FREE/BARGAIN — Media Deals (non-eBook/non-audiobook)

[Manabi]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

Glad you like it.

I didn't notice that it was DRM, so thanks for letting everyone know.

No, it's DRM-free. No DRM at all, just download it and play it.

Sorry that was confusing.

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

Glad you like it.

I didn't notice that it was DRM, so thanks for letting everyone know.

Originally Posted by Manabi

No, it's DRM-free. No DRM at all, just download it and play it.

Sorry that was confusing.

NO, it wasn't confusing! The fault lay with me. I don't know now what I meant to write, but it was probably "I didn't notice that it was DRM-Free."

That's what happens when try to I post late at night . . . .

[Manabi]

Originally Posted by Manabi

If it's really FLAC, then any player that supports FLAC should work fine, not just their proprietary player. And it's pretty easy to convert FLAC to a codec that works in popular media players like iTunes. I've signed up and once I get an E-mail for the free download page I'll try it out and report back. So far I've only received an E-mail telling me of the wonderful free benefits, containing no link to this month's freebies.

I finally got around to downloading this month's Naxos freebie, and I can report that they are normal FLAC files! No need for their proprietary player at all. You can use any player that supports FLAC. If you don't have one that works for FLAC already, foobar2000 is an excellent freeware audio player, although the interface can take some getting used to. There are other players as well, but I've not tried any of them personally.

This also means you can easily convert the FLAC files back into WAV files and burn them to a CD. The result will be the exact same quality as the commercial CD would be. FLAC Frontend is open source software that'll handle converting FLAC to WAV files for you, and most CD burning software should support making audio CDs from WAV file sources.

If you want to just convert them into MP3 files to use in your current audio player, you can use an open source program called Flac Squisher. Just pay attention during the install, SourceForge has bundled adware in installers in the past. So don't click OK blindly.

[koland]

never mind, found link in email and finally convinced it to work

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by Manabi

I finally got around to downloading this month's Naxos freebie,
<snip>

Would you mind briefly telling us how to be notified of, and obtain, the Naxos freebies?

I have tried a couple of different times to figure it out. It seems that the freebies are offered periodically, but not on a regular basis (like once a month, once a week, etc.). I think that they notify subscribers of them in their newsletters. I have been a subscriber for quite some time, but I don't ever see any freebies, other than, it seems, a bunch of free streams.

[StewartM]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

Would you mind briefly telling us how to be notified of, and obtain, the Naxos freebies?

I have tried a couple of different times to figure it out. It seems that the freebies are offered periodically, but not on a regular basis (like once a month, once a week, etc.). I think that they notify subscribers of them in their newsletters. I have been a subscriber for quite some time, but I don't ever see any freebies, other than, it seems, a bunch of free streams.

I wonder what's happening there. I just subscribed to their newsletter this morning and soon afterwards received an email with the subject "May 2016 Highlights" with a personalised single-use link to a page to choose and download one of three CDs.

When I signed up, there didn't seem to be a way to select the option for "New on Naxos Newsletter (monthly)" – which is the one it says "delivers free album downloads" – so I just selected "All" and that seems to have worked so far.

[later that same day]

I've just been back to have another look and it appears that to check the "New on Naxos Newsletter (monthly)" box you just have to check any of the three boxes below it – and the "All" option seems to work too (albeit without the top check-box actually showing up as enabled/checked in the browser).

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by StewartM

I wonder what's happening there. I just subscribed to their newsletter this morning and soon afterwards received an email with the subject "May 2016 Highlights" with a personalised single-use link to a page to choose and download one of three CDs.

When I signed up, there didn't seem to be a way to select the option for "New on Naxos Newsletter (monthly)" – which is the one it says "delivers free album downloads" – so I just selected "All" and that seems to have worked so far.

[later that same day]

I've just been back to have another look and it appears that to check the "New on Naxos Newsletter (monthly)" box you just have to check any of the three boxes below it – and the "All" option seems to work too (albeit without the top check-box actually showing up as enabled/checked in the browser).

Thanks. Sounds like a lot of hoops for me, since I'm already a subscriber (GtrsRGr8 doesn't like hoops--Gators don't jump through hoops. ha), but I'll try it out.

[Manabi]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

Would you mind briefly telling us how to be notified of, and obtain, the Naxos freebies?

I have tried a couple of different times to figure it out. It seems that the freebies are offered periodically, but not on a regular basis (like once a month, once a week, etc.). I think that they notify subscribers of them in their newsletters. I have been a subscriber for quite some time, but I don't ever see any freebies, other than, it seems, a bunch of free streams.

I don't remember exactly how I signed up now, but they sent me a newsletter on May 6th with the subject "Preview [1]: New on Naxos plus your Free Album Download this Month". That had an orange box on the top left with a link entitled "Download One of This Month’s Free Albums". So if you actually receive the newsletter with the free album offer, it's very easy to find the link.

Unlike StewartM, back in April when I signed up, they never sent me a newsletter for that month. I got a welcome e-mail and then May's newsletter and that was it.

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by Manabi

I don't remember exactly how I signed up now, but they sent me a newsletter on May 6th with the subject "Preview [1]: New on Naxos plus your Free Album Download this Month". That had an orange box on the top left with a link entitled "Download One of This Month’s Free Albums". So if you actually receive the newsletter with the free album offer, it's very easy to find the link.

Unlike StewartM, back in April when I signed up, they never sent me a newsletter for that month. I got a welcome e-mail and then May's newsletter and that was it.

1) Did you have to install a desktop app? I notice that there is one that I can download, but I haven't downloaded it, or at least installed it.

2) I got an email from them with "download free album," or something to that effect, in the subject header, early in the month. But, for some reason, but I don't see it in the message. Can you tell me the name of the free album for this month, and I'll scan through the message again.

Thanks.

[Manabi]

1. No, I didn't even download the app, much less install it. So it's not needed.

2. There are actually three albums this month, you get to pick one of them. They are:

• Leopold Mozart - Toy Symphony
• Something by Mendelssohn
• Something by Schumann

The e-mail only has small thumbnails of the album covers, and doesn't list the works' names next to them, only the composer along with various quotes. Since I've already used the link to pick, it won't let me visit it again to see the works' names. I picked Toy Symphony as my freebie, so I know the name of that one.

Here's a screenshot of the web version of the e-mail (click on thumbnail for full-sized version, it's 1280px x 6412px, so not a small image):



The orange box at the top takes you down to the This Month's Free Albums section. Then you click on the big orange button at the bottom of that section for your one-time link to go and pick the album. And here's that free offer guide link.

And here is a screenshot showing my e-mail preferences on my account profile page:



The freebies last until June 4th June 3rd I believe, but I'm not seeing that in the e-mail. Apparently the page I reached after clicking the one-time link must have had that information.

I'll try to remember to make some screenshots of the process next month, assuming they manage to send me the newsletter again.

Edit: Had ending date wrong, fixed.

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by Manabi

<snip>
2. There are actually three albums this month, you get to pick one of them. They are:

• Leopold Mozart - Toy Symphony
• Something by Mendelssohn
• Something by Schumann

<snip>
The freebies last until June 4th I believe, but I'm not seeing that in the e-mail. Apparently the page I reached after clicking the one-time link must have had that information.
<snip>

D'oh! I found out that one of my problems has been that my email program is set to truncate messages. Therefore, I had not been seeing the information about the free albums, which information is located far down in the messages.

After viewing the most recent email message, in its entirety, that I got from Naxos offering a free album, I saw a fairly prominent yellowish-orangish button with "Click Here to Make and Receive Your Choice." Clicking on it brought up a very nice webpage that clearly gave the three album options that you mentioned, with large thumbnails, helpful descriptions, and track-by-track information on each album. And, of course, you can preview the album--and you do that track-by-track. This is really a fantastic giveaway! It's late at night now, but I'll look over, and listen over, the choices tomorrow and make my choice from this current offer!

Unfortunately, the webpage that I mentioned in the previous paragraph seems to be linked to my personal email address, so I know of no way to let non-subscribers see it. For the benefit of you who are subscribers and non-subscribers, you might be interested in following this link to Naxos' "Free Album Offer Guide."

FYI--the current free download offer "is active until June 3, 2016," instead of June 4 as Manabi had remembered.

I encourage anyone interested in classical music to go to Naxos' website and sign up for their emails. You will then periodically (monthly?) receive email messages offering free albums. It may be too late for you to get in on the current offer, but then again, maybe not--there may be a way to substitute your email address in the URL of the download webpage that I mentioned three paragraphs above, and access it that way. If someone wants to try that, let me know, in open forum, and I'll see if I can help you, and anyone else who is interested, with it.

Thanks, Manabi, for all of your kind help.

[koland]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

Would you mind briefly telling us how to be notified of, and obtain, the Naxos freebies?

I have tried a couple of different times to figure it out. It seems that the freebies are offered periodically, but not on a regular basis (like once a month, once a week, etc.). I think that they notify subscribers of them in their newsletters. I have been a subscriber for quite some time, but I don't ever see any freebies, other than, it seems, a bunch of free streams.

If you are a subscriber to the newsletter and _IF_ you are logged in, you will see a link on their website to the newsletter. Use that to see the current newsletter and you get the same one-use download link for any freebie that month.

[Manabi]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

D'oh! I found out that one of my problems has been that my email program is set to truncate messages. Therefore, I had not been seeing the information about the free albums, which information is located far down in the messages.

Ahh, I should have mentioned that, but thought it was just Gmail doing the truncating. Glad you were able to get your album. I also edited my post to change that to June 3rd in case someone doesn't see your update.

Originally Posted by koland

If you are a subscriber to the newsletter and _IF_ you are logged in, you will see a link on their website to the newsletter. Use that to see the current newsletter and you get the same one-use download link for any freebie that month.

Or more directly, go to the newsletter archive page. Then click on May's. The download link (toward the bottom) is using the exact structure of the one e-mailed to me. Just copy the URL, then put your e-mail address between the two ending // and paste it into your browser. Should work as long as you haven't used it already.

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by koland

If you are a subscriber to the newsletter and _IF_ you are logged in, you will see a link on their website to the newsletter. Use that to see the current newsletter and you get the same one-use download link for any freebie that month.

Originally Posted by Manabi

<snip>
Or more directly, go to the newsletter archive page. Then click on May's. The download link (toward the bottom) is using the exact structure of the one e-mailed to me. Just copy the URL, then put your e-mail address between the two ending // and paste it into your browser. Should work as long as you haven't used it already.

Thanks.

[GtrsRGr8]

My quick thoughts on the Naxos free album choices good through June 3 . . . .

Mozart, L.: Toy Symphony--It's lively (vintage Mozart) and, of course, beautiful (also vintage Mozart). There may be some voice.

Mendelssohn, Felix: Song without Words, Vol. 1--Piano, not orchestral. Lots of calm songs, but there are some that are more lively (but, still, not like Mozart!). As the title indicates, it's all instrumental, there is no voice.

Schumann, R.: Lied Edition, Vol. 5--If the first two songs are any indication, there is a lot of voice. I think of "opera" when I hear the songs, although they may not fit the classic definition of "operatic."

I can't wait to see the next free album offers from Naxos!