Best places to buy digital music?

Music
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I have a expansive digital collection, but have recently wanted to buy an individual song here and there, trying to flesh out a playlist or artist collection, for example.

Does anyone have a recommendation of the best place to score individual digital music files? I get my albums mainly from HDTracks.

G

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Bandcamp?
Qobuz. If a member of the Sublime level.

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3

Seconded.

Presto Classical has an increasingly reliable download programme with simple and reliable software.

ProStudioMasters, a more limited repertoire for ‘classical’ music, but some good pricing. Similar approach to that of HDTracks.

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4

7digital - if it’s available where you live. If you aren’t bothered about lossy (which I’m not if it’s the only option), then Apple Music has a very extensive catalogue (I don’t subscribe but you can buy with an Apple ID).

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5

Here you go:

and

and

Torben

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6

Bandcamp mainly sells album downloads unless the track was released as a single by the artist. I really dig the community aspect of it and love supporting the artists through my download and physical media purchases.

Qobuz sells individual tracks and I have been a satisfied customer for years now. I recommend the most for your needs.

eClassical is good if you like the BIS/Naxos family of labels (which I do). They price their music by the length, which is novel and cool.

HDTracks always seemed overpriced to me. I have purchased downloads when I couldn’t find them anywhere else.

Presto is not a service I have used for downloads, but I have purchased CDs/SACDs from them and have been pleased with the service.

7digital isn’t in my country.

The other esoteric DSD download sites don’t really have music that I find very interesting.

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7

Thanks for the recommendation as BIS is one of my favorite labels for classical and eClassical offers some of their stuff as multichannel FLAC. Really great!

Speaking of which: some labels have great download shops for their recordings, and in the classical world I like Pentatone offering a lot of different formats and resolutions like DSD and Surround:

Same is true to highresaudio.com which I can fully recommend.

Dolby Atmos is not supported by roon yet and 5.1 seemingly not that popular, but for those who like surround stuff I can recommend 2 very niche platforms:

for pretty niche pop and rock

for pretty interesting classical multichannel recordings.

Have to admit that most of my music still comes from physical discs which I mainly buy used and rip them.

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I don’t buy music often. But I always buy from Qobuz.

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9

My preference in order

The artists own website
Bandcamp
Qobuz

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10

I have found this to be frustrating, actually. I don’t think any artist page/store I have visited offered digital downloads for sale and instead directed me to a whole slew of links for streaming and the only option they provide for purchase is either Apple or Amazon if Bandcamp isn’t listed. Qobuz has never been an option for purchase. Do you have any examples, Menzies?

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11

Qobuz. :+1:

If I remember correctly, you do not have to subscribe to Qobuz streaming to purchase from them.

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12

But their ‘Sublime’ membership platform offers heavy, very attractive, discounts - often well over 50% off (at least for classical music) :slight_smile: .

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Good point. :+1:

I believe that’s just for high res titles? Please correct me if I am wrong.

High res titles aren’t a priority for me, not to mention it’s not often I buy anything, so I haven’t seriously considered subscribing at the Sublime level.

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Qobuz Store

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I think you’re right, @Saturn94; I hope I didn’t mislead; apologies if I did?

When I first subscribed, I did go straight for ‘Sublime’. I hope my ears are still good enough to hear the difference :slight_smile:

Good luck!

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You can purchase from Qobuz without even subscribing.

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17

I’m sorry @Menzies-Old , I think I was misunderstood. I was talking about your choice of artist websites being your first go to for purchase of digital files and was dismayed that I haven’t found artists selling downloads and how Qobuz was not even usually an option on artist websites. Does that make more sense? Do you have examples of downloads being purchaseable on artist websites?

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18

One of many

YMMV

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19

I would definitely recommend a Qobuz Sublime subscription, where you can get individual tracks and full albums often at a very good discount. If you like buying a lot of music, like I do, the saved money easily pays for the subscription.

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20

For me Bandcamp and Qobuz. :slight_smile:

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