Online sampling and CD buying habits

[Haydnseek]

How has the ability to listen to samples of recordings affected your buying habits?

For me it cuts both ways. I am less likely to make an impulse buy in a store now, preferring to go home and have a listen first. Usually I decide not to buy. On the other hand, listening to samples of recordings not commonly found in stores has led to many online orders I might never have made otherwise. On the whole, I would say sampling has made me a more cautious customer, but one who is usually satisfied with his purchase

[Ralph]

I never listen to samples online (or anywhere else). The demise of Tower Records will impact my buying greatly - not necessarily a bad thing - as I like to browse and make selections based on finding something unfamiliar.

[Bogey]

I use sampling quite a bit and hand in hand with recommendations from others who seem to have the same "likes" in classical music. I rarely buy without some sort of pre-listening (radio, sampling, listening to it at a used shop, etc.).

[gperkins151]

I use sampling quite a bit and hand in hand with recommendations from others who seem to have the same "likes" in classical music. I rarely buy without some sort of pre-listening (radio, sampling, listening to it at a used shop, etc.).

Ditto that! I almost never buy without listening these days, I use it to confirm reviews I have read from others. On the other hand, I sometimes discover that the reviewers taste is different than mine and I save some money by hearing it for myself. Barned and Noble is a good place to sample recordings when I am away from home.

[johnQpublic]

I rarely sample...don't know why actually. But a couple months back I was curious to hear what John Foulds sounded like. The first clip grabbed my attention and I snapped it up immediately. Go figure.....I'm not going analyze it.

[Sapphire]

I buy 90% of my classical music from a download source. I always sample the piece first, and compare all or most of the different versions available. The sound quality of samples is not as good as the real thing, and you only get 20-30 secs but it's usually good enough to allow comparison. Without doubt, the existence of a decent download source has expanded my demand for music. I get very annoyed when occasionally the service is down for any reason, or isn't working properly.

The main advantage is that it's possible to get exactly what you want without having to buy "filler" material that you may aleady have. Hence, it's usually cheaper in the long run, despite the "bargains" among CDs sometimes available in stores. E.g. recently I wanted some further versions of Mozart late symphonies. I was able to get exactly what I wanted without having to buy unwanted bundled-in other material (like S 25 or S29, or whatever else) the record companies usually include to fill up the 80 mins on a CD.

Such places are also useful in order to keep up with discussions here. E.g. if someone says they think a particular version of a major work is better than another version, I might check it out provided of course the version(s) are available. Invariably, I find such claims are simply not true, at least not to my ears, and it's just the result of someone's vivid imagination or preferred style. Possibly this is because my starting point is usually a highly recommended version anyway, as I seldom buy anything on impulse.


Saphire

[RebLem]

I almost never sample. I probably should, but don't. I buy almost all my CDs unheard from online vendors. Earlier this month, I did buy two CDs at the local Borders after I got a belated $30 Christmas gift card for Borders. I had a hard time finding something I wanted to buy, but I did find two things for $30.97 total that I had been thinking about buying for some time--one was a Casals CD which had the latest re-engineering of his classic 1938 Dvorak Cello Concerto with Szell and the Czech Phil together with the Elgar Cello Concerto and the Bruch Kol Nidrei and the other was the Lorraine Hunt Lieberson CD of the Bach Cantatas 82 & 199. I never download, mostly because I don't know how. I am to the point now where liner notes are not important to me in familiar repertoire, except for operas and oratorios, so I should probably learn, but I haven't yet.

I make many of my purchase decisions based on reviews in Fanfare, especially the year-end lists of favorites for the year, the All Music Guide to Classical Music, the Recommendations sections at ArkivMusic.com, and recommendations from fellow members here and at GMG (if it ever opens up again, LOL). I also do a fair amount of semi-impulse buying on the basis of sales. Couldn't resist, for example, looking at the stuff on sale at ArkivMusic from the Cedille label, and sent in an order, one of which was for some symphonies by Kalliwoda which a member at GMG had said was one of his 3 favorite CD discoveries of 2006. Impulse purchases are usually of one of two types--a composer or work that is unrepresented in my collection, or a performance by a well-known artist who is not well represented in my collection. The Kalliwoda is an example of the former; a set of the Beethoven symphonies by Scherchen which I bought several months ago is an example of the latter.

[walboi]

Yes, the same thing with me as with RebLem. First of all I read from my fellow members,what ever recommendations they give. Than I look at the time frame, because I dislike music outside of the tonal spectrum, and listen, but very rarely to some sound samples, to get a broad idea what we are talking about. But I am a omnivor really, eat most of the things I hear. Whatever happened to GMG by the way. Its offline since last week Friday?
Harry

[RebLem]

Yes, the same thing with me as with RebLem. First of all I read from my fellow members,what ever recommendations they give. Than I look at the time frame, because I dislike music outside of the tonal spectrum, and listen, but very rarely to some sound samples, to get a broad idea what we are talking about. But I am a omnivor really, eat most of the things I hear. Whatever happened to GMG by the way. Its offline since last week Friday?
Harry

Last time they went down it was because Rob Lang, the owner of the site in Canberra, Australia, went on vacation and the server got overloaded with stuff that he wasn't there to clear out regularly. I don't know what happened this time.

[moldyoldie]

I use online samples extensively. For example, more often than not, the samples are the beginnings of individual works on the disc(s) or individual movements or sections. Paraphrasing Sir Thomas Beecham, the only thing that people care about is how a piece begins and ends, whatever happens in-between is neither here nor there. Well, at least I can hear half of what I'm supposed to care about.

I listen for things such as tempo, recording clarity, acoustic, whether its close-miked or spacious, balances, if I can hear that tympani, etc., etc., etc. If I'm considering a single work, I'll listen to similar samples from several different recordings. I love it! I'm enjoying the buying process again since I can compare other things besides reviews and prices.

[jbuck919]

Whatever happened to GMG by the way. Its offline since last week Friday?
Harry

I have not noticed, since I am rather self-motivatedly exiled from there, but I would love to think that it has something to do with terminal tolerance for nasty posters who would long ago have been (and in some cases were) given the boot here. They have something like eight moderators over there, though only one owner, and together they don't do half the job Corlyss and Lance do here (sorry, Gurn Blanston, for whom I have personal reasons to make an exception).

To stay on topic, I enjoy sampling up to a point but it doesn't really figure in my (very sporadic in the first place) CD buying habits. Just to pull one example out of thin air, if they did actually do the complete Vivaldi that everyone here seems to want (including me), I wouldn't try to sample it before buying it. With modern standards of performance to botch Vivaldi would be a major sin, and I'd find out about it through the rumor mill before I made the commitment anyway. In other cases, particularly orchestral works of the Romantic period, I simply can't tell the difference. Bruno Walter was good enough for me in the Brahms symphonies when I was a teen, and he would be good enough now. There is some music I listen to in an idealized manner and unless there is something glaringly wrong with the performance it doesn't make a lot of difference.

[gperkins151]

I almost never sample. I probably should, but don't. I buy almost all my CDs unheard from online vendors. Earlier this month, I did buy two CDs at the local Borders after I got a belated $30 Christmas gift card for Borders. I had a hard time finding something I wanted to buy...

This has been my experience too, I find their selection to be poor.

I make many of my purchase decisions based on reviews in Fanfare, especially the year-end lists of favorites for the year, the All Music Guide to Classical Music, the Recommendations sections at ArkivMusic.com, and recommendations from fellow members here and at GMG (if it ever opens up again, LOL).

At this point, its getting harder for me to laugh.
Anyone heard from Rob in the last few days? (PM me please?)

[maskedman]

Majority of music I buy is unheard...I do get some info from Naxos. You get atleast sixty percent of the discs. This gives me a sense of the pieces...most sites with 20-30 secs are worthless.. But I do hear complete discs at contemporaryclassical.com. They also have a huge listing by each composer. You usually have to wait a while for your requests. I have a few men that give me great information. Don Satz, Steve Schartz, Tony Duggan, Walter Simmons, Paul Rapaport....can't forget weirdears and numerous others. I must also thank Karl for Symphony of Palms....a great reccommendation....

[IcedNote]

When Emusic was offering 100 free downloads, I signed up with as many credit cards and email addresses as I could get my hands on. I used those downloads to get some works that I was always curious about but never willing to pay for. It worked out rather well as I've found some good stuff that way.

But aside from that, I buy all of my classical music on CD.

-G

[Don Satz]

I never listen to samples online (or anywhere else). The demise of Tower Records will impact my buying greatly - not necessarily a bad thing - as I like to browse and make selections based on finding something unfamiliar.

Say it isn't so! Are you really going to allow the death of one source to affect your buying regimen?

Concerning samples, I don't bother with them and I generally acquire discs without listening to any of them first. There's nothing like a good surprise.

[Don Satz]

I almost never sample. I probably should, but don't. I buy almost all my CDs unheard from online vendors. Earlier this month, I did buy two CDs at the local Borders after I got a belated $30 Christmas gift card for Borders. I had a hard time finding something I wanted to buy,

It's been hard times at the Albuquerque Borders since November. Their new releases have fallen to a trickle as have my visits to the store. The only stuff I'm buying there lately are the ARG and BBC magazines.

[kalina]

I never listen to sample music. Most of the purchases I make are based on a personal expectation of what would be great. The things I look at are off course the piece, the soloist or orchestra, conductor as well as the publishing house. I am stuck on Deutsche Grammophon editions. Cannot help it… might touch an EMI, but rarely.

[Philoctetes]

I normally don't sample. Intstead I prefer to do reserach on the compsitions and the composers. I generally then apply the general knowledge I've gained from the reseraching to my cd buying habits.

[DavidW]

I don't sample... for the purposes of buying. I buy my recordings mostly based upon recs from friends and fellow posters.

Other music that I want to hear, but don't want to pay for, I might try to listen to on streaming radio, or real radio when I have the chance.

It's been my experience that you can't judge a classical music piece based upon a short clip. I have had bad experiences of thinking something was trash from a clip to learn later that I loved it.

[Don Satz]

It's been my experience that you can't judge a classical music piece based upon a short clip. I have had bad experiences of thinking something was trash from a clip to learn later that I loved it.[/quote]

Not only a short clip, I can't judge a recording after one complete listening. My general opinion is that many listenings are needed before having a good idea of the worth of a performance.

[DavidW]

Not only a short clip, I can't judge a recording after one complete listening. My general opinion is that many listenings are needed before having a good idea of the worth of a performance.

Yeah personally, I really only get the tunes on the first listen. I need several listens before I start appreciating what I'm listening to.

[Brendan]

There's only one R. Lang in the phone book here (who'se about 5 minutes walk from where I'm typing), but not being a GMG member it isn't my place to knock on the door/check the servers. Hope it's back soon.