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 October 1, 2008 The Digital Music Revolution: What Download Sites Have to Offer -- Part One Ten or 15 years ago, I would buy a CD, then make a cassette copy so I could listen to the music in my car. Shortly thereafter, when I bought a CD player for my wheels, I could play the same disc at home or on the road. Just last week I downloaded Walter Brecker’s new album, Circus Money, in the FLAC format, and converted it to a WAV file. (My iTunes browser doesn’t like FLAC but is fine with WAV.) Having to go on a short road trip and wanting to hear the album as I drove, I burned a CDR from the WAV file. If I’d had a newer head unit installed in my car, I could have ported the file over without a CD ever being involved. That’s the future. CDs aren’t dead, but their sales are waning; over the next five years they’ll probably gradually fade away as they’re replaced by digital downloads. The producers of recordings love this idea as much as many listeners do. Think of it: Even if a record label uses an independent distributor (such as the subject of this article), there’s no physical product to increase their costs -- no CDs to press, ship, and warehouse. There should be a considerable financial savings for record labels, a portion of which could be passed along to the consumer. Digital files have been around for some time, as MP3 files. Though the resolution of MP3s is quite low, they’re fine for use in an iPod at the gym or other purposes where music was not the primary focus. (My iPod Shuffle actually requires that files be downconverted to MP3 resolution before they can be loaded.) Now, however, various websites offer high-resolution downloads that rival CD quality, and in many cases surpass it. This can take a little getting used to. For a month after I began playing files on my main audio system via the Slim Devices (now Logitech) Squeezebox digital music server, I would start to turn off the CD player, only to realize that the joke was on me: The CD player wasn’t turned on. I was listening to a file. They can and do sound that good. In this column I’ll introduce you to some websites that offer downloads and tell you how they work, what titles they offer, and at what cost. I’ll also try to update you on changes as time goes on; in the rapidly changing field of digital downloads, some sites are sure to be revamped soon.
Chesky offers downloads in three formats: AIFF, FLAC, and 320kbps MP3. I chose AIFF, an uncompressed format which works well with my setup. Once you choose your format, your HDtracks account remembers it -- you don’t have to choose the format again unless you want to change it, which you do from a drop-down screen that appears on your title’s track list or in your shopping cart. All HDtracks files are free of Digital Rights Management (DRM); once you’ve purchased a file, you can use it any legal way you see fit: play it in your computer or iPod, send it to your main sound system, burn a CD for your own use, or all of the above. You also receive a PDF file that contains the cover art and the complete liner notes. When you sign up at HDtracks, you pick a screen name and password so that, in the future, you can get logged in quickly and go right to your account. With your first order, you’re asked which payment method you wish to use (MasterCard, Visa, or American Express). The average cost per album is $11.98; the prices of individual songs and segments vary, depending on content. This is one handy thing about downloading: You can pick and choose what you want without having to buy the entire album. HDtracks offers the largest number of labels of any download emporium, and many are audiophile labels: Chesky itself, of course, as well as Reference Recordings, MDG, and Acoustic Disc. There’s also ASV, Blue Plate, Collegium, Daemon, Koch, MaxJazz, Oh Boy, Silva Screen, Wildflower, and several dozen more. BIS, SFS, Harmonia Mundi, and Arabesque are scheduled to be added by the end of September. There are hundreds of titles to choose from in all categories: classical, pop, rock, folk, jazz, soundtrack, you name it. You can easily see all tracks available for each title, and can click to sample a bit of each one. The menus, lists, and instructions are easy to navigate. Once you’ve selected your titles, you click on the Download button. HDtracks, which has its own download manager, then creates a folder on your desktop, where it’s easy to find. You can download an entire title with a single click. The files I order automatically go to my iTunes setup folder, though sometimes, when HDtracks names it something I wouldn’t, I have to search for a title once it’s been downloaded. Once I’ve found the file, I rename it and play it. It’s that simple. This is a great site for the novice downloader. Once HDtracks makes 24/96 files available, it will no doubt be the premier download site on the Net. With an exceptionally large choice of titles, reasonable prices, and one-click ease, it offers a positive, rewarding experience. And even before you spend any money, you can experience the quality of HDtracks by downloading a free set of tracks -- just go to the site’s home page; you can’t miss it. Try it, and I have no doubt you’ll be convinced that high-resolution downloads are the future of recorded sound. Next month: Linn Records, where you can purchase anything from a single song to Linn’s entire catalog, preloaded on an external hard drive. . . . Rad Bennett
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We begin with HDtracks (