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

[gabby98]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Free rental from Microsoft...

The Final Girls (2015)
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/stor...kgx05pstp/0003

I watched this last week on Netflix. I can kinda see why it's listed as horror, but I felt it was a bit incomplete and maybe better classified as a thriller than a horror

ETA: OOOPS I read Final Girl, totally different movie . I'll have to check this one out

[koland]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

I ran across this software just a few minutes ago. .. would allow people who would like the above album and others where they can't download to a mobile device, to be able to download a file to their desktop/laptop computer and then convert the file so that it can be then transferred to a mobile device?

Whadd'ya thinK? Would anyone be willing to take it on a test drive, maybe on the above Naxos album, and see if you can get it to play on your Android device? If you would, you might be rendering a great service to some of your fellow MobileReaders, who would like this or other similarly restricted albums from Naxos.

Are you having issues with FLAC and a mobile device? I store my FLAC files on a Synology server and can listen that way, but it's pretty easy to use an audio converter to change the format to MP3 for portable listening. You lose some quality, of course, since FLAC is a full-range format (as is apple's lossless format), while MP3 uses compression to make the file smaller while losing a bit of audio range.

I use Media Monkey (paid version) to convert to MP3, but there should be many others out there. I think their free verson only includes MP3 and MP4 as 30 day trials, since they have to pay a license fee on the code, themselves. Gold has lifetime updates and I've been using it for many years instead of itunes for most listening and cataloging of my music.

ETA: a quick search turned up one utility that might do just what you want (and it's free) - https://sourceforge.net/projects/flacsquisher/ (green download button next to utility name, not red one add on top that gets you adware)

[ATDrake]

X-link to the DRM-free thread for a new Humble Bundle:

Humble Mobile Bundle RiffTrax contains their popular Mystery Science Theater 3000-like satirical commentary on various movies ranging from the popular to the obscure. These are DRM-free to download, but need to be redeemed via keys for the RiffTrax website. Some of them are audio-only tracks you need to sync with video of your own (Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, etc.), others are presented as video versions (Night of the Living Dead, etc.).

There's a freebie short available in exchange for signing up for the newsletter.

[GtrsRGr8]

Sorry to be so late in the day letting you know about the YourClassical freebie for the day.

If you're seeing this post after the daily giveaway period is over, no worries. YourClassical does archive their daily giveaways, for about a week or two after the official giveaway period is over. Here's at least one of the archive locations.

Today's freebie is a Ludwig van Beethoven piece, performed by Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra. It is from the Naxos album Beethoven Sinfonien Nr. 2 & 5. Richard Edlinger is the conductor.

The free piece from the album is Symphony No. 5: IV. Finale. It is 11 minutes, 2 seconds long. To download the free piece, go to this webpage, and click on the "Direct MP3 download link."

Should you want to know anymore about the album, you can find additional information at this Naxos webpage.

[GtrsRGr8]

Another free classical music piece before the day is over . . . .

From Classical-music.com is Frederic Chopin's Barcarolle in F-sharp minor, Op. 60. This comes from the album Imogen Cooper plays Chopin. The piece lasts for just short of 10 minutes.

Here's the blurb, from Classical-music.com:
This week's free download is Frederic Chopin's Barcarolle in F-sharp minor, Op. 60, performed by Imogen Cooper. It was the last large work Chopin, who was already in decline with the illness that would take his life, would write. He included the work in the programme of the last concert he gave in Paris before his death, though by then he struggled to play at all.

The recording comes from Imogen Cooper's new Chopin recording, which was BBC Music Magazine Instrumental Choice in September. 'Cooper injects every note with strength of personality,' writes Jessica Duchen.

To receive Classical-music.com's freebies (these, at least), you must have an account with them. If you haven't already signed up, do it. After you log in, you should see, on this webpage, a red "download now" button superimposed on the thumbnail of the album. Clicking it will cause the free MP3 to automatically be downloaded to your computer. Then, you should be ready to listen and enjoy!

These free downloads last for a week.

[GtrsRGr8]

I'm listening to today's YourClassical free piece of the day as I write. I was looking forward to listening to it, because it comes from a composer that I had not heard of (that I remember) before, Maurice Ravel.

It comes from a Naxos double-album, The Very Best of Ravel. The piece that you can get free from the album(s) is one of 3 minutes, 58 seconds length, called Sonatine: I. Modere.

I don't know if all of Ravel's pieces tend to be this way, but this piece, at least, is heavy on the piano. Album information credits Francois-Joel Thioller as the pianist of this(these) album(s).

As with all of YourClassical's free downloads, this one is an MP3. You can download the piece by navigating to this webpage, and clicking on the "Direct MP3 download link."

If you would like more information about the album(s) from which this free piece is taken, point your browser to this webpage. It is chock-full of information about it.

Check for another free download from YourClassical tomorrow!

Now I have some information about these free YourClassical downloads that I wish to share, but mainly it is a question to those who are more knowledgeable about such things than me (which is . . . uh . . . basically anyone else. ha). Some of you probably are disappointed that these freebies are MP3's. I know that there are formats with better audio quality, and that true audiophiles can probably detect a small difference between them and better formats (I can't). However, I have reason to believe that these MP3's have a fairly high bit rate, which I think means that the sound quality is better than most other MP3's. The bit rates on MP3's, as I understand it, can range from 8 to 320. I have reason to believe that all of these YourClassical freebies have a bit rate of 128 kbt/s, which is quite a bit (no pun intended. ha) higher than most MP3's out there. The question is: is the information about bit rates that I gave correct and, if so, can you add anything else, as concisely as possible, that will make the information about the bit rate of these freebies make more sense to people like me? Thanks.

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by koland

Are you having issues with FLAC and a mobile device? I store my FLAC files on a Synology server and can listen that way, but it's pretty easy to use an audio converter to change the format to MP3 for portable listening. You lose some quality, of course, since FLAC is a full-range format (as is apple's lossless format), while MP3 uses compression to make the file smaller while losing a bit of audio range.

I use Media Monkey (paid version) to convert to MP3, but there should be many others out there. I think their free verson only includes MP3 and MP4 as 30 day trials, since they have to pay a license fee on the code, themselves. Gold has lifetime updates and I've been using it for many years instead of itunes for most listening and cataloging of my music.

ETA: a quick search turned up one utility that might do just what you want (and it's free) - https://sourceforge.net/projects/flacsquisher/ (green download button next to utility name, not red one add on top that gets you adware)

No. It's not for me.

I posted Folksongs of the World and pointed out that the album couldn't be downloaded to a mobile device. I was wondering if Android Converter or something like it might allow peeps who like to download their music to a smart phone, MP3 player, or whatever to be able to download the album and convert it to a form that they could, then, put on their mobile device(s).

Being old (ha) and set in my ways like I am, I am happy downloading music to my laptop (I live, eat, and sleep with it. And you'll take it away from me when you pry it from my cold, dead hands. ha). I haven't gotten used to downloading music to the one or two mobile devices that I have that I actually could do that with. So, I downloaded the album to my laptop and I am a happy camper. I was trying to find a way to help others out.

Let me know if I still haven't expressed myself clearly enough. And, thanks for the info. It might come in handy one of these days.

[GtrsRGr8]

Grab Zoltan Kodaly's Hary Janos Suite: Intermezzo, free today, from YourClassical.com.

This particular rendition of the piece runs 5 minutes and 2 seconds and comes from a Naxos album combining some of the works of Zolta Kodaly and some of the works of Erno Dohnanyi. The entire album was performed by the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, with Gerard Schwarz as the conductor, and is a part of (or, perhaps, is) the Seattle Symphony Collection.

Decided already that you want to download the piece? Great. Navigate to this webpage, find the "Direct MP3 link" and click on it. The file will be downloaded automatically to your default drive.

Wanna learn more about the album, perhaps before you download the piece or while you're listening to your free piece? There is a Naxos webpage dedicated to this album alone, at this webpage. That webpage has lots more information than I have been able to provide above.

I was looking forward to listening to this free piece just as I was to yesterday's free piece, and for the very same reason--I did not recognize the name of the composer. I've listened to it now and it is a pleasing piece to listen to, in my opinion.

I wasn't able to post this freebie until late in the day, again. Sorry. But, keep in mind that you can go to this webpage and for something like 7 to 10 days be able to grab a free YourClassical piece that you may have missed during that time. There may be one or more other archive websites that will let you go back even further; if so, I hope to discover it(them) for you.

[Manabi]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

The software is Android Converter, by Engelmann Media GmbH. Here's the blurb on the website of the third party company (BitsDuJour) giving away this software:
[I]You've just got your first Android device, now what? Well, now you can get started with your favorite music and videos! Oh, that's right - it's your first Android device and none of your files is in the proper format! Well, that just means you need to get your hands on a copy of today's discount software promotion, Android Converter, right away!

Whadd'ya thinK? Would anyone be willing to take it on a test drive, maybe on the above Naxos album, and see if you can get it to play on your Android device? If you would, you might be rendering a great service to some of your fellow MobileReaders, who would like this or other similarly restricted albums from Naxos.

Didn't try that, as there's free software (always free) that'll do what it does and is also easy to use. For videos, use Handbrake. It has built-in presets for Android/iPhone already, and does a great job. You can tweak the settings if you want more control, but you don't need to.

Originally Posted by koland

ETA: a quick search turned up one utility that might do just what you want (and it's free) - https://sourceforge.net/projects/flacsquisher/ (green download button next to utility name, not red one add on top that gets you adware)

I use this, and it works great. Very easy to use. I highly recommend it.

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by Manabi

Didn't try that, as there's free software (always free) that'll do what it does and is also easy to use. For videos, use Handbrake. It has built-in presets for Android/iPhone already, and does a great job. You can tweak the settings if you want more control, but you don't need to.


I use this, and it works great. Very easy to use. I highly recommend it.

Thanks for the info.

I didn't know how well represented this segment of the software market was. Just thought that I'd give it a mention.

I know that there are one or more threads on another forum that cover things like this very thoroughly.

[GtrsRGr8]

We're back to works of the more familiar composers today at YourClassical, with a free piece from Robert Schumann.

It comes from the Naxos album Schumann String Quartets Nos. 1 and 3 (transcribed for string orchestra). The free piece is String Quartets No. 3: III. Adagio Molto. It runs 8 minutes and 43 seconds in length.

The whole album is performed by the Montreal Players, with Jean-Philippe Tremblay as the conductor and arranger. Find out much more about the album here.

If you're ready to download the free piece, point your browser to this webpage and click on the "Direct MP3 download link."

I'm listening to the free piece right now, and it is a fine-sounding classical piece. Hope you enjoy it.

[GtrsRGr8]

The final free piece for the week from YourClassical is from the Naxos double-album The Very Best of Tchaikovsky. It is Peter Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto: III. Finale.

This rendition is a 11 minute, 28 second piece performed by the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra. There is a lot of violin in this piece (I suppose that that's to be expected in a violin concerto. Huh?)--Takako Nishizaki is credited with that part of the performance. Kenneth Jean is the conductor.

Find out much more about the 2-CD set here on this Naxos webpage. Once you're ready to download the free piece, you may do so by clicking on "Direct MP3 download link" on this webpage.

I am not a real fan of the violin, but if you are, I'm sure that you will enjoy this Tchaikovsky piece.

See you again Monday, for the start of a new week of freebies from YourClassical!

[sufue]

Just a reminder that if you want to get the free monthly tunes from Google Play's Antenna Sampler of new artists, you only have a couple of more days to do it for this batch. The free tunes are scattered over the page, which also has links to the artists' albums.

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

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by sufue

Just a reminder that if you want to get the free monthly tunes from Google Play's Antenna Sampler of new artists, you only have a couple of more days to do it for this batch. The free tunes are scattered over the page, which also has links to the artists' albums.

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

Maybe I shouldn't have had a question about this, and maybe everyone else already knows the answer but me, but these appear to be free for peeps to keep. They get added to your library. They are downloads. They are not (just) streams of songs.

Now, your opinions, please. I didn't immediately recognize any of the artists. The webpage says that they are up-and-comers; maybe there are some who just haven't been "discovered" yet, too. Are there any of the groups or songs, among the free ones, that you would recommend?

[sufue]

Right on both counts:

(1) They are to keep.

(2) You probably won't recognize any - I pretty much never do. These are perhaps more still "coming" than actually "up". I just listen to them, and see if I like any of them. After all, they are free!

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

Maybe I shouldn't have had a question about this, and maybe everyone else already knows the answer but me, but these appear to be free for peeps to keep. They get added to your library. They are downloads. They are not (just) streams of songs.

Now, your opinions, please. I didn't immediately recognize any of the artists. The webpage says that they are up-and-comers; maybe there are some who just haven't been "discovered" yet, too. Are there any of the groups or songs, among the free ones, that you would recommend?