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 March 15, 2007
Linn Records Studio Master Downloads
Amid all this focus on protecting music, it was a breath of fresh air to see Linn Records’ new Studio Master downloads. Titles available on this Linn website can be played by the Windows Media software player -- a reasonable choice, considering that few music file formats support high-resolution music. But these WMA files are completely free of any DRM restrictions; you can do what you like with them, limited only by the software on your computer. And the files are losslessly compressed; that is, they’re smaller than uncompressed files, but loses no sound resolution in the process. The process of decompression and playback restores all of the original sound quality. I browsed Linn’s online catalog, listening to the plentiful samples available, then selected four tracks that sounded interesting to me. The per-track prices are fairly high, but knowing I could be listening at better-than-CD quality only minutes after purchase was seductive. I forked over $15, began downloading 320MB from Linn’s server (it took about 15 minutes), and was listening as soon as the first file had finished downloading. Score one for nearly instant satisfaction. The recorded resolutions varied a bit. The Studio Master tracks I purchased from albums by jazz singer Barb Jungr were recorded at 24-bit/44.1kHz. The two classical titles I tried were at the higher resolution of 24/88, similar to some DVD-Audio releases. All had clean, well-balanced sound free of any digital nastiness -- exactly what you’d expect from a company best known for its turntables -- and for the most part sounded at least a bit better than I’d expect from any CD. My PC has a 24/96 soundcard, and I’ve hooked up speakers to it so that I can regularly enjoy two-channel DVD-A titles. The Linn files sounded good. Because there was no DRM, I was also free to convert the files to other formats and burn them to media that would work with my other source players. I downloaded a copy of Audio DVD Creator and used its simple interface to burn a DVD-Video disc, upsampling all the files to 24/96. This isn’t optimal -- a DVD-A disc would better match the source material -- but I knew the resulting disc would play in any of my DVD players. Also, DVD-A mastering software is still pretty expensive. I then used the DVD Creator to burn a regular CD so that I could play the music in my car. Of the Studio Master tracks I downloaded, I most enjoyed, by far, the music and sound of trumpeter Jonathan Freeman-Attwood’s La Trompette Retrouvée, a wonderful set of transcriptions for trumpet and piano of works originally composed for other instruments. Freeman-Attwood’s masterful playing has been captured spectacularly, with a big dose of the thrilling sound you get only from resolutions higher than CD’s 16/44.1. To see what the Linn Records Studio Master format is capable of, I recommend you try the Romanza (Poco adagio) of Saint-Saëns’ Cello Sonata No.2 in F Major, Op.123.
The economics might not always make sense, but Linn Record’s downloads can still be a viable choice, especially if you value unrestricted listening to the music you purchase. If you’re already dedicated to computer-based music playback, it could easily be the case that downloading a file makes more sense than buying a SACD -- a format so protected that you can’t play it at full quality on a computer. Nor is it clear how many future players will even support playing SACDs. DRM-protected music downloads have the feel of a borrowed object. I always wonder whether some future revision in licensing terms, computer technology, or player availability might render impossible my preferred way of playing back the music I’ve paid for. It’s refreshing to find a music company offering higher-than-CD-quality downloads in a completely open format that you can transfer to whatever system you have now, or may have in the future, without having to worry about restrictions. Try out their test samples and see if you like the performances and sound. Linn might not yet offer something for absolutely everyone, but I can see their hi-rez Studio Master downloads as being just perfect for many listeners. It’s worth your time to see if you’re one of them. ...Greg Smith To learn more about Linn Records, visit LinnRecords.com.
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Digital Rights Management (DRM) has been
all over the news these past months. Microsoft’s new Windows Vista operating system,
which is packed with DRM technologies tightly integrated into its core, has begun to
appear on home computers. Computer hackers have released code to work around the Advanced
Access Content System (AACS) technology that protects the content of both HD DVD and
Blu-ray discs, allowing unrestricted viewing of both formats. And Apple’s Steve Jobs
made an open plea to the larger music companies that they consider releasing their titles
for sale through the Apple iTunes store without DRM.
The main drawback of the Studio
Master downloads, as currently offered, is that they aren’t necessarily the best
value when compared with physical media. For example, La Trompette Retrouvée is
also available on an SACD/CD that gives you hi-rez two- and 5.1-channel surround mixes, as
well as an HDCD layer, all for $20. For $24, the Studio Master download gives you only a
two-channel recording that, to play on anything other than a computer, you have to burn to
your own physical media.