GoodSoundClub - Romy the Cat's Audio Site

In the Forum: Didital Things
In the Thread: The BSO and Digital Music.

Post Subject: The BSO and Digital Music.Posted by Romy the Cat on: 12/2/2008

This is from BSO web site. I do not post link as they move it around. Go to BSO web site and find Digital Music link, or tab, or whatever... Here is from BSO web site:

The BSO Digital Music Service allows patrons to purchase and download from the BSO website, digital music files of music that the BSO produces! The initial rollout of this service will include albums produced by the BSO since 2001. Music albums include the recent Chamber Players Mozart album, and the BSO Symphony Hall Centennial Celebration-Set! Albums are available in 320Kbs MP3 format and select albums in Windows Media Audio (WMA) Lossless Surround format will also be available for purchase!

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the BSO Digital Music Service?
The BSO Digital Music Service allows patrons to purchase and download from the BSO website, digital music files of music that the BSO produces. The initial rollout of this service will include albums produced by the BSO since 2001.

What can I purchase through this service?
There are three types of digital music that can be purchased through this service: album, work, and track. Albums are most synonymous with a conventional album found on a CD or record. Works represent a complete work of music, such as a complete symphony. Track represents an individual song or a movement within a larger piece of music. Albums and works represent a collection of individual tracks.

What types of digital file formats will be sold?
The primary format of digital music sold through this service will be in MP3 format. MP3's will be encoded using the Fraunhofer MP3 codec and will be encoded at 320 kilobits per second (kbps). For select albums, and for most albums sold in the future, a Windows Media Audio (WMA) Lossless Surround format will also be available for purchase. These files are encoded at a much higher encoding rate of 12,700 kbps and offer Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound. Because of the higher encoding rate, WMA files are substantially larger than their MP3 counterparts (twenty times larger) - as such we strongly recommend that you have a high-speed Internet connection to download these files. At the present time, the BSO Digital Music Service is not providing an Apple counterpart to the WMA format. This is because most formats of this nature, which can be played on an Apple computer, require substantially more technical experience than is represented by the general consumer. The BSO wants its patrons to have seamless access to the digital media provided and as such, prefer to utilize technologies that are readily accessible to the general public. As these technologies advance and become more accessible, the BSO will incorporate these technologies into its core offerings.

How do I browse the catalog?
To get to the Digital Music Service, click on the words "Digital Music" from the horizontal navigation on any web page within the website. This will take you to a table of contents of digital albums available for sale on the website. Click on a product's name will take you to the detail page for that product. For example, clicking on a digital album's name will take you to the detail page for that album. On this page you will see the works and/or tracks that make up that album. If you click on a work name or a track name, you will be taken to the detail page for the relevant work or track. To go back to the previous page, you can click on the "Back" button in your Internet browser's toolbar or you can always click on "Digital Music" in the navigation to get to the "homepage " for the Digital Music Service.

Can I listen to audio samples of music before I decide to purchase it?
Yes. For each track that is sold, whether individual or as part of a larger work or album, there is a green "Play" button preceding the name of the track. When you click on this button, a 45-second excerpt will be played of the track in question. Clicking on the button while it is playing the excerpt will pause the music.

Does your digital music have Digital Rights Management embedded in it?
No, digital music sold through the BSO Digital Music Service does not contain digital rights management(DRM). As such, you can play it on any compatible device.

How much does it cost to purchase digital music from this service?
Pricing for albums will be $8.99 for an MP3 album and $12.99 for a WMA album. Tracks will be priced $.89 (MP3) and $1.29 (WMA) if the track duration is under 7 minutes in duration. Otherwise, if longer, the price of the track will be scaled up to reflect a price that is commensurate with the proportion of time that the track consumes compared to the overall duration of the album. Works (i.e. a complete symphony) will be priced similarly to tracks over 7 minutes in duration - their price is not the sum of the costs of each track in the work, but rather the price is a proportion of the time the work consumes compared to the duration of the complete album. This offers an economy in scale - meaning it will be cheaper to by complete works or complere albums, rather than buying all the composite tracks separately.

Do you offer a subscription service?
Not at this time. Subscription services in which patrons pay a flat fee to gain access to the complete digital catalog for a set period of time, is not currently available. The BSO plans to unveil a subscription service of this nature around Q1 2009.

How do I purchase digital media from the BSO website?
Simply add digital media items to your shopping basket like you would purchasing a conventional CD or tickets to a performance. Simply browse the catalog. If you are in the table of contents (where albums are listed) and you want to purchase a digital album, simply place your mouse cursor over the "Buy Options." The website will display whether you can purchase an MP3 and/or WMA format. Simply click on the appropriate buy button to add that format to your shopping basket. If you are on a product's detail page, the available buy buttons will appear, which upon clicking will add the appropriate product's media format to your shopping basket for purchase. If you are ready to check out, simply click on the "Checkout" button on the shopping basket page to complete the purchase process.

Do I have to register or log into myBSO in order to purchase digital music?
Yes. Registering for myBSO allows us to serve you better and is a requirement of the commerce system that we use. Your name, email address, and login credentials (username and password) are all that we require in order to register a myBSO account. During the registration process you can opt in to receive additional information from the BSO. Please be assured that if you do not opt in, the BSO will not send any sales and marketing material to you. We will only communicate information to you via email if it is immediately relevant to a purchase you made on the BSO website.

I have bought digital music, but how do I download it now?
After you have purchased your digital music and have received your order confirmation, there are three ways to access your downloadable content: 1) click on the "Download" button on the order confirmation page, 2) click on the link regarding downloadable content from your email confirmation, 3) click on the "My Downloads" page within the myBSO portion of the website. To access the "My Downloads" page, click on "MY BSO" in navigation located in the top right-hand corner of any web page. If you are not logged in, you will be prompted to log in using your myBSO credentials. If you are logged in, click on "My Downloads" in the left navigation of any page within the myBSO section.

On the "My Downloads" page, you will see all the digital music items you have purchased. You can simply scroll down to the media you want to download and click on the "Download" button to start the download process. If you have many items on your "My Downloads" page, you can use the "Filter By" option to only show that item on the page. If you have done this already, and then want to see all the other options, simply select the "Show All" option.

The BSO Digital Music Service utilizes a self-contained application called the BSO Download Manager, which facilitates the download of and ensures the data integrity of the digital files you want to download. To use this application, you must agree to the security disclaimer before it can start. If you choose note to use the BSO Download Manager, you will need to click on the link provided in order to download it using your Internet browser.

Only 15 files are downloading in the BSO Download Manager, why?
The BSO Download Manager can only accommodate 15 simultaneous downloads at one time. If you attempt to download more than 15 files at one time, any file added after the 15th file will be queued for download until one of the first 15 files has been completely downloaded. Note that if it takes more than 20 minutes for one of the first 15 files to download, then any of your subsequent files in queue will most likely produce an error as the link for their download has expired. If this occurs, please wait until all of your current files in the Download Manager have completely downloaded then refresh your "My Downloads" page and then download the remaining files.

I experienced an error while downloading a file, now I cannot seem to download the file. What do I do?
If you should experience and errors in downloading a file, please wait til all other files in the BSO Download Manager are downloaded and then refresh your "My Downloads" page. This will re-initialize your available download links. Once this is done, please try downloading the file in question again.

Now that I downloaded my music, how do I play it?
If you are accustomed to using music players like Windows Media Player, iTunes, Rhapsody, etc. simply import the music to your player as you normally would. All digital music files are embedded with ID3 tags which provide you with all the details you need to know what you have. We have also embedded cover art into each digital music file.

If you have never used digital music before, the easiest way to play the music is to double-click your mouse on the file you want to play. This will automatically load the file into the music player on your computer that is associated with that file type. If you own a PC, this will most likely be Windows Media Player. If you own an Apple computer, this will most likely be iTunes.

How do I play Dolby 5.1 Surround when listening to a WMA Lossless file?
Your computer or device on which you want to play the WMA Lossless file must be able to play digital surround sound files. Most consumer desktop computers are capable of playing surround sound. Please refer to your computer's user's manual or technical specifications for assistance. Please note, a large percentage of consumer laptops (portable computers) cannot play digital surround sound.

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