a few months ago i made several purchases from eclassical.com: all the volumes so far of sorabji's transcendental etudes, some sibelius, &c.
today, i returned to the site to buy a few albums in BIS's ongoing geirr tveitt project.
what i didn't realize was this: eclassical keeps a permanent record of one's purchases, permitting one to re-download past purchases. in effect, eclassical is providing a free online backup for all the music you buy from them.
now, i think consumers are reluctant to go the diskless route because they believe (correctly) that electronic media are evanescent. lose your only hard-drive, lose your collection. spend lots of $ buying flakey backup drives. spend lots of time keeping your backups up to date. (and just try using carbonite to back up two terabytes of music.)
i realize that i'm preaching to the converted, but let me enumerate the advantages as i see them, at least as embodied in the design and implementation of eclassical:
1. effectively, an online backup which allows you to re-download what you've purchased.
2. a "golden copy" of the recording, not susceptible to errors or defects in the particular plastic disk you buy.
3. much lower pricing (i'm used to paying 20 bucks + tax for BIS cds.)
4. no reliance on flakey corrupt databases like gracenotes.
5. no googling for cover-art.
6. liner notes even near-sighted guys like me can read.
7. dislike what you've purchased? eclassical offers a full refund, no questions asked.
what have i missed?
Note: i am not connected with eclassical, BIS records, or the recording industry. i've been fan of BIS records for decades -- for the quality of their recordings, and for the continuing education they provide in the obscure byways of modern classical music.
