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

[ATDrake]

For those who may be interested in religious pop music, it turns out that Christian publisher David C. Cook's apparent site reorganization not only now has a page on their website full of free online-listening full songs as samplers from their catalogue, they also offer one track for MP3 download as well:

Great I Am by New Life Worship @ the publisher's website (DRM-free MP3 available worldwide

Dedicated Media page on their catalogue where I counted 8 full online listening songs which enterprising Gentle Listeners would probably be able to pull the actual files of out of their browser web caches since it seems to be done as a non-streaming OGG file.

[GtrsRGr8]

Here's the most recent weekly free download from Classical-music.com.

This week's free download is the Bourée from JS Bach's Cello Suite No. 3 in C major, played by David Watkin. Bach's six suites for cello are some of the most recognisable compositions ever written for the instrument. As is usual in Baroque suites, each movement is based on a different dance form. A bourée is a quick-step dance that originated in the French courts of Louis XIV.

This recording won the BBC Music Magazine Instrumental Award in April 2016. This is particularly poignant given it is Watkins's last. While he was making the recording he was diagnosed with scleroderma, a chronic skin condition which means he can no longer play.

The procedure, once again, to get the freebie is this. Navigate to http://www.classical-music.com/free-...e-no-3-c-major. If a red "Download Now" button does not appear over the thumbnail of the album cover, you need to log in. Once you've logged in and the red button has appeared, click on it. You'll know what to do then, I think.

The cello is one of my favorite instruments. I'm looking forward very much to listening to this one.

I have the piece playing now. If I detect any problems with the recording, I'll let you know.

[GtrsRGr8]

Naxos newsletter subscribers: check your email. You should have a new newsletter from them in your inbox, with a link to this month's free albums.

To find out the three choices of free albums that you have, first check to make sure that your email program hasn't truncated the message. If it has, untruncate (I just made that word up ) it. Then click on the yellow button, at the top of the final screen of the email message, which says "click here to make and receive your choice." That should open up a webpage giving you your choices, along with download information.

The theme of the albums is summertime:
Sumer Is Icumen In, and we're marking the seasonal transition by offering our regular monthly choice of free downloads in keeping with the sounds of summer. You may find it difficult to make your selection from our three summer specials that include Frank Bridge's sumptuous orchestrations, Debussy's magical harmonies, and Mendelssohn's spellbinding overture and incidental music for one of the most famous plays ever written. Feeling spoilt for choice? We hope so! Enjoy, with our compliments. – Klaus Heymann

Your choices are as follows:
Bridge: The Sea / Enter Spring / Summer.
Debussy: Piano Music.
Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream.

This "month's" free offer is active until July 8, 2016. That apparently means exclusive of July 8, not inclusive, because May's offer was to last until June 3, but it is June 3 today and they have already changed the offer.

Happy listening.

[GtrsRGr8]

I know that everyone is already clamoring to know my pick of Naxos album for this month. (ha) MobileReaders, I have heard your cries!

Being one who never wishes to disappoint anyone, here is my pick. It is, hands down, without hesitation . . . . Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream.

The only negative relates to the fact that the overture was written for a play, so there is some speaking in it.

[GtrsRGr8]

No, in case you're wondering, they are not "Red" because all of the composers are communists or come from communist countries, silly. It's the name of the publisher's, Cobra Entertainment's, series of classical albums, which all have red covers.

I noticed that Cobra Entertainment has a bunch of their Red Classics--maybe all of them, I dunno--marked down to 99 cents each. I see Cobra Entertainment classical albums marked down to 99 cents quite often, but I do believe that the large number that they have at that price point now is unusual. In order words, it is a big sale.

By the way, what you pay for the whole albums now, 99 cents, is what you would have to pay at Amazon for most, if not all, of the individual songs on the albums!

To my untrained, uncultured ears, the music sounds just fine. But don't expect any of the pieces to have been performed by the likes of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, or the Vienna Philharmonic, or the London Symphony.

Likewise, all of the composers are going to be the ones who . . . . how shall I say this discreetly . . . . are long departed. There won't be any of the modern, hot composers. Not at these prices. However, I do see a few, less-well-known names, such as Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Offenbach, Liszt, Gounod, Bizet, Donizetti, and Lehar (I wonder why at least some of the composers couldn't have had common, easy-to-pronounce names like "Smith" or "Jones"? But I digress).

The following are the Amazon links to just six of the albums. Not coincidentally, these are the only ones that seem to be available, marked down at least, at Google Play, where I first noticed albums of the series marked down. Not coincidentally, either, I'm sure, these six are probably to be considered the creme de la creme of the vintage classical music composers.

Mozart.
Bach.
Beethoven.
Chopin.
Tchaikovsky.
Vivaldi.

To see all of the marked down Red Classics at Amazon, a total of about 36, start at this webpage here.

[Manabi]

I'm going to post this here since some of the freebies are media.

If you're a T-Mobile customer, they have launched a new program called T-Mobile Tuesdays. This will give customers regular freebies. Here's PC Magazine's info on what freebies are coming up:

The first set involves a free app, T-Mobile Tuesdays, which will initially give customers a free medium two-topping Domino's pizza, a small Wendy's Frosty, a $5.50 credit for a Vudu digital movie rental, and a ticket to the movie Warcraft, with other similar giveaways to follow each Tuesday.

On June 14, the giveaway will be a $15 Lyft ride. On June 21, it's a $20 MLB gift card. On June 28, nab a 1-year subscription to Bon Appetit magazine. More giveaways will come from partners including Samsung, StubHub, JackThreads, Hotel Tonight, Fandango, MLB, MGM Resorts, Buffalo Wild Wings, and Gilt, according to a slide displayed by T-Mobile at a Monday event.

In addition to that, T-Mobile is also giving customers a share of T-Mobile stock. Customers can also refer new subscribers to get additional shares of stock, up to 100 a year. For customers who've been with T-Mobile more than five years, they get two shares per referral. PC Magazine again on how to get the stock:

To get the stock, subscribers must go through the T-Mobile Tuesdays app and sign up for a free brokerage account. T-Mobile will waive any transaction fees for the first year.

This sounds like a pretty good deal if you're already a subscriber.

[GtrsRGr8]

I've been pinged to let me know that a new Classical-music.com free download is ready. This one has a lot of singing.

This week's free download is a performance of Schubert's Abendstern by soprano Ruby Hughes, accompanied by Joseph Middleton. It comes from a new collection of Nocturnal Variations which has been named the Choral and Song choice in the July issue of BBC Music Magazine. 'Ruby Hughes's singing is exceptional' writes George Hall.

To download, make sure that you are logged in. Then, navigate to this webpage. If you are logged in, there should be a red "Download Now" superimposed on the thumbnail of the album cover. Click on it. That should start the download automatically.

[tubemonkey]

Two free videos from Amazon:

FREE -- The Croods -- 2013 PG

Ratings: 4.6 out of 5 stars (2,472) IMDb 7.3/10
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone
Runtime: 1 hour, 38 minutes

Join the first modern family as they embark on a wondrous journey across a spectacular landscape filled with fantastic creatures, fun surprises and a whole new world of adventure!

FREE -- Enter The Battlefield: Life On The Magic - The Gathering Pro Tour -- 2016

Ratings: 5.0 out of 5 stars (1) IMDb 5.9/10
Runtime: 1 hour, 5 minutes

Magic: The Gathering is the most popular collectible card game in the world. At Magic's Pro Tour, players from around the globe compete to prove who is the best. They are writers, game theorists, jewelry apprentices, female pioneers, and teenage geniuses.

[sufue]

While looking for something else, I noticed four $0.99 albums at Google Play US.

K. Michelle: More Issues Than Vogue
link: https://play.google.com/store/music/...ogtikxfmot5vtm

dvsn: SEPT 5TH
link: https://play.google.com/store/music/...7t7f23z5ibjlo4

Deftones: White Pony
link: https://play.google.com/store/music/...cxkkbzsh5phcbe

Majid Jordan: Majid Jordan
link: https://play.google.com/store/music/...rd7433wkz6kynu

The new Antenna sampler for June is up too, with a bunch of free tracks from "up-and-coming" artists.

Spoiler:

Google Play is proud to present Antenna, our monthly sampler of free tracks from essential up-and-coming artists. From hip-hop and indie rock to world and electronic, get the hottest new sounds right here.

link: https://play.google.com/store/music/...000cda_antenna

[GtrsRGr8]

IMPORTANT ADDENDUM: Sometime after I accessed the download page, the Tchaikovsky movement disappeared! I have been unable to get it back, even by going to a different web browser, which had no "cookies" from Alexander Street telling them that I had been on their site. I don't know what to make of this (it seems like some similar quirk or bug came up before with an Alexander Street download, but I'm not going to take time now to hunt for the post(s) about it). But, try this: if the Tchaikovsky piece shows up as an available download, download it first. Good luck.


Alexander Street's free download of the week is now available.

It is Johann Sebastian Bach's Harpsichord Concerto No. 5 in F minor, BMV 1056. "This recording is performed by Leopold Hager, conductor and harpsichordist, and the Luxembourg Radio Symphony Orchestra." Also, there is a bonus, that you'll see once you get the webpage with the download links, of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5, Mvt. 4: Finale: Andante maestoso - Allegro vivace (I don't see any additional information about it)! As usual, all of these are in both the MP3 and WMA formats.

If you receive Alexander Street's emails, you should have an email message from them, with a download link, in your inbox. If you don't receive their emails, you may download the freebie of the week from this webpage. Click on the download button (its in blue), and a webpage with the actual download links will appear. FYI--there are three Bach movements in this week's freebie. You will also see the link to the free Tchaikovsky piece that I mentioned earlier.

I haven't listened to the movements yet, but I will be, to insure that everything sounds alright. No news is good news.

[ATDrake]

Free introductory TV episodes in Canada (maybe elsewhere as well):

AMC's Feed the Beast, Season 1 Episode 1, "Pilot Light", an NYC restauranteurs vs mobsters drama @ iTunes & Google Play (both available to Canadians).

Lifetime's UnReal, Season 2 Episode 1, "War", a media drama about the production team for a fictitious dating competition show @ iTunes (available to Canadians). This series exists on Google Play and they're offering the Sneak Peek/recap featurette for free just as iTunes does, but they don't have the actual premiere episode up, so linkage to check if it goes free later.

Canal+'s The Bureau, Season 1 Episode 1, an English-subtitled version of the French-language John le Carré-style espionage drama, La bureau des légendes (Wikipedia FR), based on IRL French spy accounts, according to the blurb @ iTunes (available to Canadians & apparently in the US when I tried checking). The banner in the iTunes Canada store says that this is exclusive to them.

[GtrsRGr8]

Wow! There's free music from the Internet running out my ears. Or, maybe I should say, "in my ears." ha

This free album that I want to tell you about now is different from any other piece of music or collection that I've posted. It's Long Ambients 1: Calm. Sleep. It's music that's intended to put you to calm you, put you to sleep, etc.

It's a 4-hour collection from the electronica superstar Moby. He should be able to know what music will help put you to sleep--he has suffered from insomnia since the age of four.

Here's what Moby says about it (exactly as he wrote it), himself:
over the last couple of years i’ve been making really really really quiet music to listen to when i do yoga or sleep or meditate or panic. i ended up with 4 hours of music and have decided to give it away . . . .

it’s really quiet: no drums, no vocals, just very slow calm pretty chords and sounds and things for sleeping and yoga and etc. and feel free to share it or give it away or whatever, it’s not protected or anything, or at least it shouldn’t be.

Here's the download link, it's to an URL at Moby's website. You'll need to accept some "terms and conditions" and agree to cookies, then you'll get the webpage with the direct download link.

Keep in mind that this is electronica--electronic music. This may not appeal to everyone. To be honest, I do not care for electronic music, myself. In case you'd like to try before you buy, or in this case try before you download a freebie, you can listen to the album on Spotify, if you have it. Here's a link for Spotify, in case you'd don't have it and would like to download and install it (I recommend it).

[Manabi]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

Wow! There's free music from the Internet running out my ears.

You should see a doctor for that, just in case it's brains, not music.

I always find it interesting that music helps some people sleep. For me it's the opposite, no matter how slow or quiet it is.

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by Manabi

You should see a doctor for that, just in case it's brains, not music.

Ha.

Originally Posted by Manabi

I always find it interesting that music helps some people sleep. For me it's the opposite, no matter how slow or quiet it is.

Yeah. Everyone is different. I mentioned in my post how I personally did not care for electronic music. I listened to part of the album and, truth to tell, instead of helping me go to sleep, it actually might have the opposite effect. Now, some good soft classical music, that's a different matter . . . .

[GtrsRGr8]

Duplicate Post. Thanks Manabi.