B&W Music Club

Not sure if this has been reported here before but I've stumbled across the B&W Music Club. It is a subscription service which partners with Peter Gabriel's Real World Studio. You get the opportunity to download an album a month produced at the studio. Download is in Apple Lossless format.

There is a free trial on, at http://www.bowers-wilkins.com/display.aspx?terid=3558&infid=3550 and the website obviously explains the concept better than I.

Anyone here try this yet ?

I did hear about this one a little while ago but for some reason I'm just not that excited about it. Maybe if it was more of a music store I would be into it.

Hopefully someone else around here is a little more excited about it and will actually try it. Let us know if you give it a shot!

Agreed that the appeal is a bit limited but an encouraging effort nonetheless. Also, it had been awhile since I wandered over to Gabriel's web site, so I did and saw in one of his recent video blogs that he mentions this arrangement and also has some short but likewise encouraging and nice comments about the movement to distribute higher quality sound after the proliferation of compressed mp3s. Always been a big fan of PG.

TheOtherTim

Hi All,

Thought I'd 'bump' this!

I've been a member now for four months during which time I've downloaded four of the best recorded albums I own. Granted, the £36 annual fee (well, that's what they charge us Brits!) may well be a bit of a shot in the dark as far as genres and personal taste are concerned, but I think I can now safely say that as far as recording quality goes, if you find better please let me know!

I've just finished listening to this month's offering, Julianna Raye's 'Dominoes', which is, quite simply, gorgeous! Resisting the temptation to fly off into 'review mode' and chuck a hat-full of adjectives around, the sound quality is as good as anything else I've heard, full stop! (Should that be - period? !!)

Of the four albums I have so far downloaded, there has only been one which only got one spin and that was the Dub Colossus effort. Just not my thing. The way I look at it, it is exposing me to artists I may not have otherwise come across and the odd duffer is still going to give me great value for money. At twelve albums a year, if I only like half of them they have still only cost me £6 each and here in good old Blighty, that is less than half what we would normally pay for a new release!

As far as the downloading thing goes, I have now settled on a regime. They offer two file types, both of which you are allowed to download :

Alac - best for iTunes and comes with all necessary art work etc.

Flac - best for burning to cd. I use Flac Frontend to convert to wav and then use Plextor's Plextools to burn. (I own a Plextor burner and I found their software gave much better results than anything else.)

Anyway, pop along and have a listen to some of the samples. Personally, I think it is dirt cheap - unless Mr. Gabriel is reading this, in which case perhaps I should say, superb value for money - and the recording philosophy and values are second to none.

I like it!!

Hey Bob - Alright, I think you talked me into this one.

Hi Chris,

Ok, got my fingers seriously crossed now!! Let us know what you think!

Hi Bob - I'm hooked!

This really is a complete experience with the video interviews etc... It feels like luxury music purchasing :-)

Hi Chris,

Yes, and also it is a bit odd - it feels like an exclusive club, somehow! Just you and, potentially, the rest of the world!!

Glad you liked it though, it fits in really well with the whole computer music thing and if the quality is maintained I'm sure it will go from strength to strength. Now, I wonder if Opus3 Records will follow suit?!!

Hi Bob - Is it possible to purchase the albums previously released?

Hi Chris,

Only from the usual outlets. Once the month is up the album rights, as it were, revert to the performer and the album will then go on general release. I missed the first two albums, but then bought them from am**on! If its your sort of thing I would heartily recommend the 'Little Axe' album

I can't find the Little Axe album anywhere. It's not even on the Little Axe website discography.

Hi Chris,

Oops - bit remiss of me - didn't tell you the whole story! I forgot to mention the mp3 word! The only place I could find it was here :

http://www.mp3sparks.com/r2/Little_Axe/Bought_For_A_Dollar__Sold_For_A_Dime/group_5716/album_4/mcatalog.shtml?albref=-1

So I dl'ed it for iPod use! Not the best but will keep me happy until it appears either on the RealWorld web site or in the usual places. Amazon has a good selection of previous stuff of which 'Champagne and Grits' is my favourite.

Urmm, sorry! Promise not to dash hopes on the rocks of mp3 again. Bad Bob.

Hmmm - that ought to tell me something!

When I went looking for the B&W album I ended up buying 'Champagne and Grits' and 'Hard Grind' from am**on and downloading mp3's of the 'Bought for a dollar...', because I couldn't find the album proper. The mp3's went into iTunes and then back out as wavs for listening to on my main system. Obviously, for me, the reconstituted cd hasn't displeased that much, otherwise I might have remembered how I'd come by it!! I've just nipped through and done a quick side-by-side with Walter Trout's new album, and it really isn't much worse, despite Walter being a 'proper' cd!

Just goes to show that if the music is good enough, the (lack of) quality can be lived with. I mean, I know it could sound better, but it's still a great listen!

Lesson learned!

Has anyone else had problems logging into the B&W Music Club this weekend? I've tried under Windows and OS X, with Internet Explorer, Firefox & Safari. I enter the correct username & password, and login portion of the screen displays that the requested page cannot be found. I can't seem to find any link for technical support either. It appears I may have wasted a membership, as I only downloaded December's album when it first came out.

Hi David - Same problem for me. No worries, i'm sure it will be fixed shortly.

I can't find anything on their website that says what type of 24-bit FLAC file they are producing.

Has anyone tried the 24-bit and figured it out ??? I don't think I would be interested in 24/44.1

Mike

The files are 24/44 - this taken from the decoded files I downloaded yesterday. And mighty fine they do sound:)

I am sure that the B&W "raw" digital files that are created in the studio have a higher data rate. The sound would be even better if they just put out the finished product at 88.2

Mike

I just got a reply from B&W. They say that the 24-bit Flac is 24/48, which is a step up from CD 16/44.1 quality.

Mike

Have to disagree, I'm afraid. The only 24bit release I have seen to date is the latest by Portico Quartet and the FLAC copy I downloaded is most definitely 24/44.1 Perhaps the next release will be 24/48.

Hi all,

Just downloaded the latest release, Justin Adams and Juldeh Camara - The Afrobilly Sessions, and the 24 bit flac is definitely a 24/48 release. Oooh, don't you just love people power! Next step - start badgering them for 24/96

Very cool Bob. I'm off to download my copy.

'Tis playing as I type and will be sent round for a second helping in a minute! Right up my 'World' music street - lovely stuff!!

Hey Bob - You can now download the previous albums from B&W!!!

i believe the Music Club has been renamed Society of Sound as well. I'm downloading a ton of stuff right now. This feels like I'm getting free music! Plus, the old albums are 24 bit FLAC releases now.

I'd missed that! I'd already dl'd this month's offering, the very wonderful 'Madam', and gone on my merry way for the next month. I completely missed the back catalogue stuff.

Chris - you are a star! :) :)