Reading that according to Circumlocution Office principles ("looking into ways we can improve audio quality in the future"), I suspect that the files that are up already are unlikely to be fixed.
I think it's always been foolish to think the ingested tracks would be re-encoded. The effort to process 250k tracks is non-negligible. What I'm still waiting on is an official statement of what the future encodings will be. The note on the emu board about the newly released Pretty Hate Machine (2010 remaster) being LAME brings hope.
Anyone care to guess how many tracks were re-encoded when they moved everything from the 128k rips the site originally offered to VBR? I'd guess it was significantly more than 250,000.
From my understanding, ECM in Europe is distributed directly via ECM. Technically speaking they couldn't use those files in the US because they have to come from UMG here. Yes, these international deals are ridiculous.
From my understanding, ECM in Europe is distributed directly via ECM. Technically speaking they couldn't use those files in the US because they have to come from UMG here. Yes, these international deals are ridiculous.
That might be an explanation in many cases, but I don't think it offers any explanation as to why there would be necessary differences between rips. ECM's distribution deal probably allows them leverage with regard to how their music is distributed. I don't remember exactly, but I don't think that ECM was on sale along with all the UMG stuff in last years 7digital sale. A simple conversation may be all that is necessary to allow the EU tracks to become available. I'll even bet that when the EU files were first obtained, someone walked them over from UMG's library to eMu's offices.
How freaking dreary to dredge this up again but I was unpleasantly surprised after I downloaded some Sonny Rollins tracks tonight - Tour de Force, Moving out albums, a couple of the short Saxophone Colossus tracks - also a few tracks to complete Bags Groove by Miles Davis - to discover they are all in Fraunhofer. WTF! These are all Fantasy/Riverside/Prestige titles which were at eMu before UMG, and which coincidentally disappeared from their Fantasy/etc. labeling to reappear differently at the same time of the UMG drop, so what gives. The old downloads are encoded in LAME. The new in Fraunhofer. Does UMG own their digital distribution now? Those first two Rollins albums were in the OJC series for crissake. Upon investigation I find that my Monk with Coltrane and Monk with Rollins downloads from October are in Fraunhofer too. Did anybody else know this about these releases? My OJC downloads from '09 all are in LAME as far as I can tell.
Just for the record I found Dig by Miles Davis/Sonny Rollins over at 7digital, an OJC release, 2 versions, both Universal releases. Hmm. Were the pre-Universal eMu Fantasy group releases replaced with Universal owned versions?
Edit- it's official. Concord Music Group is, in fact, distributed by Universal. Quickly, Watson, the needle.
Oh snap, I got Fraunhofer'd! I dl'd a few tracks from Fantasy albums (like this, which I thought would be safe because they were never pulled. But no, they're in Fraunhofer. Bitrates vary, but pretty consistently under 200. They genuinely don't sound good, especially compared with 256 kbps tracks from Guvera. So I wrote to CS explaining the Fraunhofer thing and poor sound quality, requesting credit. And here's the reply I got:
Thanks for your message.
Just to be clear, our MP3s are not restricted in any way.
eMusic utilizes LAME encoder, version 3.98.2 at VBR (Variable Bit Rate), alt preset extreme. VBR preset extreme uses an average bit rate of 256kbps, which offers quality comparable to 320 CBR (Constant Bit Rate). Older tracks are encoded at VBR standard (averaging around 192kbps) and you may find a few legacy files encoded at 128kps, these tracks are clearly marked.
VBR audio compression encodes complex sections of a track at higher rates while simpler portions are encoded at lower rates. Constant bit rate encoding uses a fixed rate. VBR offers the best possible sound quality with the smallest possible file size.
I politely replied with the suggestion that they actually read my message. And credit my @#$! account...
Meanwhile, is any Fantasy and/or Prestige safe? I got tracks from another recent release on another (indie) label, which were fine (LAME).
Ha, Doofy, emusic customer service is sooo lame. Here's a response to a response I sent on Nov 27 - perhaps you can imagine what it's in response to:
Bruce, it's clear that you did not read and understand my report. You replied with a canned response that has *nothing* to do with my submitted complaint, which is that the recently arrived tracks *verifiably* are encoded with the Fraunhofer encoder (you can see this in an iTunes track info page). That fact is counter to the claim you just made that all eMusic files utilize LAME. So, please, read my complaint again, and perhaps actually follow through to the messageboard thread that discusses this in detail.
I hope it's clear how embarrassing a response is when it's canned and, now that UMG tracks are here, false. Please do not skip reading a complaint before sending such a response, and check your claims before stating them.
Doofy, eerily similar to the response I got - doh! it is the response I got.
r.e. Fantasy I don't believe any of it is safe because Universal is now, and has been for a least a little while, the Third Party Distributor for the Concord Group. 7digital for instance often has Unknown on the encoding in Get Info in iTunes, but last year's DLs are either in LAME or if Unknown are in Joint Stereo like LAME. I got The Singles Vol. 9 by James Brown from them about a month ago and it's Unknown but in plain Stereo like Fraunhofer with the same v2.3 ID Tag, same as the Rollins and Davis I got snookered on this week at eMu. Some of Amazon's stuff with UMG ties is coming up the same way, too. Not looking good in the bit rate department.
Well, that's depressing. I thought the titles I got were safe because they had never been taken down. Glad I loaded up on Fantasy/Prestige stuff before the switch. I've been checking these titles on Amazon, a lot of them aren't there and/or not in print on CD. As someone pointed out recently, many in-print titles can be had from Newbury Comics for $10.
As someone pointed out recently, many in-print titles can be had from Newbury Comics for $10.
That was me, and I think they sell some for as little as $4. Unfortunately, I haven't been in a Newbury Comics for eighteen months, therefore I can't guarantee the price. If you have access to Newbury Comics, though, you might be able to get to a Turn It Up, which regularly gets OJC still in the shrink wrap (as well as used CDs in good condition) for $8 (I believe there are discounts for large purchases). I'd contact them to see what they have.
Curiouser and curiouser...have found a Verve Vault sampler from Amazon from 9/09 in Fraunhofer. Also at eMu 10/09 All Day Long by Kenny Burrell, also Montreaux '77 by Oscar Peterson. 12/09 three Oscar Peterson - Saturday Night..., Last Call..., Encore....At The Blue Note as well. Most interesting Gary Moore Essential Montreaux 12/09 eMu - Fraunhofer, have tracks from the same release from Guvera - LAME. Haven't found one track in Fraunhofer from Guvera yet...gotta get to the real job.
Edit- con't: Went through all the Guvera tracks on the laptop here at work, none are in Fraunhofer, although interestingly many are encoded in LAME 3.98 or 3.96, but are labeled as Stereo rather than Joint Stereo, and have the ID3 Tag of v2.3, which they share with Fraunhofer releases, so these labels combined with Unknown as the Encoded With may not necessarily indicate Fraunhofer , as I was afraid they might on some 7digital and Amazon downloads. It'll take more tech knowledge than I have to figure that out.
Now that you mention it...some, but not most, of my Fantasy/Prestige albums turn out to be in Fraunhofer. Haven't looked closely at the dates, but it seems to be mainly recent purchases, although some of these are in LAME. I should add, many of the LAME rips have relatively low bitrates...though not as low as the Fraunhofers.
Well, life is short, and I doubt I will press it too far, but sure seems like they ought to deliver what they (still) claim they are delivering! I guess I would rather have these great albums in car-radio sound than not at all, but the fact is we didn't get what we thought we were buying. Btw, a quick look at (not recent) Amazon purchases from Blue Note and ECM shows 256/LAME.
Hi Everyone:
Heres an update on your questions about UMG bit rate. We are arranging to receive all new content moving forward from UMG as FLAC files beginning early in the new year. These tracks will be on the site as LAME-encoded 256 vbr MP3s. We are also looking into getting a portion of UMG content already on the site re-delivered in FLAC (although this has not yet been confirmed). There are number of questions we cannot answer yet as they are still to be determined, such as when new UMG content will be available on the site with LAME encoding, if/when previously delivered content will be re-delivered, and how we will notify members of the encoding differences on various releases. Please be patient as we continue to work on this issue and we will get you answers as soon as we can.
Thanks and happy holidays to all,
Cathy
eMusic
Not going to be holding my breath, but at least it's not telling us to just piss off.
Aside from the "if/when" part, I'd say this is about as good as could have been expected. They are copping to the mistake, which I didn't really think they were going to do. I am certain that upgrading all those rips is going to be a massive undertaking, and believe that she can't tell us "when." Now if we can just get her past "if."
Bwahahah! Back from the dead. Actually just to note that I downloaded (after testing one track) the new Teddy Thompson album Bella and it seems that eMusic is indeed presenting at least this new UMG product (Verve Forecast in this case) in LAME encoding with a respectable bitrate. Liked what I heard (before I fell asleep, which does not reflect on Teddy) and it sounded good.
One down, 250 thousand to wait for.
Is there any way to tell what's what without downloading test tracks? There's bunches of Universal stuff I'd get but right now I'm holding off on all of it, plus all the Fantasy/Concord stuff.
The only criteria I have is a release, or rather added to eMu, date of 1/15/11 or later. Someone posted something about how to add samples to iTunes so that the rate gets displayed but I think it was via Windows and don't recall the trick.
Comments
Edit- it's official. Concord Music Group is, in fact, distributed by Universal. Quickly, Watson, the needle.
I politely replied with the suggestion that they actually read my message. And credit my @#$! account...
Meanwhile, is any Fantasy and/or Prestige safe? I got tracks from another recent release on another (indie) label, which were fine (LAME).
r.e. Fantasy I don't believe any of it is safe because Universal is now, and has been for a least a little while, the Third Party Distributor for the Concord Group. 7digital for instance often has Unknown on the encoding in Get Info in iTunes, but last year's DLs are either in LAME or if Unknown are in Joint Stereo like LAME. I got The Singles Vol. 9 by James Brown from them about a month ago and it's Unknown but in plain Stereo like Fraunhofer with the same v2.3 ID Tag, same as the Rollins and Davis I got snookered on this week at eMu. Some of Amazon's stuff with UMG ties is coming up the same way, too. Not looking good in the bit rate department.
Edit- con't: Went through all the Guvera tracks on the laptop here at work, none are in Fraunhofer, although interestingly many are encoded in LAME 3.98 or 3.96, but are labeled as Stereo rather than Joint Stereo, and have the ID3 Tag of v2.3, which they share with Fraunhofer releases, so these labels combined with Unknown as the Encoded With may not necessarily indicate Fraunhofer , as I was afraid they might on some 7digital and Amazon downloads. It'll take more tech knowledge than I have to figure that out.
Well, life is short, and I doubt I will press it too far, but sure seems like they ought to deliver what they (still) claim they are delivering! I guess I would rather have these great albums in car-radio sound than not at all, but the fact is we didn't get what we thought we were buying. Btw, a quick look at (not recent) Amazon purchases from Blue Note and ECM shows 256/LAME.
Not going to be holding my breath, but at least it's not telling us to just piss off.
One down, 250 thousand to wait for.