New, Improved Version Of TheClassicalShop.net Launched Today
Monday, February 22, 2010
Launched in 2005, TheClassicalShop.net has undergone its first significant
development to keep up-to-date with the latest website trends and technologies, and
now offers the customer a much more efficient and rewarding experience. In
developing the new site we have incorporated many helpful suggestions offered by
customers over the years.
The new site has essentially two advantages. First, the site will be much easier to
navigate. There are lots of basic improvements: it is bigger for one thing, easier to
read, with larger fonts and pictures and with more information on each page. Free
sampling of each track is much quicker now – more or less instantaneous. Second, it
will be much easier to download different formats, i.e. lossless / FLAC / MP3, etc., as
the ‘zipping’ function is available on all formats.
Perhaps the key attraction of the new site will be the availability of high-quality
audio downloads. The site is able to offer many (eventually most) Chandos
recordings (and some other labels) at better than CD quality 24-bit / 96 kHz ‘studio
masters’, starting at £15.99 per album.
‘Lossless’ CD quality albums sell for £7.99 – £9.99 and mp3 albums between £4.80
and £7.99. In the case of certain recordings made in surround-sound, the site will also
offer Surround Sound downloads at £19.99 per album. The quality of those will be
quite extraordinary.
‘Lossless’ files, incidentally, provide a way of hearing music in sound quality identical
to that of a CD. The technology is especially suited to classical recordings because
there is no degradation in sound; it is becoming the standard high quality download
format.
TheClassicalShop.net offers four formats of lossless:WMA lossless, WAV, FLAC
and AIFF. Of course, everything is still offered as High Resolution MP3, which gives
as near to CD quality as possible, for those who prefer this format.
The site offers one unique touch: if you download a high quality ‘studio master’, you
also get the recording as an MP3 and CD quality lossless file at no extra cost, which
you might find useful – even if just so you can get those downloads more quickly and
start listening to the music whilst the studio master downloads. If you order a CD
quality lossless file, you get the MP3 free. Also, all your purchased items will remain
in your order history and can be downloaded as many times as you like.
The new website will also allow the customer to rate the music using a star system,
from one to five stars. Another new feature on TheClassicalShop.net will be a ‘daily
offer’ of a 25% discount on a download of a full CD, which will change randomly
every day.
All TheClassicalShop.net downloads remain DRM (Digital Rights Management)
free – often a considerable advantage to the customer (whom we are trusting not to
make and circulate lots of copies).
TheClassicalShop.net now offers some 70 labels and currently lists approximately
350, 000 tracks on site, uploading anywhere between 3,000 and 20,000 new tracks per
month.
The site has particularly championed other independent labels whose music might
otherwise not be widely available, including many interesting, one-off recordings,
including artist’s own recording on the Artist Showcase section.
Labels available on TheClassicalShop.net include:
Albany, Arts, Athene, Avie, BBC PO, Brana, Centaur, Chandos Records, Collegium,
Coro, CRD, Danacord, Delphian, DePaean, Deux-Elles, Diversions, Divine Art,
Doyen, Egon, The Gift of Music, Guild, JCL, Landor, LSO Live, Mariinsky, Metier,
mpLIVE, MRC, Naxos, Nimbus, NMC, Obsidian, Onyx, Pentatone, Priory, Pristine
Audio, Quartz, Saydisc, SDG, Signum, Somm, SPS, THM, Toccata Classics, Unicorn-
Kanchana, Wigmore Hall Live, Zah Zah.
Finally, people who subscribe to the monthly newsletter of TheClassicalShop.net,
which keeps them up to date with information on the latest downloads, recording
news, and other information, will also receive a free monthly download of a complete
CD.