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

[ShortNet]

Thanks for the Hall of the Mountain King - one of my favorite classical pieces of all time. It was as good as a cup of coffee this morning to get things started for a long Thursday.

[ngrant]

Today Only February 2, 2017: 14 Classes at $14
offer ends at 11:59pm MST

Link

All the Sweet Things

Jacques Torres'’ Ultimate Box of Chocolates
Creamy, Dreamy Custards: Techniques & Treats
Miniature French Desserts
Decadent Chocolate Cakes
Show-Stopping Cheesecakes
The Art of Caramel: Techniques & Treats
Chocolate Baking Essentials

Homemade Dinner For Two

Secrets to Cooking Fish: Eight Essential Techniques
Vegetable Know-How
Classic Italian Pasta Sauces: Meat & Tomato
Cooking For Two
Cooking the Perfect Steak
French Cooking at Home: The Food of Provence
Homemade Italian Pasta

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by ShortNet

Thanks for the Hall of the Mountain King - one of my favorite classical pieces of all time. It was as good as a cup of coffee this morning to get things started for a long Thursday.

Thanks.

Welcome to posting on MobileRead. I've sent you some karma.

[GtrsRGr8]

This kind of video is not what I'd usually consider posting, although I can't quite put my finger on why (not).

It does meet the requirements laid out in the O.P. It is downloadable. So I suppose that everything's okay there.

I was not aware until I came across this video that any of the parents of the two shooters in the Columbine High School massacre had spoken in any way publicly about the incident. It seemed like all of them stayed tight-lipped. In fact, Sue Klebold may be the only one who has (yet) spoken up.

I haven't watched the video myself, yet. Frankly, I don't know that I can bring myself to do it. It may be just too gut-wrenching for me. I truly "feel" for all four parents of the shooters, as well as the families of those killed. Anyway, here's where to point your browser should you wish to watch this TED talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/sue_klebold...is_is_my_story.

I think that the rule for TED Talks is that they should be about 17 minutes long. So, this shouldn't be a very long video.

[GtrsRGr8]

Naxos has an album called The Best of Handel. Capella Istropolitana performs the songs, with Richard Edlinger conducting.

Evidently Naxos considers Xerxes: Largo to be one of "the best" of George Frideric Handel, because it is one of the songs found on the album. And the 3 minute, 43 second rendition of that song on the album is also YourClassical's freebie of the day.

In case you'd like to know more about the entire album, the dedicated Naxos webpage for the album is located here. Unless I missed something, information about this particular song and some other things that I would have liked to have learned about the album weren't to be found, however.

But listening to the song yourself is the best way to learn the most meaningful things to oneself about the song, anyway. Wanna stream it, and give it a listen that way? Then head to this webpage; the stream bar is located under an image of the album cover and is obvious. Wanna download the MP3? By navigating to the same webpage, and clicking on "Direct MP3 download link," you can do that.

Xerxes: Largo sounds somewhat familiar to me. It is a pleasant, becalming piece that, frankly, I wish would go on for much longer than its 3 minutes and 43 seconds. Maybe more pieces of the album are like that; I think that I'll head over to my Spotify account and see what else on the album that I enjoy listening to . . . .

With today being Friday, it'll be a couple of days (Monday, to be exact) until we get another freebie from YourClassical. Breathe deeply, I know that you can make it.

[Froide]

Happy to report: I've won a pair of free tix from YourClassical.org to attend a Tchaikovsky Festival concert at Lincoln Center. Crossing my fingers that other classical music-loving MobileReaders will win free tix, too.

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by Froide

Happy to report: I've won a pair of free tix from YourClassical.org to attend a Tchaikovsky Festival concert at Lincoln Center. Crossing my fingers that other classical music-loving MobileReaders will win free tix, too.

I wonder how you managed to get tickets when apparently I didn't (I did a search of my email)?

Oh well, by the time that I paid for travel to a major airport (closest is 1-1/2 hours or so away), parking at that airport, a round-trip airline ticket, rental car or taxi in NYC or Newark (Ack!), $10 meals at McDonalds there (it's NYC, remember), parking (if I rented a car) at the Lincoln Center, and anything else that I might have forgotten to consider, the concert wouldn't quite be free anymore. Plus, I don't like crowds.

Would anyone want my "free" tickets in case I end up getting some after all?

Anyway, Froide, if you go, congratulations. Seriously.

Maybe you got the tickets because they noticed that you live in Noo Yawk, so your expenses would (probably) be less than those of people who lived further away. Who knows? Maybe I'll get free tickets to the central Florida hoedown or the Panhandle hootenanny.

[Froide]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

I wonder how you managed to get tickets when apparently I didn't (I did a search of my email)?

Oh well, by the time that I paid for travel to a major airport (closest is 1-1/2 hours or so away), parking at that airport, a round-trip airline ticket, rental car or taxi in NYC or Newark (Ack!), $10 meals at McDonalds there (it's NYC, remember), parking (if I rented a car) at the Lincoln Center, and anything else that I might have forgotten to consider, the concert wouldn't quite be free anymore. Plus, I don't like crowds.

Would anyone want my "free" tickets in case I end up getting some after all?

Anyway, Froide, if you go, congratulations. Seriously.

Maybe you got the tickets because they noticed that you live in Noo Yawk, so your expenses would (probably) be less than those of people who lived further away. Who knows? Maybe I'll get free tickets to the central Florida hoedown or the Panhandle hootenanny.

Thanks.

FYI, free ticket winners are selected at random.

[GtrsRGr8]

Naxos' one-free-out-of-three album offer for February is available now.

If you get their email announcements about the promo, check your email inbox for an email message with the title "February New on Naxos plus your Free Album Download." If you're not on that mailing list, or want to use a slightly quicker way to get to the goodies, point your browser to this webpage.

As usual there is, first, a short blurb from Klaus Heymann about the occasion of the free albums and/or what they have in common:
To mark the 130th anniversary of the death of Alexander Borodin, on 27 February 1887, we invite you to take a slice of Russian roulade from our trio of free discs on offer this month. Borodin naturally features prominently, with a choice of either his symphonies or string quartets; and there's a compilation disc of songs including works by both Borodin and his compatriots Mussorgsky, Cui, Rimsky-Korsakov and Balakirev. Known collectively as the Mighty Handful (just one of their epithets), the composers' collaboration and output established a distinctly Russian classical musical style in the second half of the 19th century.

To take a quick look-see at the free offerings, scroll down to the point where you're close to the bottom of the email message/webpage (remember: if your email program customarily cuts off a part of the longer email messages, make sure to expand the email message fully). Under a light blue banner saying, "This Month's Free Albums," you will see the three album choices, with some bits of information about each. For your convenience, I'm going to list the choices:
- Borodin: Symphonie Nos. 1-3
- Borodin: String Quartets No. 1 and 2
- Mussorgsky / Cui / Rimsky-Korsakov / Balakirev / Borodin: Russian Songs

I'm anxious to listen to the Borodin pieces. He is another composer that I was not familiar with.

To go to the download webpage, click on one of two prominent dark orange buttons--one near the top of the email/webpage, and the other near the bottom of the email/webpage--which say, "Download One of This Month's Free Albums" and "Click Here to Make and Receive Your Choice," respectively. Bada bing, bada boom, you are taken to a download page for the free albums. There you can read a little bit more about each album. When you've decided which one of the albums that you want (it's always tough for me to decide!), click on the respective bright blue button that corresponds to the album and says "Download."

A warning, of sorts. Last month it took me a week or so to decide which album that I wanted. By the time that I tried to download one, the system wouldn't let me, for a still unknown (to me) reason. I don't know if it had to do with my taking so long to make a selection or what, but I thought that it was going to take an act of Congress (or whatever they have in Hong Kong) in order to get the album! Don't take chances--make your choice as soon as possible.

I'm happy to remind everyone that all of these free albums are in the high-quality flac format!

The Russians sure have produced a lot of great composers; more, it seems than in proportion to the population of the world. 'Course if you're confined inside half of the year because everything's cold and frozen outside, you have to find something to do . . . .

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

Naxos' one-free-out-of-three album offer for February is available now.
<snip>

Have any of you had any trouble downloading an album in this offer?

I'm afraid that I have. Taking my own advice, I tried to listen to them just now, and make my download choice, before much time had elapsed from the offer being sent out. Unfortunately, the tab that I had open for the download page got closed somehow. When I tried to go back and click the orange button, again, I got the webpage that said this:
Sorry, but the link you are trying to access appears to be unavailable.
Possible reasons:
- Link has already been used.
- Link has expired. Stay subscribed to our mailing list and look for the next offer.
- You have just signed up. Please come back and try again after an hour or so. If it still doesn't work, contact our customer service support team.
Yeah, that's the same thing as I got last month, and then had to spend hours trying to get one stupid album from them.

Yes, I went to the link one time. But I didn't download any of the albums! There are ways that they can set up things to tell not only if I've followed a link already, but also if I've downloaded an album--other companies do it all of the time! Their setup is evidently too stupid to do that.

I've already been the customer service route and it was a pain in the derriere. I boogered up my computer trying to clear caches, clear history, and clear everything else that might have caused the problem. Now my automatic sign-ins don't work, and I have to look up passwords repeatedly. That's just one of the ways that the computer is messed up now after trying to fix their problem.

Doesn't it look like they would have fixed the problem since the last time that they had this promotion, especially since they had nearly a month to do it?

I recognize (and do appreciate) Naxos offering the albums, but I've just about enjoyed all of their kindness that I can stand.

This is one P.O.'d person right now.

[Froide]

Originally Posted by Froide

Happy to report: I've won a pair of free tix from YourClassical.org to attend a Tchaikovsky Festival concert at Lincoln Center. Crossing my fingers that other classical music-loving MobileReaders will win free tix, too.

Fantastic evening! I love Lincoln Center, I love Tchaikovsky, and my companion and I really enjoyed this performance. (If interested, then you can click here for concert details.)

[koland]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

Have any of you had any trouble downloading an album in this offer?

I'm afraid that I have. Taking my own advice, I tried to listen to them just now, and make my download choice, before much time had elapsed from the offer being sent out. Unfortunately, the tab that I had open for the download page got closed somehow. When I tried to go back and click the orange button, again, I got the webpage that said this:
Sorry, but the link you are trying to access appears to be unavailable.
Possible reasons:
- Link has already been used.
- Link has expired. Stay subscribed to our mailing list and look for the next offer.
- You have just signed up. Please come back and try again after an hour or so. If it still doesn't work, contact our customer service support team.
Yeah, that's the same thing as I got last month, and then had to spend hours trying to get one stupid album from them.

Yes, I went to the link one time. But I didn't download any of the albums! There are ways that they can set up things to tell not only if I've followed a link already, but also if I've downloaded an album--other companies do it all of the time! Their setup is evidently too stupid to do that.

I've already been the customer service route and it was a pain in the derriere. I boogered up my computer trying to clear caches, clear history, and clear everything else that might have caused the problem. Now my automatic sign-ins don't work, and I have to look up passwords repeatedly. That's just one of the ways that the computer is messed up now after trying to fix their problem.

Doesn't it look like they would have fixed the problem since the last time that they had this promotion, especially since they had nearly a month to do it?

I recognize (and do appreciate) Naxos offering the albums, but I've just about enjoyed all of their kindness that I can stand.

This is one P.O.'d person right now.

try signing up with a different email address. then go to this link, the next day:
http://benefits.naxos.com/offer/MTEw...WEMAILADDRESS/

I think someone used the link you posted and downloaded the album using your email address (just to check that theory, I tried it just now and it the original link eventually let me click thru to the "you've used this" page, but showed me your email address; substituting mine in the URL, as indicated above, shows me the monthly choices).

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by koland

try signing up with a different email address. then go to this link, the next day:
http://benefits.naxos.com/offer/MTEw...WEMAILADDRESS/

I think someone used the link you posted and downloaded the album using your email address (just to check that theory, I tried it just now and it the original link eventually let me click thru to the "you've used this" page, but showed me your email address; substituting mine in the URL, as indicated above, shows me the monthly choices).

Thanks.

Yeah, I didn't notice my email address in the URL when I first started posting these, until someone (I'm afraid if I say who I might be wrong, so I won't say) brought that to my attention.

To be honest with you, last night I went ahead and signed up with a different email address--my main one, which I definitely don't want to publicize. It might be against Naxos' rules somewhere, which at some time in the past that I agreed to follow. I dunno. But, it did work. I immediately listened to the albums, without leaving the webpage, and did, indeed, get an album to download. I'm glad to have it. Of course, now I would expect to get the "Sorry, blah, blah, blah" webpage, and I might check just to see. Anyway, I did get to download an album.

I'm thinking of writing Naxos and asking them to delete the first account, and maybe even telling them why. And, of course, to apologize for them having to send me, last month, an(other) album to make up for the first, that I didn't get, in case I was at fault for revealing my email address.

But, thanks for taking time out to write, especially knowing that you're covered over with other things that you need to do.

[GtrsRGr8]

I almost forgot that it is Monday. Monday is, of course, the start of five straight days of free classical pieces via YourClassical.

I'm more of an unsophisticated hayseed hick than I thought that I was. Today, YourClassical is offering a free piece from yet another classical composer that I don't ever remember hearing of before--Charles-Auguste de Beriot. I must remember to castigate my dear Mother for not instilling more culture in my upbringing! haha

The piece comes from a Naxos album of Beriot's works: Violin Concertos Nos. 4, 6 and 7. Credit for the violin performance goes to Ayana Tsuji, the orchestral part is performed by the Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra, Pardubice. Michael Halasz is also listed in the credits on the album cover, without statement of his part. But the dedicated Naxos webpage for the album that I reference below points out that he is the conductor.

And what is the free piece, you may be wondering by now? It is Violin Concerto No. 6: II. Allegretto. It is a 4 minute, 2 second piece. Our freebie is formatted in MP3.

Violin music is the nucleus and focal point of the music on the album, including our free piece. You may be aware of my general distaste for violin music. But I think that when I really dislike it is when it is overpowering and/or grating. In this piece, neither one is true; I enjoyed it.

I wish to call your attention to two important links on YourClassical's dedicated webpage for the free piece. One is a link to a dedicated webpage, by Naxos, for the entire album. The other is the "Direct MP3 download link," which if you click, the free piece automatically will start downloading to your device. Also, there is a stream bar (very obvious) where you can simply listen to the piece by stream it or preview it before you add yet another file to your hard drive or memory.

I hope that we get more free Beriot pieces.

[GtrsRGr8]

Sometime in the last 18 hours or so (when I last checked), Alexander Street posted its most recent biweekly free music download (they call it the "free download of the week" for some reason).

The composer is Franz Liszt. The download is Les Preludes. Here's a bit about the work, from Open Music Library:
This week's download features Liszt's Les Préludes. Les Préludes is the first orchestral work known as a symphonic poem, a one-movement genre developed by Liszt to move symphonic writing beyond the well-established four movement structure. Liszt composed thirteen symphonic poems in all, but Les Préludesis virtually the only one to secure a place in regular programming.

Again, the download is free and, in the past, Alexander Street's freebies have stayed that way until the next biweekly freebie is announced. The piece is formatted in MP3.

I wish that I could tell you precisely how long the piece is, but I don't see any information concerning that. I listened to all of it. If the counter on my MP3 player is correct, it is 4 minutes and 1 second long.

Anyway, to download the free piece, begin here. If you are a subscriber to Alexander Street's mailing list, and are logged in, you should see a bright blue button in the lower righthand corner of Franz Liszt's photograph. Click on it. That should take you to an Open Music Library webpage, where there is a light aqua blue box. Inside the box is a blue link that says "Les Preludes." If you click on it, the download should begin immediately.

I enjoyed the piece, even though it has a lot of the dreaded (to me) violin. But the violin is not overbearing, in my opinion, and I feel complements the rest of the orchestra's performance.

(BTW, and this might save you the trouble of looking yourself--Open Music Library does not mean by "open" that any of their music or scores or whatever else that they have is free. That conclusion comes from me scouring their website for about an hour one day. Almost everyone else does imply "free" when they use the word "open," based upon my observations when browsing on the web. Somewhere--I don't know where the webpage is now--OML tries to explain why they use "Open" in their name, but the explanation rang hollow to me. So, it remains a mystery to me. I say all of that to try to help someone the time and trouble of looking all over the OML website to see what other freebies that they might have.)