Qobuz - wonderful francophone site
If you speak French, I'd heartily recommend Qobuz, which combines a music download service with an excellent music magazine and bulletin boards.
My experience with them was exactly opposite to the eMusic nightmare. I bought an album and had trouble downloading it. The ensuing correspondence with the Qobuz support team was prompt, cordial and helpful, and the new version of the downloader fixed the problem, which was trying to download from behind a proxy server.
The main page is at
http://www.qobuz.com/
And I should point out a couple of real bargains: Georges Pludermacher's complete Beethoven sonatas and Diabelli variations for 10 euro, ditto the complete concertos and ditto the complete Ravel piano music. Check here:
http://www.qobuz.com/index.php?CTRL__AMC_ctrl_recherche_avancee=ctrl_recherche_avancee&motscles=pludermacher
My experience with them was exactly opposite to the eMusic nightmare. I bought an album and had trouble downloading it. The ensuing correspondence with the Qobuz support team was prompt, cordial and helpful, and the new version of the downloader fixed the problem, which was trying to download from behind a proxy server.
The main page is at
http://www.qobuz.com/
And I should point out a couple of real bargains: Georges Pludermacher's complete Beethoven sonatas and Diabelli variations for 10 euro, ditto the complete concertos and ditto the complete Ravel piano music. Check here:
http://www.qobuz.com/index.php?CTRL__AMC_ctrl_recherche_avancee=ctrl_recherche_avancee&motscles=pludermacher
Comments
So you see, Nereffid, your old grandpa was right about cutting off from the mother country after all.
/head explodes
I could well be missing where it says you have to sign up for X months to get the freebies.
Anyone with better French want to confirm/set me straight?
Thanks.
Craig
/head explodes "
OK, OK. Evil Empire?
1. Josef Suk sampler - 4 classical tracks
2. Qobuz sampler #1 - mostly classical
3. Agnus Dei - a Naxos sacred music comp
4. Bee Jazz 5th anniversary comp
Three of them are lossless, the Qobuz sampler is 320 mp3.
I'll need to think on that.
Craig
The link to the story is half way down the page, but I thought I'd give the main page link, as it gives you a flavour of the site - coverage of everything from the death of that wonderful entertainer Elisabeth Soderstrom to a story on piano manufacturers moving their factories east. And the lossless deal too.
Even if you don't download, it's a great way of brushing up your French.
http://www.gramophone.co.uk/editorial/tune-surfing-december-2009
"some 875 Hyperion titles on offer probably the biggest offering in cyber-retail"
I, for one, am heading over there to pick up the Ibragimova Bach violin sonatas and partitas.
Some of the "50 Best" series are also available cheap - 3-disc sets for 2.49/3.19.