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

[koland]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

A slow network in Knoxville? A technology hub. Home of the University of Tennessee, which has a reputation for technology and engineering (my uncle, from near Oak Ridge, got his Bachelor's in Engineering at Purdue (big engineering school--the "Boilermakers") and then chose to get his Master's at U.T. This, of course, was a long time ago, too), home of the World's Fair, in 198_?, which was focused on energy, with that big tower thingie as the focal point. That Knoxville?

Yep, the very one. Where even in the county you can get slow internet (anyone want some 1Mb/s DSL? That's what you get in TDS land, if you aren't close enough to one of their Fiber points. I had that for years before upgrading to a fast line, but have been operating out of an office with slow (highly shared) wifi for a few days. No doubt that big tower "thingie" (the giant yellow golf ball/basketball/take your choice) interferes with the high-speed internet waves we all need...

You'll get better wifi down in Chattanooga, where the city provides it as a utility (and the cable company lobbyists got a law passed to try to stop that anywhere else in the state - let's all here it for monopolies!).

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by koland

Yep, the very one. Where even in the county you can get slow internet (anyone want some 1Mb/s DSL? That's what you get in TDS land, if you aren't close enough to one of their Fiber points. I had that for years before upgrading to a fast line, but have been operating out of an office with slow (highly shared) wifi for a few days. No doubt that big tower "thingie" (the giant yellow golf ball/basketball/take your choice) interferes with the high-speed internet waves we all need...

You'll get better wifi down in Chattanooga, where the city provides it as a utility (and the cable company lobbyists got a law passed to try to stop that anywhere else in the state - let's all here it for monopolies!).

Well, at least you've got some interesting information to share with other people . . . .

Someone, maybe Alphabet (the name of the basket of companies created that includes Google), has talked about putting a satellite or two up in the sky and letting it beam down wi-fi all over the place somehow or another. I hope that the lobbyists don't put the kibosh on that, too.

[KyBunnies]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

A slow network in Knoxville? A technology hub. Home of the University of Tennessee, which has a reputation for technology and engineering (my uncle, from near Oak Ridge, got his Bachelor's in Engineering at Purdue (big engineering school--the "Boilermakers") and then chose to get his Master's at U.T. This, of course, was a long time ago, too), home of the World's Fair, in 198_?, which was focused on energy, with that big tower thingie as the focal point. That Knoxville?

Frankly, concerning the problems that I had at Alexander Street, one or both may have been of my own making. I checked the website for changes and noticed a fresh download page--figured everything was good to go. Then, today, I got an email from them notifying me of the new download. I need to be more patient next time--after all, the download is good for two weeks. Now, Naxos is a different matter . . . .

Oh, and thanks for responding to my query to all MobileReaders about their Alexander Street experience(s). You were the only one who responded--well, except for me, and I don't count.

The World's Fair was in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1982. I remember this so vividly. Spent a week there enjoying the food and everything. I still have a souvenir from then.

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by KyBunnies

The World's Fair was in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1982. I remember this so vividly. Spent a week there enjoying the food and everything. I still have a souvenir from then.

Kewl. I knew that the World's Fair was in the early 80's sometime, but I couldn't pin it down any further. I wish that I could visit a good World's Fair one day. I'd probably enjoy trying all of the different ethnic foods more than anything. Of course, Mickey Mouse has one of his two homes (the other one being in Anaheim) not very far from me in Florida. They have some kind of ongoing international pavilion or something like that where they serve food of a great number of countries. Of course, you can't sit there and eat all day; you've got to do some walking to work it off, and spend some time letting it digest. Counting three school years in Florida in college and the years working and living here, I've lived a total of about 19 years here. But I've never visited DisneyWorld. And for about 2 1/2 years, I was only about an hour and a half away from it.

[GtrsRGr8]

Based upon the fact that the freebies from YourClassical for the last three days have been Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart compositions, and that his birthday is still upcoming this week (tomorrow, the 27th, I think), you might be expecting another Mozart giveaway from YourClassical today. If so, you won't be disappointed.

Today's freebie is Mozart's Violin Sonata No. 35: I. Molto allegro. It comes from an Artek album, Mozart - Sonatas for Piano & Violin K.301, 378, 380, 526. Ani Kavafian plays the violin and Jorge Federico Osorio tickles the ivories. Find out some more about the album by pointing your web browser to here, a dedicated webpage for the album, provided by Naxos.

The free piece from the album is an MP3. It runs 6 minutes, 34 seconds as performed. On YourClassical's dedicated webpage for the freebie, you can activate the streaming feature to listen to the piece. You can also download the piece directly to your hard drive or whatever the default location for such things is on your computer or other device. To do that, you need simply to click on the "Direct MP3 download link." After it is downloaded, you're ready to play it on your favorite (or any. ha) app that plays MP3's.

I always listen to the pieces before I post them, unless prevented from it by something beyond my control. And so I did with this piece. The composition, itself, is delightful. There is something about the violin and piano combination, however, that I don't quite get into. But you may remember that I generally do not like violin music (it's not that I'm against all stringed instruments--I love the guitar and the cello, for example). I think that the piano portion by itself would have made for an excellent listen. As it is, I consider the piece just acceptable. Sorry, Mr. Mozart, if you can hear me wherever you are.

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by koland

Yep, the very one. Where even in the county you can get slow internet (anyone want some 1Mb/s DSL? That's what you get in TDS land, if you aren't close enough to one of their Fiber points. I had that for years before upgrading to a fast line, but have been operating out of an office with slow (highly shared) wifi for a few days. No doubt that big tower "thingie" (the giant yellow golf ball/basketball/take your choice) interferes with the high-speed internet waves we all need...

You'll get better wifi down in Chattanooga, where the city provides it as a utility (and the cable company lobbyists got a law passed to try to stop that anywhere else in the state - let's all here it for monopolies!).

Soccer ball. I think that the top of the tower looks most like a soccer ball. The next word that comes to mind is "eyesore."

I bet that the Oak Ridge National Laboratory just up the road doesn't have a problem with slow Internet speed. ha I have a friend who works there (or, at least, used to--I haven't seen him in years). The next time that I see him, I'll ask him.

[GtrsRGr8]

Happy birthday, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart! That's right, he was born on January 27 of some year way back a long time ago.

We've gotten free Mozart-composed pieces from YourClassical every day this M-F week. Today is no exception. I'm sure that it has something to do with the occasion of his birthday.

Today, we are allowed to get, free, an MP3 of Gottlieb's Piano Concerto No. 24: III. Allegretto. This rendition runs 8 minutes, 34 seconds.

Once again, Naxos is the publisher of the album from which the free piece is taken. Today's free piece comes from Mozart - Complete Piano Concertos, Vol. 4 - Nos. 23 & 24. Jeno Jando performs on the piano; the orchestra appears to be Concentus Hungarius; the conductor is Matyas Antal. Further information about the album is just a click away--it's here on this dedicated Naxos webpage for the album.

There's a dedicated YourClassical webpage for the freebie, too. On that page, you can download the free piece by clicking on "Direct MP3 download link." You can stream it by using the stream bar--it's located underneath the image of the album cover and very plain to see.

I listened to today's free piece in its entirety. Due to the limitations in my knowledge of music, musical instruments, etc. I'm not able to say much about it, other than it's very pleasant, and probably a little less lively than the average Mozart piece. I am happy to have it.

I predicted several days ago that we would get a Mozart piece from YourClassical every day this week. I'm going to go out on a limb and make another prediction: we will not get a Mozart piece from YourClassical tomorrow or the day after.

[AnemicOak]

Free from Google Play...

War of the Arrows

September 2011
122 minutes
Action & Adventure

Audio Language: Korean (Stereo)
Subtitles: English

1623, the 15th year of King Gwanghaegun's reign, King's loyal servant and legendary archer, General Choi Pyong-ryang, is framed for treason and gets executed. His entire household meets the same tragic fate but his young son and daughter, Nam-yi and Ja-in, escape and flee to the safety of their father's longtime friend, Kim Mu-seon's home. The brother and sister take refuge under Kim's wing and are raised as his own. 13 years pass and Qing China carries out a brutal invasion against Joseon, in what will later be known as second Manchu invasion of Korea. On the wedding day of Ja-in and Kim Mu-seon's son, Seo-gun, Qing troops led by Commander Jiusinta attack the village and take the villagers as prisoners. Ja-in is among the hostage. When Nam-yi returns home later after getting injured in a battle, he finds his guardian murdered and his sister taken away by the Qing men. Nam-yi chases after the troop in a desperate attempt to save his sister. Nam manages to track down Ja-in but must face a battle with Jiusinta's best men in order to escape.

CAST AND CREDITS

Actors
Hae-il Park, Seung-yong Ryoo, Moon Chae-Won

Producers
Sung-hwan Kim

Director
Han-min Kim

Writers
Han-min Kim

[GtrsRGr8]

Today's free classical piece signals not only the end of a weekend, but also the beginning of a Monday-Friday string of free classical music pieces from YourClassical!

Not just the performer, but also the composer of today's YourClassical freebie was an unknown to me. The composer is one Alexander Scriabin. Naxos has put together a collection of his Piano Music - Poems, Waltzes, Dances. All of the pieces on the album are performed by Xiayin Wang on (of course) the piano. There is a dedicated Naxos webpage for the album, but biographical information about the composer is almost non-existent. About all that I could find out is that he was from the 20th century--very recent for a classical music composer! There is quite a bit more information on that Naxos webpage about the performer, Ms. Wang, however.

The piece that we are privileged to receive free is Valse in D-Flat Major. It is formatted in MP3 and runs only 47 seconds as performed by Ms. Wang. I really enjoyed the piece, and it has whetted my appetite to hear both more of Scriabin's compositions and Wang's performances.

Take a listen to the piece by navigating to this webpage and activating the stream bar. Alternatively or additionally, you may download the piece, from that very same webpage, by clicking on the "Direct MP3 download link" link.

[ATDrake]

Free video game from Humble Bundle until Wednesday, 10 AM Pacific Time, if I'm reading the countdown timer correctly, as a promotion for the current sale in their Humble Store:

X-Com: UFO Defense, a strategy game for Windows where you pretend to be the plucky government organization fighting off the alien invaders with combat and salvage missions and research @ the Humble Store (requires Steam account linked to Humble account, must redeem key in the actual Steam app before 10 AM Pacific Time on Feb 17th)

[GtrsRGr8]

Today's YourClassical freebie comes from a Naxos album with music from a famous composer, but the composition is of a rather unfamiliar genre of classical music (at least to those of us in the west). The album is entitled, Dvorak - Slavonic Dances, Op. 46 and 72.

Credit goes to the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra for the performance, and Zdenek Kosler for directing it as the conductor. You can find a dedicated Naxos webpage for the album here. It's chock-full of helpful information.

The piece from the album that we are entitled to receive free is Slavonic Dance No. 13. It is a 2 minute, 55 second piece. I found it to be very pleasant--what we expect from a performance of a Dvorak composition. You can download the free piece from this webpage (click on the "Direct MP3 download link" link to download it; if you should wish to stream it in lieu of downloading the piece, or to stream it before downloading it, you can do it from that webpage also).

Note that the recording was made way back in 1988. That is eons in the past on the timeline of advancement in recording technology, and there is nothing to indicate that this is a remastered album. So, the more discerning ear may notice a slightly inferior quality of playback of this MP3 from MP3's of more recent times. Experts, wish to weigh in?

Classical-music.com's download of the week should be available later today.

[GtrsRGr8]

Here is the Classical-music.com freebie just posted today.

It is Amandine Beyer and Giuliano Carmignola play Vivaldi. The download webpage at Classical-music.com gives this information about the free piece:
This week's download is the Allegro from Vivaldi's Concerto for two violins in B flat major, performed by Amandine Beyer, Giuliano Carmignola and Gli Incogniti. The recording was Concerto Choice in our January issue.

'The musical chemistry between Carmignola and Beyer is intuitive and gratifying,' writes Nicholas Anderson. 'Soloists and ripieno alike respond to this wonderful music with passion, insight and feeling.'

The freebie is an MP3. This rendition of the composition runs three minutes and 51 seconds long.

Here's the procedure for downloading the piece. Even if you are not currently a member/subscriber, I think that you will still be able to take advantage of the offer. Just sign up anywhere on Classical-music.com's website that you can find to do it. If you've signed up and have signed in, navigate to this webpage, if you're not there already. There should be a button, saying "Download Now," superimposed over the thumbnail image of the album from which this free piece is taken. If so, click on it. That final step should cause the free piece to start downloading to your computer or whatever device that you use to listen to MP3 music on.

I am still a classical music neophyte. But, I've known of Vivaldi, and appreciated his work, for many years. I think that it has to do with hearing The Four Seasons many years ago. This piece is another pleasant one. It is all that more remarkable for me to say that because there is quite a bit of violin in it, and I generally do not like violin music. But the violin is very tastefully used in this piece, IMHO.

You've got just short of one week to download this piece for free. At the end of the week's time, a new Classical-music.com freebie will be coming out!

[GtrsRGr8]

Got February's Naxos newsletter in my email inbox today. Yes, I know that it's not February yet, but they've sent it anyway as though it were the first of January.

The highlight of each newsletter to me, and I'm sure just about everyone else, is announcement of a new free album. The free album this time is Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 8, 14 and 23. And, of course, Naxos is the publisher.

Here's what to do to get it. If you are a subscriber, you also should have gotten a newsletter from Naxos today. Open it. Close to the bottom of the screen (the newsletter is so short that it takes up just one screen on my computer), you should see an orange button that says "Free Album--Download Here." Click on it. The webpage that appears will have a bright blue button (too obvious to miss) on it that says "Download." If you do, indeed, want to download the album, click on that button.

The resulting download is a zip file. Once you open it, you will be presented with a list of files for the 9 pieces making up the album. To listen to one, simply click on the file, and your default music player should open up and began playing the song. Note that there is also a booklet shown as a 1.4 MB PDF file. This booklet contains a tremendous amount of information about Beethoven, the album, individual pieces on the album, and a whole lot of other things. In lieu of giving you my typical abbreviated amount of that kind of information, myself, I will direct your attention to that PDF. Give me feedback, please, as to whether or not you prefer the brief tidbits of information that I usually give, or much more, as I will do this time.

The album is about 54 minutes in length. It is formatted in flac.

It looks like I'm going to finish this post in less than 54 minutes, so I will not have listened to all of the album by the time that I finish. The pieces that I've listened to thus far have been lively (typical Beethoven, I think) and, to my surprise, I actually have heard several of them, before, several times.

I got very disillusioned with Naxos this month (January), but to their credit all of the giveaways from them, that I know of, are formatted in the excellent flac format; "everyone" else offers only MP3's. Moreover, Naxos gives us the entire album in a giveaway, not just a piece or two. Furthermore, we can get up to two albums per month--in a couple of weeks or so, they will give the general public (not just subscribers to their newsletter) an option of one free album from three choices. That's being pretty generous!

[GtrsRGr8]

I'm trying to fire off a YourClassical freebie of the day announcement before I go to bed. If I don't, it would probably be midday today before I could get it done . . . .

The free piece is Dmitri Shostakovich - The Gadfly Suite: Folk Feast. It runs 2 minutes and 44 seconds as performed. It is formatted in MP3.

The free piece comes from a Naxos album, Shostakovich - The Gadfly - Five Days-Five Nights. The Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra performs this rendition, under the direction of conductor Theodore Kuchar. YourClassical links to this webpage, where you can find out much more about the album.

The piece is very pleasant to me . . . very upbeat.

As I've mentioned several times before, I'm still a classical music neophyte. However, I recognize the name Shostakovich from a book that I read about him. He chose to stay in his home of Leningrad as it was being beseiged by Germany in World War II. Leningrad was cut off from the rest of Russia many, many days, and all of the people who remained there suffered terribly until the seige was lifted. And Shostakovich lived during a time in the Soviet Union (the Stalin era) in which merely composing or playing music that was considered against the officially-sanctioned styles could get you arrested and even executed. For years, he lived in fear of his life. But somehow Shostakovich was courageous enough to continue composing his style of music. But, yet, he was allowed to continue to live. He was truly an exceptional human being, in addition to being an outstanding composer IMHO.

But back to the free piece . . . get it at this webpage by clicking on the "Direct MP3 download link" link. On that webpage, you also can stream the piece before downloading it, or in lieu of downloading it.

Check back tomorrow to find out what freebie YourClassical offers to us next!

[GtrsRGr8]

Today we are privileged to receive from YourClassical a free piece from Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg.

It's a 2 minute, 39 second piece as performed, formatted in MP3, and called Peer Gynt: In the Hall of the Mountain King.

Let's say a little about the Naxos album from which the free piece is taken. It is called Grieg - Peer Gynt Suites - Six Orchestral Songs. It appears that Malmo Symphony Orchestra performs all of the pieces in the album, with Bjarte Engeset doing the conducting. If you're interested in learning more about the album, the quickest way would be to follow this link to Naxos' dedicated webpage for the album, which is kindly provided to us by YourClassical.

Grieg, of course, is a well-known composer. While I haven't paid much attention to most classical music over the years, I've known his name for quite a while. The greatest percentage of my identifiable ancestry is Norwegian, so I've paid a little bit more attention to him as a composer, and to his music, over the years than others.

This free piece today is very familiar, too. The word "stirring" comes to mind.

After perhaps streaming it first (you can do that at this webpage) to see how well you like it, you can download it from the same webpage by clicking on "Direct MP3 download link." Your computer or other device will take over from there. You'll only have to click on the file name for it to play on your default MP3 player.

Happy listening. Happy Thursday.