HDTracks 24-bit / 96 kHz Content Is Here (Plus a little Bonus)

I don't see anything. Does anyone else seeing the code?

oops! Try it now.

I don't see anything either, but I'm thinking the code won't show up until the opening on Oct. 2.

Question for Chris - is the promo code only for Audiophile 24/96 tracks or is it good for any purchase?

Thanks.

Bob

Hi Guys - The code is there right now at the bottom of the screen. Please tell m you can see it!

I'm not sure if the code will work on everything or just the 24/96. I guess someone will have to give it a shot and let us know.

Chris,

code is right there, wish I had seen your email before going to HDTracks earlier tonight. Oh well I'll just have to buy another download. Bought the Clark Terry One on One recording and the sound is great, Terry's horn just explodes. Thanks for the promo

I don't mean to be a party pooper, but why the extra markup for the same album in 24/96?

I'm looking at Yerba Buena Bounce by Hot Club of San Francisco. The 'regular' album in AIFF is $11.98, but the 24/96 version, in FLAC, is $15.98.

Presumably the album was originally recorded in 24/96 (otherwise, it's a bit of a con to offer an upsampled 16/44.1 version) and the extra work to make make two different file versions of the same original recording would seem trivial.

I love the fact that DRM-free high resolution audio is being made available, but the 33% markup for no readily apparent reason makes me a little sour faced. :(

Chris, this is a great deal and I actually listened to most albums and selected 4 I really liked, only to discover at checkout that HDTracks only sells to US customers! I am quite annoyed, a waste of time for me.

I really cannot understand why on earth in the internet day and age some companies still think in countries when they sell downloads. Maybe you could exert some influence on HDTracks to better serve the - global - Computer Audiophile community? That would be great.

-edit- I just noticed the thread on HD Tracks international downloads. So it's legal stuff, not the company's vision. I hope they get it done soon, this music is too good to miss.

Btw would it be legal if someone in the US would buy these and then sell them through to me?

Regards, Vincent

Hi Vincent
i live in Holland and find it extremely FRUSTRATINGt that all those legal rights FORBID every other site to sell to non US customers or to provide services like pandora.com

all this is based on negative thinking, all t h i s legal stuff is worshiping fear

I can see the code. I may look at the albums later.

Code visible, computer in UK. Oh well. But good that CA gets these deals. It all adds value to a definite must-visit site.

Oh and hello, by the way. I've been lurking a while but this is apparently my first post. Must try harder.

I've been listening to a few samples of tracks.

I really like David Johassen's "I've been down to Memphis" which is on the HDTracks promo album.

I may buy his album.

Finally after an all too long wait!
I thought I would at last able to buy hi rez music that I really like!
But browsing through the first releases, at HD Tracks the only ones of any interest to me were the Reference Recordings 24/96 files!
Ok Ill get those I thought!

Only to find out that I live in the wrong country!

Is this some kind of a joke?

So far I have found nothing except a few things at 2 L that I could actually buy at all!
User friendly Brave New World of Downloads where are you?????????????????

I´ll keep buying SACDs until this thing matures for adults, if ever?

A little annoyed here.

I just managed to pay for an album from HDtracks via PayPal. Payment went through without issue and an hdtracks.jnlp file was then downloaded to my desktop. Double-clicking the file proceeded to open a java application, the HDtracks Download Manager. A settings screen appeared, in which I entered my HDtracks username and password. I then received a message telling me that it would appear my password was incorrect. I now have a little less money in my PayPal account than I did a few minutes ago, a java app on my desktop that doesn't appear to be working correctly and no music downloaded! I've received a PayPal and HDtracks receipt for my payment via email, so that's at least something.

Anyway, thought I'd let others here know of my issue, just in case they have similar problems. I've emailed HDtracks and I hope they will reply promptly as unfortunately my last couple of emails I sent them have gone without response.

:(

--
djp

This is great, of course, and thanks to Chris for arranging the promotion. I was disappointed to see that the 24/96 files are only available as FLAC. As an iTunes user, what's a good strategy for adding the high-rez stuff to my library? I do have MAX, which may allow me to convert to a compatible format.

Dan

Hi David - I have used this store many times without issue. Maybe you should try resetting your password from the HDTracks site, then entering it into the little Java applet. Just a thought.

Hi Dan - For now I recommend MAX. It will convert to a bit perfect AIFF or Apple Lossless file without any issues.

I haven't tried the FLAC plugins for iTunes. I'm not a fan of them.

You sir are a genius! ;)

I must also say I've had a response from HDtracks regarding my email concerning this, already! Brilliant response. I'll now let them know that you fixed it for me Chris and hopefully they'll pay you for acting as a technical support rep for them! :)

--
djp

**Update**

Think the issue was actually fixed by HDtracks themselves as their email arrived pretty much the same time as Chris' advice. It seems they had to work some magic their end to get me up and running. Anyway, a thumbs up for the support and I'm now downloading music from HDtracks. Nothing can stop me now! :)

I'll take that genius compliment back now Chris. ;)

--
djp

Great to hear, enjoy the downloads (from outside the US)!

I appreciate the promo code, and expect to use it when I get back to the US from my current business trip.

I am waiting with baited breath to see if HDTracks will really be able to get the Pentatone and Harmonia Mundi catalogs added to the site (last promised date was September 30th). Now, if these get added in 24/96 format, that would generate some real excitement and probably a significant depletion of my bank balance as a result!

--crazzell

LOL, thanks Chris... (wasn't sure I should mention that, thought thay might want them back! ;))

--
djp

I couldn't help it :-) Maybe others will catch on.

I appreciate you keeping us informed of stuff like this!

Hi Sammie - Thanks for the feedback.

Happy listening!

Hi Chris, maybe you can forward me some tips? I couldn't purchase via paypal, it gives an error...

There is a Weiss Minerva sitting on my desk just begging for more Hi-Res stuff... (yes I already have the HRx recordings, I'm auditioning the Minerva for 10 days :-).

Thanks, Vincent

I also got an error when trying to purchase via PayPal.

I guess there are some bugs yet to work out. In my case, the checkout page didn't work correctly with Opera. I had to use Firefox to get it to take my money and in the process I got it to take my money twice. I got a very quick response from Norman Chesky, who promptly refunded the duplicate charge. So even with some rough edges, it's a pleasant place to do business.

Then, alas, I had trouble with the Java applet in Firefox, which I rarely use on this machine. (is it just me, or do you think maybe Sun's install script should have symlinked the plugin in the right directory?...)

Which brings me to a useful observation: Once you have the transaction done, you can go back to your account page and start the Java application at your leisure.

I do like that they use Java for their download manager. I take that as a sign that once they get everything completely in order, they'll be platform independent (insert happy Open Source rant here :)

And use Firefox (at least for the time being).

-Carl

Both HDTracks and 2L offer their high-rez stuff as FLAC files. I'm curious why that is, but whatever the reason, is there a way I can play these on my Mac/iTunes system and retain their high-rez integrity? For example, can I use the Max software program to convert FLAC files to .WAV or AIFF? Then I should be able to play them on the Mac (via Toslink out or USB with the right DAC) so long as I change the Audi Midi settings. Right?

I'm beginning to wonder if it really makes sense to use the Mac platform for computer audio. Yes, it's very easy and, as a Mac user for 20 years, I hate to think of climbing the Windows learning curve. But does the Mac platform ultimately make it harder to get the best sound quality? As a hard-core, tweaky audiophile, that's what I care most about.

Hi Dan,

I've been playing high-res FLACs on a Mac with Cog with no problem. Cog is super-simple. You use the file system to handle your music rather than a database as iTunes would. But I don't have tons of high-res files and probably won't for a while. So, I think it's perfectly OK until the time when my music server and its clients are up to the task. There are other methods of playing FLACs on a Mac (quite a few threads if you search this forum), especially if you want to play 16/44.1 material. And transcoding is an option, too.

I'm no fan of Apple or Microsoft either (as you might guess from the avatar) but IMHO, they are both about equally annoying for audio playback. Linux is even less ready for prime time for high-res on the client end, but is dandy fine for running a server. Again IMHO, your mileage may vary. (That said, as an aside, I do have to say that I think Amarok is way better than iTunes.)

If you have a paid-for computer that you like, I'd say stick with it. Spend your money on music.

-Carl

Hi Dan - I have Mac OS X, Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Suse Linux and I always choose OS X as my preferred operating system. I have nothing to gain by using an inferior OS so I consider myself pretty unbiased. In my opinion FLAC is just a compression method similar to Zip files. When I download them I uncompress / unzip the content and go from there.

So, use Max to convert to AIFF and connect your Mac to a high resolution DAC. Then your all set!

I only registered today to write the following (well, not only for this reason):

It is a shame, that I can´t download from HDTracks or, for that matter, from MusicGiants SuperHD. I´m living in Germany with a validated PayPal account that needs to be used for something worthy like this. But I can´t. That makes me really sad because I´d die for HD-Music content.

So please you two companies, improve your efforts. Thanx in advance.

BTW Chris, love your site. Interesting to read & nicely designed. Keep up the good work :-)

Hi Cavaille - Thanks for your post, even though you had bad luck on HDTracks. On page two of this thread a reader from Europe was able to use Paypal for a purchase. I wonder what went wrong?

Thanks so much for the kind words about the site!

Hello!

Thank you very much for the fast note. I did not expect this.

Anyway, I don´t know what I did wrong... I´m getting a nearly empty page - on top of the page it only says something like "...can´t be resolved...". Maybe I have to go over some proxyserver? I don´t know how the other person from Europe did it... :-(

Well, I assume I have to wait :-). Luckily I´m a patient person ;)

I've managed to register, purchase and download a couple of albums from HDTracks and I'm in the UK. If I remember rightly, I just registered in the normal way, leaving the country option as US. I pay via PayPal with my verified account.

Don't know if that helps but at least it lets you know that purchasing from outside of the US is possible with HDTracks.

Good luck!

--
djp

Thank you very much for your comment and your help.

I don´t know, what I did - I did it exactly the way you did. Something I must have been doing was wrong I guess. Thank you all for your help anyway. It is much appreciated :)

Gentlemen,

I am also not able to pay using paypal for the 24/96 full albums. Paypal works for the standard resolution recordings. It also works if I buy 24/96 in chunks of individual tracks not exceeding ~10 bucks. I have tried writing to hdtracks, but I do not get any reply.

The error message I get is as below,,,,

GetExpressCheckoutDetails API call failed. Detailed Error Message: Express Checkout token was issued for a merchant account other than yours.Short Error Message: You're not authorized to access this info.Error Code: 10409Error Severity Code: Error

Sanjay

That also is the message I´m always getting. But I did not try downloading individual tracks - and that indeed could be helpful in comparing HDCD-decoded & upsampled (by me) material to the originals. That was the main reason for trying this.

Of course I would prefer to download complete albums. Hopefully that soon will be possible. Thank you very much for this tip. I´ll try it later.

Hmm... I haven't tried to purchase a 24/96 download from HDTracks, so I'm presuming I'd encounter the same issues. That's a shame. :(

--
djp

It actually works! I can download seperate tracks and they are also billed - I just have to make sure that I won´t exceed $ 10,- and that the tracks are separate. A bit sad though, because buying separate tracks is more expensive than buying the whole album.

Anyway, it works. :))

Morning: I am new to the Forums here. I am glad this Promo code is available. This forum will expand my audio knowledge, thanks and keep up the good work. audioAl

Paypal payment works now for the purchase of 24/96 albums!!!

It appears to be gone now. :(

code still available? I cant see it anywhere.

It's long gone :~(

It's gone already

Friends:
I just download another great 24/96 album from HD Tracks--Jen Chapin's reVisions, songs of Stevie Wonder. The tracks, comprised of vocals, bass, and sax, sound simply stunning in their sonics and sound staging. This could be David and Norman's best release to-date in the 24/96 format. I'd encourage you to have a listen.

Tom

thanks...

Sorry for the confusion. I stated in the article, "David is a great person to work with and he has provided the registered Computer Audiophile readers a special 20% off code that is good until 10/15/2008." I should probably put that in big red letters so people know :~)