Where to purchase dowloadable classical music?

I was looking for a particular thirty or forty year old recording of a Beethoven symphony today and it's not available at iTunes.
Any suggestions for alternative legitimate downloadable sites that sell music that I can import into iTunes?
Thank you.

Thank you for the suggestion. Actually, I began collecting CDs more than 20 years ago and have a collection of close to 1,000 all of which have been ripped into iTunes using Apple Lossless encoding. (~200 GB)
In iTunes I have four recordings of the Beethoven sixth symphony and was comparing the styles today of the different conductors. I remember hearing Erich Leinsdorf conduct it and wanted to hear his recording of it. I’ve become so used to the responsiveness of the Internet to get things “when I want them,” I didn’t realize how difficult it is to find classical recordings for download.
Thanks again.

Similar Messages

Classical music on iTunes: lack of proper gaps between movements

I have the latest generation iPod and am using the latest version of iTunes. I purchase primarily classical music on iTunes and am quite annoyed that the gaps between movements (or "tunes" of an "album") are not reproduced properly the way they are on any CD, including of course the original recordings that the digital tunes derive from. Specifically, one movement runs into the next with little or no silence in between. (I am not talking about crossfade, which I disabled.) I submitted a complaint to iTunes but got no human response, just a free "tune."
Does anyone know of this problem being addressed by the iTunes Store? Alternatively, does anyone know an easy way to add a few seconds of silence to the end of selected tunes?
Many thanks in advance for any help!

I don't know of any scripts that will do that or a program that will do that for you. But if you click on the composer and then hit Cmd i. You can mass change all of the information by that composer. You can do the same thing with Album and Genre.

My ipod classic will dowload any music from itunes it says corrupt, and it will not restore the device

My ipod classic will not dowload any music from itunes it says corrupt, and it will not restore the device

What happens when you try to restore the device to factory settings? Any error messages? If so, what is the exact wording of the error message(s)?
B-rock

ı wanna delete my purcahe but it did hide and where is the hidding ı wanna delete my purchase please because I am not looking a few purchase (dowloaded at the apple store) help me and send message to my email thank you have good work.

ı wanna delete my purchase but it did hide and where is the hidding ı wanna delete my purchase please because I am not looking a few purchase (dowloaded at the apple store) help me and send message to my email thank you have good work.

what?

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.

Itunes & ATV: Classical Music Question

Hi - I'm usually really excellent with organizing my library of classical but I just caem across something via my new Apple TV which has stumped me - I'm sure there is an easy fix...just not sure what it is. Here is the scenario:
I have in my library multiple complete sets of the Beethoven Symphonies (1-9). I don't have any issues when using iTunes alone or even my iPhone with this - on my Applek TV, I scroll down in the COMPOSER field and choose Beethoven. I am then presented with an alphabetical list of the works in my library on the track level - when you get down to the "Symphonies" instead of seeing:
Beethoven: Symphony 1: mvt 1 (Bernstein)
Beethoven: Symphony 2: mvt 2 (Bernstein)
etc., etc.
I see something like
Beethoven: Symphony 1: mvt 1 (Bernstein)
Beethoven: Symphony 1: mvt 1 (Abbado)
Obviously this would "go away" if I just chose this by ALBUM - in any event, is this where either the GROUPING or SORTING would help - I have yet to use them and I rarely see them used on purchased music as well. Thank you ina dvance for any help.
Steve

From my experience, a good way to handle this issue is through playlists. I first create a new playlist for CD or CD set. When the CD is loaded and its contents appears in a new iTunes window, I select all of the tracks and drag them to the playlist. I've found it easier to work with the tracks within a playlist.
Once in a playlist, select the first track, right-click, select "get info", and select the tab labeled "sorting". There are 2 columns: the left one with "name", "artist", "album" , "album artist", "composer" etc, and the right with: "sort name", "sort artist", etc.
Because I use both an iPhone and and iPad where display space is limited, for the name, I have usually have something like this "Bach: Brandenburg #1 F 1-Allegro BWV 1046" but for the sort name "Bach: Brandenburg #1 BWV 1046-1" etc. For a piece in, for example, D minor I use "Dmin", and use musical notation for sharp and flat rather than the word or an abbreviation.
I've found absolutely no consistency in how tracks are numbered, sometimes with regular numerals, sometimes Roman numerals, occasional mislabeling, etc.
I'd like to know how others import and manage their classical music.

Using GarageBand for classical music

We have to set up a series of "clips" from Classical Music - Brahms, Beethoven et al - for classes to be taught at a summer school for Adults. We were recommended to use GarageBand. We were told you could go to the section we wanted - (music downloaded to I-Tunes) - and then do a start of the section move it to the end of the "section" and then save it as a "Track".
We are considerng buying an IPAD - as we have only a NANO - and can't see the screen.
Please advise.
Thank you.
Ann

Thank you for resonding. We were told at Best Buy all we would need is GarageBand. So - I appreciate your honesty that this appears to be not what we need.
The situation is as follows. My husband will teach in Aspen, CO this summer to Elderhostel people. Back in the days of drop the needle this was easy. But now - everything is digital. And, so he has been downloading music to ITunes. He wants to go to a section of a piece of music (say - within the 2nd movement and play where the "horns" come in. And, then go to another section within the 2nd movement to show the change in tempo and "feeling". And, be able to play that. And, he can't take the time of "fast forwarding" and hoping he stops at the right place. Once he has set these up - probably 40 to 50 start and stops for 6 lectures - then he would transfer everything over to IPAD.
We will purchase one -as we have wanted something small and portiable which has wifi.So we can access our emails and the WWW.
Does any of this make sense now? Is there MAC AP which would do what we are looking for. This is what Best Buy kid said we/he could do.
I do appreciate your respondingto me.
Thanks,
Ann

Using Shuffle for classical music

Am a new IPOD user and am looking for guidance on how to use "shuffle" with classical music .. specifically am looking for a way to have multiple tracks that make up one piece of music be treated as a "song" .. it would appear from what I have seen that shuffle will play a movement of a piece only (plays one track) .. Album is an option but would like a finer granularity if possible .. all suggestions appreciated

Thank you for resonding. We were told at Best Buy all we would need is GarageBand. So - I appreciate your honesty that this appears to be not what we need.
The situation is as follows. My husband will teach in Aspen, CO this summer to Elderhostel people. Back in the days of drop the needle this was easy. But now - everything is digital. And, so he has been downloading music to ITunes. He wants to go to a section of a piece of music (say - within the 2nd movement and play where the "horns" come in. And, then go to another section within the 2nd movement to show the change in tempo and "feeling". And, be able to play that. And, he can't take the time of "fast forwarding" and hoping he stops at the right place. Once he has set these up - probably 40 to 50 start and stops for 6 lectures - then he would transfer everything over to IPAD.
We will purchase one -as we have wanted something small and portiable which has wifi.So we can access our emails and the WWW.
Does any of this make sense now? Is there MAC AP which would do what we are looking for. This is what Best Buy kid said we/he could do.
I do appreciate your respondingto me.
Thanks,
Ann

Finding out what classical music is on offer . . .

This must be a dumb question, but how does one go about this?
I'm interested in the Beethoven string quartets but don't see where to go.
Thanks . . . Fortes

I am considering purchasing the Complete Works of Johannes Brahms on iTunes, a steal at $99.99. But, over half of Brahms' works are songs and choral works with tons of text in German and English translations. Will iTunes let me get all that material so I can print it out? And what about the descriptive/historical notes and photos of artists included in the original CD edition? This stuff is pretty important to folks who listen to this kind of music, far more important to us than "album art."
I realize that iTunes is geared to purchasers of pop songs, but why would Apple want to turn away a profitable niche market that they could easily serve with a little tweaking of their business plan? Do they need someone with Classical Music savvy to make this all happen? Allow me to offer my services!

How do I stop iTunes from re-altering my sorting info for classical music?

Hi there. Hope someone can help. This is really irritating me now.
I have a lot of classical music in my iTunes library. Since very early on I have taken the decision to alter the Artist name in the sort field to the name of the composer rather than the performer as the listing of artists in classical music is so inconsistent (sometimes it's the orchestra, or the orchestra & conductor, or just the conductor, or the soloists, or it changes from track to track). I have kept the performer's details in the Comments box.
This has been absolutely fine until the last year or so, when I have noticed that music that I have downloaded from the iTunes store automatically reverts to the original sorting information even though I've changed it. So, for instance, I will have changed "Alfred Brendel" to "Mozart" as the Artist for a Mozart piano sonata. And even though I have changed the Artist, the Album Artist, the Sort Artist and the Sort Album Artist ALL to Mozart and synced that successfully to my iPhone, the next time that I launch iTunes or turn on my iPhone it will all mysteriously have reverted to the original sorting information. And I don't want that for classical music - fine for rock, pop etc., but classical music has a different set of priorities. I'm guessing this has something to do with iCloud, but how do I stop it happening? It is really tedious to keep altering these things. And some bizarre anomalies have appeared, such as some early Baroque music (Monteverdi) being labelled by iTunes as Electronic in the genre box!! Which it clearly isn't! But the same thing happens - I change the genre, but it changes back! Surely once I sort something it should stay sorted!
I'm sure there's a fantastically obvious explanation for this, and I apologise for missing it. But I don't know what to do . I have iTunes 11.3.1 and am running OS 10.9.4 (Mavericks).
Many thanks.

Yes, others are seeing this. Something in purchased media (I am pretty sure this has only happened with purchased media) is periodically checking back with the iTunes Store and resetting the tags in the iTunes library file but not in the actual media files (metadata are stored in both). I haven't seen a truly systematic diagnosis of the issue (I use an old iTunes and have no iTunes account so I can't test anything myself). There are temporary workarounds but tags will still revert after a time.
2014 discussion about edited tags for Store purchases reverting to originals - https://discussions.apple.com/message/26077896#26077896 - edited tags are still present in the media file but revert to the originals in the iTunes library file. Workaround is to refresh tags so media file tags are re-read and used in library file.
https://discussions.apple.com/message/26193185#26193185
https://discussions.apple.com/message/26335620#26335620 - user ended up rebuilding iTunes library from scratch
Send feedback to Apple about this so they know it is an issue they need to investigate:
http://www.apple.com/feedback/itunesapp.html
Don't expect an immediate solution but maybe the next time they update the software it may be resolved.

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.

What does iTunes match do to my indexing scheme for classical music?

Over the years I developed a fair-sized collection of classical music CDs. It took time to decide on a scheme to pigeon-hole them into iTunes, but I did a fair job of putting them in by genre (Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, etc.).
Then I standardized the composer names. The problem was that the online CD library was not consistent. Sometimes Mendelssohn was entered as F. Mendelssohn, other times as Mendelssohn, Felix, etc.
Additional problems arise when you want to find all piano concertos in a minor key or symphonies that are scored for triple winds.
Anyone still reading is probably a musician and may understand these idiosyncrasies of classical music taxonomy. What happens when there are alternate endings or even movements (e.g., Mahler)? What happens when there are different orchestrators of the same piece (e.g., Pictures at an Exhibition)? What happens when you have multiple recordings of the same piece either played by different artists or the same artist at different times in his/her life (Gould)?
So, as much as I'm interested in iTunes Match, I'm concerned that it may not provide enough information about the music it finds and/or will screw up the index system I have created for my roughly 1000 CDs.
Can anyone shed some light on how iTunes Match works with classical music?
Thank you.

I'm wondering if anyone can give advice about how to move a classical CD library to iTunes match cloud storage starting from scratch -- that is to say, nothing is presently in iTunes or on computer yet.
And has anyone has tried Amazon cloud music for the same function, is it easier?
I have a few hundred CDs, 99% classical, and have never ripped or digitized them. So my library is entirely on the original CDs, and I dread spending hundreds of hours loading them one by one into a computer drive, copying them, and then having iTunes match try to upload and "match" it.
However, some of my CDs date to the 1980s and although they have no scratches (I care for them very gently) they seem to be corroding. So much for a lifetime of music.
I don't even have a CD/DVD on my Mac so I will have to buy a Superdrive -- or could I use a networked CD/DVD from an old Windows PC?
So, does anyone know if:
(1) can iTunes match recognize a CD as soon as its inserted, if it is indeed a match, save time?
(2) If not, for those who have "ripped" to iTunes many classical CDs, what are some tips so that tracks are handled properly -- what format for lossless copying, how to ensure the different movements of a symphony are not shuffled, operas don't have weird pauses between tracks, etc.; and what format so that playback is as close to original quality as possible
(3) Are there any 3rd party programs that will save time so I don't have to type in all the info -- composer, orchestra, conductor, lead performer... I'd like all that in the library on the Mac but with me having to take as little time as possible to type it in. Any way to take a PDF of the liner note booklet and "link" the scan to the electronic version of the disc that's in the cloud iTunes match so I could keep the liner notes online too? Any 3rd party programs that can take the barcode from the back of the disc and match with an already-online copy of the liner notes so I don't have to spend hours scanning booklets?
(4) Any services where for a reasonable sum I can ship my CDs and have someone else take care of all this?
Would appreciate any pointers. Thanks!

How to put my iPod classic music onto my iPad?

Hi I was wondering how to move my iPod classics music on to my new iPad. Thanks.

You will need to sync your music via your computer's iTunes, you can't connect an iPod to an iPad for copying music. If you don't have the music on your computer's iTunes then you should be able to copy music purchased from iTunes from the iPod via File > Devices > Transfer Purchases. For music from other sources (e.g. copied from CDs) then if you don't have it on your computer nor on a backup then there are some programs listed half-way down this page which should be able to copy them back from your iPod : https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3991

Cannot delete composer field in iTunes - so cannot use it to search my classical music collection !

To search my classical music collection easily within iTunes, I delete the composer field for all non-classical music. This works nicely on my Mac and on my old iPod. However, when I sync with my newish iPhone and iPad - the composer is still listed ! I chatted to Apple support and they said this was known behaviour and not a bug.
The failure for a composer deletion to sync, means that I cannot easily search my classical music - instead I have to wade through millions of non-classical composers in my collection (I search the non-classical music by using the artist field).
I think others have had this problem judging by other fora. I wondered if anyone knows of a sneaky fix, or whether Apple intend to correct this problem - which I'm guessing is alienating anyone who has sizeable classical music collection !
Thanks !

I have exactly the same issue. First for me the issue is only related to songs purchased on iTunes. Second the field is updated as long as I put something there. But as soon as I delete it completely (and the same behaviour I have with other fields like track number) iPhone picks up original value. My guess is that for any blank filed it tries to get the value from iTunes store. It is extremely annoying as I also use composer filed for classical music only. The only solution to that problem is stop buying from iTunes store.

IPod Classic music artwork Displayed on TV????

Is there a way to display my iPod Classic music artwork to my TV like my Zune does?

You cannot drag and drop photos. Read your manual and you will quickly find out it mentions nothing. However in ITunes, click edit and preferences while your IPOD is connected. Click IPOD tab and you will see a photos tab. Designate where your photos are you want to snyc.

Where to purchase dowloadable classical music?

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