Blind-friendly mp3's
I know that some folks use iTunes, but I've found another mp3 download site to which I've become addicted. :) In particular, I found this album of masses by Victoria, and I highly recommend checking out the samples. My college chorus did the "O Magnum Mysterium" when we toured Spain (see, I also used to do a ton of singing, and I'm feeling the need to do more of that lately).
EMusic is very easy to use. You can listen to all the samples without registering. And the mp3's do not use DRM, so they can easily be played on a Book Port, a BrailleNote, or whatever. I think they can do this because most of their stuff isn't exactly what you'd call mainstream. :) I got hooked because of their classical section (I have no idea how this compares to iTunes) and their Southern Gospel section (which is definitely bigger than the one on iTunes). I grew up listening to Southern Gospel, and I wanted to hear more of it. This site has a fair amount. I think this is true of many genres that don't have a super-wide following. They do seem to have some more mainstream older recordings. But this Victoria Masses album is just incredible.
They do require a subscription, but the rates aren't that bad. I actually think I'm going to cancel my Netflix subscription and just use this site, because I just can't seem to find the time to deal with Netflix...but I'm going off on a tangent now.
So, flist (and others), go check it out. And if you decide to join, please consider allowing me to refer you--that way, we'd both get some free downloads. In fact, I will screen comments to this entry so you can leave an email for this purpose if you're so inclined. But even if you don't join, go listen to the samples of these masses.
EMusic is very easy to use. You can listen to all the samples without registering. And the mp3's do not use DRM, so they can easily be played on a Book Port, a BrailleNote, or whatever. I think they can do this because most of their stuff isn't exactly what you'd call mainstream. :) I got hooked because of their classical section (I have no idea how this compares to iTunes) and their Southern Gospel section (which is definitely bigger than the one on iTunes). I grew up listening to Southern Gospel, and I wanted to hear more of it. This site has a fair amount. I think this is true of many genres that don't have a super-wide following. They do seem to have some more mainstream older recordings. But this Victoria Masses album is just incredible.
They do require a subscription, but the rates aren't that bad. I actually think I'm going to cancel my Netflix subscription and just use this site, because I just can't seem to find the time to deal with Netflix...but I'm going off on a tangent now.
So, flist (and others), go check it out. And if you decide to join, please consider allowing me to refer you--that way, we'd both get some free downloads. In fact, I will screen comments to this entry so you can leave an email for this purpose if you're so inclined. But even if you don't join, go listen to the samples of these masses.