Listening to classical music

I just got my Blackberry curve and it is great - except for the issues I am having with music downloads. I bought two full albums of classical music on iTunes. I had no problem synching the current music I bought through iTunes. But, when I tried to synch the classical music I bought using the Media Synch app, they will not synch - Proteched (Digital Rights Management).
I am very confused. I don't understand how to figure out in iTunes whether things are going to synch or not synch (protected or not protected). Also, I could care less where I buy my music. Is there a better place to buy music to avoid this issue? I assumed that since the blackberry software referenced iTunes, it would be fully compatable. Obviously, it is not.
Any suggestions would be appreciated. I need to learn this music for my church choir and I bought this blackberry to replace my phone AND my ipod - so the music aspect is a priority for me!
Thanks!
Solved!
Go to Solution.

The problem lies within the song files themselves. Partly to blame is Apple and iTunes also. When you say "current" and "classical" music, are you talking about the time they were purchased thru iTunes? That's probably why your current songs are able to sync, and the older ones not.
Basically what it comes down to is the difference in the types of song files that you purchased. iTunes only until just recently embedded a form of "copy protection" called Digital Rights Management (DRM) into the songs you purchase/download that would only let you play/sync those songs on matched Apple branded software and devices, thus preventing you from simply copying the file and giving it to a friend for free to play on their iPod or other player without paying for it themselves. It's much like how you can't just simply pop a DVD into your computer and copy it to another disc. You will never, through legal means, be able to play those copy-protected files on your BlackBerry.
The way to tell if an iTunes song is copy-protected is to either look at the song's info/properties option in iTunes, or check the file's extension. If the extension is ".m4p" it's protected
To avoid this issue in the future you can either illegally remove the DRM from the song files using decryption software, buy only songs in iTunes that are designated "iTunes Plus" (which are not copy protected and is supposed to be the new standard for all songs in the iTunes store as of now, and may cost extra), or use another digital music store such as Amazon, eMusic, Napster, etc. - where they do not apply copy protection to any of their files (although sometimes sacrificing hardly-noticeable sound quality). I personally recommend Amazon since the quality is above standard, and usually songs are a full 10 cents cheaper than the iTunes store. The only obstacle that you sometimes will run into is that the selection on those other sites may not be as vast as iTunes.
DRM and iTunes is considered by some consumers as a marketing scheme and infringement of ownership rights - iTunes software is free, but if you want to play purchased music outside of that program, you are forced to use/buy an iPod. When you purchase a CD, it is phsically yours to own and you can do whatever you want with it - play it on any CD player, sell it, lend it to someone to listen to, etc. With DRM encrypted music that is not the case and you can't do any of those things, but you're still paying the same money for it as if you were buying a CD, so many feel you should have the same capabilities/rights.

Similar Messages

Can I listen to different music on my computer while Apple TV is playing?

Hi,
I don't see anything in the literature online that answers this question, so I'm hoping someone who own's a 2nd Gen Apple TV can answer this. Here's what I'd like to do:
1. Listen to classical music from iTunes on my computer while working in my home office; and
2. Allow my kids to listen to holiday music from iTunes on my computer via AppleTV in the family room.
I currently use an Airport Express to stream music from my computer to the family room, but we both have to listen to the same music. If I switch playlists, they hear it out there, too.
I'm hoping the Apple TV can access my iTunes library (with Home Sharing) to stream music without requiring iTunes to be playing the exact same music on the computer speakers.
Anyone know if this is possible, or willing to give it a quick try?
Thank you,
Pete

pnush wrote:
1. Listen to classical music from iTunes on my computer while working in my home office; and
2. Allow my kids to listen to holiday music from iTunes on my computer via AppleTV in the family room.
yes that is not a problem.

Classical Music Section

I was looking through the iTunes classical music section, and I feel that it is a little underdeveloped. However, I can understand that seeing as how not many people today listen to classical music that often. But I was wondering if there is a way I could become someone who write the biographies and reviews for different classical performers. For instance, if you look up Jascha Heifetz, who was basically the greatest violinist ever born, the bio for his is only 4 or 5 words long, and I think I could write a longer, much more interesting one. So my question is this:
Who writes these bios/reviews, and who picks out what music should be put into the store for us to download?

Sorry, but no one here works for Apple, so no one can say with certainty where the reviews, etc. come from. The best way for a normal user like us to post bios, etc. is as an album review.
As to what is on the store, it's usually not a matter or "selection" but rather what the record companies and artists are willing (or able) to license to Apple.

Folder names and Classical Music

I know I am probably in the minority but I mainly listen to classical music. The iTunes default folder naming convention uses the Artist to create folder names - THIS IS NEXT TO USELESS FOR CLASSICAL MUSIC!!
Can this be altered in any way to use the Composer instead of the artist?
Ideally, the folder structure shoudl either be Composer\Album or Composer\Genre
Any Ideas?
Thanks.
PS.Am using iTunes 7.3

Hi, I've been struggling with the shocking limitations of iTunes since I finally took the plunge and bought an iPod shuffle (for a 12 hour journey in prospect) last week. It seems simply incredible to me that a company with Apple's experience and reputation should put out such primitive software - and this isn't a beta, it's version 7.1! Why can't we specify the sort-default? Why can't we define an album to be played straight through, but not necessarily with its pauses between movements elided? And why can't we suspend the amazingly tyrannical auto-typing that won't allow any version of a word than the one you typed first, without you 'cheating' by copying and pasting from another application so that the programme doesn't recognise the keystrokes?
What I've devised, as a way to insist that my Brahms symphonies are played whole and in the right order, is using 'get info' on each group of movements to remove the 'album title' text altogether; then using 'get info' separately for each track, defining the name of each with an album name, 'a', 'b', 'c' and so on. As long as you only have 26 tracks you need to keep together, it works! There are obvious limitations, not least the time and trouble it takes, but the next step for me is to list the 157 Carl Nielsen songs I have by numerical sequence, ripping out 'The Lesser Known Nielsen' from the whole lot (which shuffles the into artist order - the software is blinded by classical song recitals shared by more than one performer) and replacing each track's album title with '000001', '0000002' and so on - though I'm going to enter a global album title of '000000' for the lot before I start, to save myself typing four, five or six 0s each time!
Apple, if you're listening: this software isn't up to scratch, and even if classical music lovers are in the minority, and less likely than most to buy their music from your site, this level of shoddiness diminishes you. Sort it out, please.

ITunes match and classical music.

I listen to classical music, and my iPhone won't download certain tracks over the 3G network. It says I must connect to wi-fi. I assume that it is because the file sizes are too large since movements of symphonies tend to be 10 or 15 minutes long. Anyone else having this problem and is there a solution? I know I can download them over wi-fi, but doesn't that defeat the purpose of iTunes Match which should allow you to have access to your whole library ANYWHERE?

Individual downloads over 20MB require wifi. It can't be changed. Like all things in life, there are limitations.
http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

ITunes Match & Classical Music

It seems to me that iTunes (and iTunes Match) are primarily designed for pop music and the like, hence the constant use of the word "songs". My iTunes library consists of classical albums (all with artwork) and in some cases I'll have two are more albums containing different readings of the same work. The works are divided into movements and each movement generally is one track. Hence a symphony with five movements will have five tracks (not songs!). I am thinking of using iTunes Match, and my question is this: when iTunes Store tries to match my albums with their 26 million songs, if they find that they have, e.g. Beethoven Symphony 9, will they match that to mine even though it may not be the version that I have? What I am really asking is: if I use iTunes Match will I end up with EXACTLY what I already have in iTunes on my iMac?

I only listen to classical music on my iTunes, and when my spouse installed iTunes Match for me it was a bad experience
First of all all my playlists and play counts disappeared. Then, everything iTunes found a match it would rename that album to whatever it was called in the store. Well classical alb,a don't usually have titles, so any old thing would pop up. One album came out as "featuring Vladimir Horowitz" with no indication of what the music was. I had organized my entire library by composer and piece, so this was really heart attack inducing for me.
In the end, I wasted the 25 dollars by turning it off permanently, and using my Mac time capsule to restore my library to the version before iTunes matched was installed. In my opinion it is NOT good for classical music lovers.

Spotlight classical music composer

"I guess no one listens to classical music anymore"
spotlight on the iphone does not search composer names which makes it useless for classical music and hence for me.
A internet search for this issue returns no results which leads me to this conclusion.
I hope this can be changed in the future.
or am I missing a setting?

the only setting i can think of is
Settings -> General -> Search Results -> Music
if that is on and it's still not finding it suggest it at
http://apple.com/feedback/iphone.html
there is a search in the ipod app itself... launch the ipod app and choose Artists then scroll down and a search will appear at the top... im not sure if if it syncs over more than artist, title, and album...

How do I set up a wirelss music system with a MacBook Pro? Need advice on what to use: Bluetooth or AirPort. I don't have speakers yet. I listen mostly to classical music. Any advice on what kind of speakers?

I live in a small apartment and would like speakers in the bedroom and the living room. I like the "all-in-one" units. Would two of these sound better than one in the living room? I have a wireless modem from my phone company, but I have not hooked it up yet. What is AirPort and is it necessary to do what I want to do?

If your goal is to have a "whole home" audio experience, then using separate speakers in both the living room and bedroom would the proper approach.
If you decide to go the AirPort Express Base Station (AX) route, then you would need a minimum of two of these devices; one each for each room. The AX is a wireless Internet router with built-in audio. The AX's audio port supports both analog and digital optical audio output and will work with either self-powered speakers or an audio receiver that supports either connection type.
Classical music has very fine dynamics and, of course, the better the speaker, the better the sound reproduction. However, you don't need to go overboard as the AX is limited to the audio files that iTunes can play.

How can I listen to the music/songs or watch the movies in my iTunes library if I've damaged/lost my iPod and use a system-reovered/new computer?

I accidentally dropped my iPod Classic 160 GB into the toilet
bowl of my home sometime ago, and unfortunately enough,
as misfortunes seldom come singly, I got a serious problem
with my computer ( an HP Desktop) and had to do the system
recovery which, as you know, removes everything in the system
drive. After having reinstalled iTunes, I thought I should be able
to listen to the music I kept in the Library of iTunes, but I don't
see any of my music/songs or movies there. Thus come my
three questions below:
1) How can I locate and enjoy the music or movies I saved in
the iTunes Library with a computer after its system recovery
or even a new computer?
2) Like the current situation I'm in, when my iPod is damaged
or lost, can I still enjoy the music or movies saved in the
iTunes Library from my computer ( meaning without an iPod)
if I have the iTunes application installed in it? How? Do I have
to sign in my account? Sign in with my e-mail address saved
in my account? Where can I find the sign-in webpage of iTunes?
(Please provide me with the related link of the webpage.)
3) The above issue brings up another question, are the music/songs
and movies as well as other programs in the iTunes Library saved
in my computer or in Apple's server?
Please, with your kind patience, let me know as detailed as possible.
And also let me know what Apple's e-mail address I can use to ask
for support on such issues as described above? Although I always
prefer asking for support or help by e-mail, I would also appreciate
if you could let me know the phone number I can use to ask for
such help.
Best regards,
Lawrence Wood

System Recovery generally assumes you have backed up your data somewhere first. If not, you're in trouble.
Depending on your region you can recover most of your previous iTunes purchases. Install iTunes. Use Store > Authorize This Computer... and Store > Sign In... then select iTunes Store in the left-hand column and click Purchased in the Quick Links section on the right. You should now be looking at a list of past purchases that you can download to your computer.
See also: HT2519 - Downloading past purchases from the App Store, iBookstore, and iTunes Store
Your purchase history is preserved on Apple's servers. Anything you ripped from CD or downloaded from elsewhere was stored on your computer and should have been backed up.
There is no live telephone support for iTunes issues. For problems with a particular purchase contact the iTunes Store support staff through the report a problem links in your account history, or via Contact Support. For general issues with usage this is the place to get help.
tt2

Why is iTunes11 against classical music?

As someone involved in the international regulation of cyberspace and the standards that enable it to function, I have watched Apple recently make a number of mistakes that are increasingly isolating it from governments and the commercial, particularly business, marketplace. Their non-participation in many of the key international committees in our collaborative world is a pity, not just for Apple, but for its customers - including me. In particular, they aren't participating in key cybersecurity groups, so there is a real possibility in the future that Apple's hardware will be physically unable to connect to any trusted network for the handling of sensitive information, such as your patient record. Their folly is breathtaking. I am discovering more shortcomings in Apples latest products, which is a pity. Most of these affect me professionally.
However, this one affects me personally. It is their refusal to engage with loyal customers that is the most frustrating issue - you can tell by the mood in these support communities. What has really got me is the way in which Apple has really gone to war on classical music folks in iTunes 11, by removing a wide range of controls for managing and listening to tracks (not songs, these are (media) tracks, Apple, not all musicians are singers!). In iTunes 11, Apple has completely failed to understand that Albums have Artists (as well as Album Artists) and Composers. And Composers are at least as important as Albums or Artists.
In iTunes 11, when I click on an Album, I cannot get it to show a composer for the tracks on the Album under any circumstances. Worse, when you search on a composer using keywords, it doesn't find all the tracks for that composer (so there is a problem in the search engine, which worked fine previously). So my/our ability to sort our music to listen to albums or tracks by a specific composer, which has been in iTunes for as long as I can remember, has gone in iTunes 11. So too has reliable, accurate searching. What a shambles. It lays bare Apple's failure to test products properly - I regret to say this is happening elsewhere with an increasing frequency.
Has anyone found a way to correct Apple's massive errors and restore the flexibility of iTunes10 in iTunes11 to:
reconfigure the Album window so that it displays attributes that the user requires, not what Apple's uncultured nerd limits the user to seeing.
extend the View options which are far too limited. This is a database, so I should have enough controls to manage and view the data
configure the Bar that has Songs, Albums, Artists, Genres, Videos and Radio to add other attributes, particularly Composers and Album Artist
find ways to sort by any attribute in other views. I can only get the attribute list to show when you have Songs selected.
For Apple. Pay attention - I want my flexibility back!! Remember Apple - the Customer is Always Right!

You are SO right about making things useful to the user:
Interactions should be minmal to achieve what the user wants to do or what the user does most-often, not what you might want them to do and not trying to alter how they want to do it, particularly if it makes it less intuitive.
User interfaces should be natural and intuitive, not convoluted nor indirect, requiring the least thought and action, with ALL natural actions being in front of the user at EACH and EVERY step of a process.
'Pretty' should be an addition or an option, way down the list past 'Functional' and 'Usable'.
It matters less, strangely, what genre or type we're discussing, the issues are the same: things which were once easy, natural and intuitive now require more actions in many cases to achieve the desired results while things that are decorative but less useful require few (but not always fewER) actions.
Saddening, isn't it?

Organising classical music

I started to write this as a response to somebody else's query, but then I thought no, I'm asking for general guidance on the best way to organise classical music to be listened to on my Mac and on my iPod.
I know that classical music lovers are a (threatened) minority, but oh, how I wish Apple would heed these regular sounds of anguish from us.
*What we need*
The 'Song' is an almost meaningless concept when organising classical music; 'Artist' is not much better.
Classical music fans may want to:
1. sort by composer
2. within composer, possibly sort by type (eg symphony)
3. within type, sort by work (eg Symphony 1)
4. within work sort by movement.
*Nested folders?*
A pretty obvious case for nested folders? (Not to mention having a clear consistent way to order and group movements.)
Yes - provided you dont have an iPod.
Thus I can have a folder 'Beethoven', within that I have a folder 'Symphonies' and within that I can have a playlist 'Symphony 5' ( actually two playlists for my two different recordings, otherwise I risk hearing the first movement twice before moving to the second movement). To ensure the movements are played in order, I have to ensure they are listed in the right order in Names (ie have 1,2,3,4 in the title).
This cludge sems to work in ITunes (although how nice it would be if Names and Albums were replaced by something a bit more akin to the world of classical music, and how nice it would be if one could have an Opus field.
*Not if you have an iPod*
But then this scheme falls apart if I sync with my iPod, which can't handle nested folders.
I quote from my message of 21 October 2006:
+... is there any sign of Apple introducing nested folders for the iPod (as it did with iTunes) and if not is there any manageable workaround for organising large collections of music?+
If you have a playlist for every symphony within a folder called Symphonies within Beethoven, you end up with at least nine playlists to scroll through! (Imagine the effect on my 400+ Bach items.)
I have found the only two useable viewing methods on the ipod are Playlists and Composers and both have serious problems. This is how they seem to work:
Under Playlists on the iPod:
If in iTunes, you have a playlist Symphony 1, within a folder Symphonies, within a folder Beethoven,
on your iPod there will be an item for each playlist, ie lines for each of the nine symphonies And if you select one, you will get the four movements of that symphony.
If you had made a playlist Beethoven Symphonies, there would be just one item in the playlist - but then once selected there would be all the movements of all the symphonies.
Under Composers on the iPod,
everything by Beethoven is listed, with a line per movement! Things are better if you have sussed (as I did not) that if the Album name for All the movements of Symphony 1 was exactly the same, eg 'Beethoven: Symphony 1', then this particular item appears once in the list.
*So, what am I doing?*
When not cursing Apple, I have already grouped music in folders by composer/broad category of music (in the case of the main composers) and under one playlist for minor composers (ie ones which I dont have much music for).
I'm painfully renaming every Name of every piece so that the movements appear in the correct order.
I'm painfully renaming the Album name of each piece so that all movements have exactly the same Album name (starting with 'Composername: )
(By the way I tried and abandoned some people's strategies involving calling Composers 'Artists' and vice versa. Too messy, and besides, I do from time to time download the metadata from Gracenote CDDB - deeply flawed though it is - and don't want to have to do more editing than necessary.
So, for example, for the first movement of one recording of Beethoven's Symphony Number 1 I have the following:
Name-- Symphony 1 In C, Op. 21 - 1. Adagio Molto, Allegro Con Brio (crucial that the movements are numbered, to get them in the right order)
Artist-- Nikolaus Harnoncourt; Chamber Orchestra Of Europe
Composer-- Beethoven (I also put Bach for JS and only put the initials for the other Bachs)
Album-- Beethoven: Symphony 1 In C, Op. 21
*Is there a better way to do this?*
Wouldn't be surprised. But you don't expect Apple software to be so bad that simple users like me have to work out a logic to make things work on both Mac and iPod.

ed2345 wrote:
What, for example will you do with an albmum of Maria Callas singing arias from many composers?
I have indeed got an album of Maria Callas and I put each song under the composer. (I can after all select Callas under Artist and get all her songs that way.)
ed2345 wrote:
As a workaround for the iPod, I suggest to manually add the composer in to the Artist field (since the Composer field does not show on the iPod).
As I said, I tried that and, apart from finding it a messy fix, it means changing EVERY entry, whereas sometimes I get a semi decent one from the CD or the database. (Actually the Composer field does show on the iPod - the problem is that I scroll for ages to get through Bach.)
I'm pretty certain I sent feedback a couple of years ago, but see absolutely no signs of development of the metadata behind iTunes or the iPod. Sad. I'm an Apple user going back 20 years.

Nokia 3120 Classic music files.

I have an Apple computer with ITunes . Is it possible to download the music files directly onto a micro SD card , then insert the the card in the phone a listen to the music?. Nokia don't have Apple software , only PC software. Any way of doing this with music files on a Mac? Thanks

grumblegrumblegrumble
the number of times i've read "nokia doesn't have mac software" is seriously starting to get to me.
i'm about 2-more-msgs-of-this-type away from just deleting my account on this forum.
http://www.nokia.com/mac
mac software.
from nokia.
your phone is support (nokia 3120 classic).
download the program called Nokia Multimedia Transfer.
and NOKIA!! CAN YOU PLEASE MAKE IT MORE EVIDENT TO PEOPLE WHO WON'T SEARCH THE FORUMS THAT YOU DO INDEED HAVE MAC SOFTWARE??
*sigh*
i'm having a bad day, can you tell?
i'm frustrated with the redundance of this question, not in you personally for having asked it.
goodluck,
-bit
N95-1 ---> N97-NAM ---> N900 ---> E7-00 + N900 (I use them both)
(N95 was pretty good, N97 had potential but utterly failed to deliver, N900 is absurdly good. Those of you wondering, "should I try N900/Maemo/MeeGo"? The answer is a resounding YES)

ITunes and Classical Music

I've got a question about iTunes and classical-music playback. The symphonies, concertos, etc. that I've got are all properly tracked (1 of 4, 2 of 4, etc.) and albumed (1 of 1, etc.). The problem that's driving me nuts comes when I play them on the iPod. I'll select, for example, Beethoven's 6th symphony and playback will consist of ... Movement 1, Movement 3, Movement 2 and Movement 4. What have I done wrong. I've tried clicking "yes" for compilations and still nothing.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Powerbook G4 15w/SuperDrive Mac OS X (10.3.9)

This might seem obvious, but make sure "shuffle" is not selected under Settings. I shuffle when I play pop and often to forget to switch the setting off when I decide to listen to classical.

Shuffle, Grouping, and Classical Music

Okay, I've been struggling with advanced shuffles in iTunes. Here's the dilemma... most classical music has several movements.
This becomes troublesome when I try to shuffle my music. I'll often listen to iTunes for 6 hours running, and would like it to randomly pick music. However, I would also like it to pick the movements of my classical music in order.
I've successfully shuffled by album with my U2 collection, however I can't seem to shuffle by grouping with my classical collection. I assume this is because some tracks in a single grouping have different albums, but why would iTunes do this?
Example of desired behavior:
-randomly select Beethoven's 5th.
-play movements 1-4 of Beethoven's 5th in order
-randomly select something else, say Mozart's 21st Piano Concerto.
-play movements 1-3 of Mozart's 21st PC in order
-randomly select something else.
Now, is there a way to do this in iTunes? How about Party Shuffle? I use this feature all the time, and would love to use it for classical, too. And are there any ways to do shuffle like this on an iPod I'm considering for purchase?

Do you have the cds of the music?
If so, reimport the cd. Before importing, select the track which you want grouped together. I.e: 5-8. Select track 5, hold down the shift key and arrow down to track 8. Then, go to the advanced menu at the top of the menu bar and select "join cd tracks." Now import. This creates one long track including tracks 5-8.
Got it?
If this is already imported music, and you don't want to reimport it, there are applications that will let you join already imported music. It will not join protected AAC files. You would have to burn those to a disc and reimport.
iTunes Join 3 is one. It cost $10.00. Note: I haven't used it myself.

ITunes 11 and Classical Music: a catastrophe!

Been plyaing around with iTunes 11, and I am sorry to say, listeners of classical music should absolutly avoid this update. The usual setting on iTunes 10 form classicla music is to have the composer on the left column followed by the grouping. This is impossible in iTunes 11. Worst, it's almost impossible to sort your music by composer, and completly impossible if your viewing a playlist. The ONLY way possible consists of selecting Music Library, and in this view, you can see the column browser. Its workable, but incredibly poor, and takes away any interest any classical music listener might have in switching to this version: the big advantage of iTunes 11 is how colorful it is, but this view is drab as heck, almost sovietic in its colour scheme!
Obviously, the new iTunes has been designed by people who have absolutly no clue how to classical music works. That's fair enough, we're a minority among all music listeners. I still hope Apple will correct this. iTunes 11 is a very average update in general, and a catastrophe for us. Please, make an effort, this is supposed to be your flagship software for all your iPods.

Individual downloads over 20MB require wifi. It can't be changed. Like all things in life, there are limitations.
http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

Listening to classical music

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