Deutsche Grammophon Launches Download
Site
by Kevin Sutton
Effective
at midnight Central European Time on November 28, Deutsche Grammophon
achieved a giant leap into the twenty-first century by making
more than 2400 of their recordings (some 600 of them out of
print until now) available in high quality digital downloads.
The site, www.dgwebshop.com
is impressive indeed with its detailed information, its vast
selection, a free download for signing up for the newsletter
and more.
Being
the dutiful technophile that I am, I waited anxiously for the
hour to arrive when I could dive into DG heaven and start downloading
tracks. One must give any big online enterprise the benefit
of the doubt in its first hours of launch, but I must say that
I was pretty annoyed at the “system error” that prevented me
from making my purchase for the first three hours of attempts.
Finally, I made it through, buying the Beethoven “Kreutzer”
sonata performed by Vadim Repin and Martha Argerich.
To
say that these sorts of services are the wave of the future
is a no-brainer. What is irksome about DG’s offering is their
obvious arrogance in pricing. Tracks range from US $1.29 to
as much as US $4.69 to purchase. This makes each set of downloads
offered equivalent to the price of a compact disc of the same
material. The site contains lots of media information and program
notes about the releases which you can print out if you like,
but still, the thought of paying five bucks for an MP3 file,
when other labels such as Naxos offer them on Rhapsody(™) for 89¢ is pretty ridiculous. A bit of research shows that Rhapsody offers
the same DG tracks for download at a price very close if not
equal to the DG website. A comparison with the asking price
for a track from Virgin Classics, Telarc and Naxos
shows that DG and their siblings are gouging the public.
While
I welcome the high audio quality of the DG product, and I am
delighted to have so much of their impressive back catalog at
my instant disposal, I must rail against the high price. Given
that there are no warehousing, shipping, packaging or distribution
costs for electronic files, I cannot find a single excuse to
charge full retail CD prices for a digital download save greed.
It simply seems that Universal Classics are displaying an inflated
sense of self-worth when many other classical labels are selling
their MP3 downloads for less than a dollar per track, regardless
of length.
Having
said that, I still must praise the enterprise, and the high
audio quality of its product, both of which are impressive and
comprehensive. One can only hope that other labels will soon
follow suit. It is becoming more and more a reality that one’s
stereo system will soon consist of a laptop and a good amplifier
and speakers. Being a frequent traveler, I depend more and more
on my computer as a compact and seemingly endless source of
entertainment. A small investment in a set of good computer
speakers has made my Hewlett Packard scarcely distinguishable
from the 4000 dollar stereo system that takes up half my living
room. Viva progress! Now DG, lower your prices and get real
here! We anxiously await your reality check and the opportunity
to do business at a reasonable rate.
Kevin
Sutton
