mazzy Star - So Tonight That I Might See
Pink Floyd - The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
The Flying Burrito Brothers - The Gilded Palace Of Sin
The Fall - Perverted By Language
Blur - Parklife
Magazine - Real Life
Nirvana - Nevermind
Dexy's Midnight Runners - Searching For The Young Soul Rebels
The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left
Stevie Wonder - Innervisions
David Bowie - Hunky Dory
Slowdive - Souvlaki
Mercury Rev - Deserter's Songs
Gerry Rafferty - City To City
Brian Eno - Here Come The Warm Jets
The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground
Marvin Gaye - What's Going On?
John Martyn - Solid Air
Can - Tago Mago
Radiohead - OK Computer
The Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness
The Rolling Stones - Exile On Main Street
Woot! First ECM album I tried that didn't work last night worked this time.
You know it's not a stable business model when most of us probably assumed it was never coming back just because of a site outage on a Sunday morning...
Site is back up again. Been up all night resolving this issue, even spent some time sleeping on my desk. This was not something I was able to put a maintenance banner up about, the problem existed before that point in the process.
I'm going to force another coffee down and sit and watch but everything looks a-ok again.
You know it's not a stable business model when most of us probably assumed it was never coming back just because of a site outage on a Sunday morning...
Well it's past experience too. LaLa. Amiestreet. Limewire Store (not the file sharing version). MTraks. Some other one that was pink and got bought out by some outfit in Russia and turned into an illegal site - PayPlay?? History suggests that if there is a site offering a great deal on music and a fun new model for getting it, it will disappear on you within a year or two. And while some of those gave notice and chance to spend credits, others (Limewire Store) did not. So even though those sites all had their different stories, it makes psychological sense to approach any new similar entity as less durable than the Colisseum, regardless of the actual underlying realities and regardless of whether it's any of Guvera's fault.
@dddanmar, hope you can catch up on some sleep now while we're all downloading.
@dddanmar - Don't worry, we'll keep an eye on it for you ;-) Make sure to cuddle up with the little one when you get home.
@GP - Absolutely. I'm still confused by Mtraks. Do they still plan on trying to come back? Hasn't it been almost a year and there's still nothing up on the website about what's going on.
@dddanmar - I was wondering if you could pass on the following to Guv's content team. I've reported this issue via email some months ago but never got a response so I'm not sure my email ever went through. When I attempt to download the following track I am asked to confirm the track credit cost and then the box that pops up to start the download just sits there. Clicking on the link within that box doesn't do anything. I opened up that link in another tab and got a "Problem Loading Page" error. I tried periodically over the past couple months to download this track each time Guvera goes through a major update or some sort and so far it always takes my credit but leaves me trackless. The track streams without any issues.
Comments
I'll say that, aside from the obvious benefits of tons of free music, G has become invaluable for just letting me explore like crazy. It kind of reminds me of back in the day with eMu - especially the CC card debacle when I was basically downloading great jazz albums for a quarter. Heck, I just grabbed the latest Taylor Swift because some of her music is catchy and I figured why not?
Additionally it's breaking me of the habit of avoiding some of the indie labels because I want to buy directly from them. I figure if I really love the album, I'll end up buying a physical copy anyway. Who cares if I buy it twice when one of them was free?
But on the other hand....these are free albums of excellent music, and the Guvera system is alot better than it was a few years ago. I do not think I could ever afford to grab 30 albums of Keith Jarrett from any other source.
With Guvera I can download the album and put it up on Google music to use anywhere. It's a bit more cumbersome, but I never found any of the streaming services to have very good interfaces for music discovery either.
Also discovered a comp called "American Folk Music", which looks the same as one I that was on emu that was a track for track retread of the classic Anthology of American Folk Music; I didn't check all the tracks yet.
Just discovered this one - 6 discs, Keith in the mid-90s with his usual groups. Depends on your tolerance/appreciation of Jarrett, turns out mine is pretty high.
Was just reading about these - Sonny apparently has a big archive of live performances, including tapes made by a loyal bootlegger, from which he gleaned these. Vol 1 is complete at Guv, but vol 2 is not.
@amclark2 - Another nice find. I have the Zu album, but I'd like to dig into more from that label.
"It's not just you! http://www.guvera.com looks down from here."
http://www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com/guvera.com
ETA: I'm glad that I whittled down my credits over the last few days.
Also, if it does return, these are the albums I found from that "100 Most Influential Albums" list floating around Facebook:
The Pretty Things - S.F. Sorrow
Wire - Chairs Missing
Mazzy Star - So Tonight That I Might See
Pink Floyd - The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
The Flying Burrito Brothers - The Gilded Palace Of Sin
The Fall - Perverted By Language
Blur - Parklife
Magazine - Real Life
Nirvana - Nevermind
Dexy's Midnight Runners - Searching For The Young Soul Rebels
The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left
Stevie Wonder - Innervisions
David Bowie - Hunky Dory
Slowdive - Souvlaki
Mercury Rev - Deserter's Songs
Gerry Rafferty - City To City
Brian Eno - Here Come The Warm Jets
The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground
Marvin Gaye - What's Going On?
John Martyn - Solid Air
Can - Tago Mago
Radiohead - OK Computer
The Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness
The Rolling Stones - Exile On Main Street
eta:
You know it's not a stable business model when most of us probably assumed it was never coming back just because of a site outage on a Sunday morning...
This was not something I was able to put a maintenance banner up about, the problem existed before that point in the process.
I'm going to force another coffee down and sit and watch but everything looks a-ok again.
Well it's past experience too. LaLa. Amiestreet. Limewire Store (not the file sharing version). MTraks. Some other one that was pink and got bought out by some outfit in Russia and turned into an illegal site - PayPlay?? History suggests that if there is a site offering a great deal on music and a fun new model for getting it, it will disappear on you within a year or two. And while some of those gave notice and chance to spend credits, others (Limewire Store) did not. So even though those sites all had their different stories, it makes psychological sense to approach any new similar entity as less durable than the Colisseum, regardless of the actual underlying realities and regardless of whether it's any of Guvera's fault.
@dddanmar, hope you can catch up on some sleep now while we're all downloading.
@GP - Absolutely. I'm still confused by Mtraks. Do they still plan on trying to come back? Hasn't it been almost a year and there's still nothing up on the website about what's going on.
Album: Peter Gabriel - Live Blood
Track: Apr
If only!!!! I had to LOL at that amc