iTunes Match Feature I’d Like to See: CD Matches
While I have some issues with iTunes Match – notably the fact that it doesn’t match very well – I was ripping some CDs today, and realized that there is one feature that could be very useful.
I got a 12-disc set of Murray Perahia playing Mozart’s piano concertos, and had to spend a long time ripping the CDs. Wouldn’t it be great if you could insert a CD on your computer, have iTunes match it, then have it added to your library without needing to rip the discs? While you’d have to download the music, it’s still less labor-intensive than ripping CDs, at least for multi-disc sets.
I can see the reason why this wouldn’t work – it’s too easy for a friend to bring their CD collection to your home, and for you to insert one CD after another, matching them, then downloading the tracks. But since you could also just rip that friend’s CDs, it’s not that much of a difference, other than the time saved.
You may ask why I am buying 12-disc sets of music on CD rather than from the iTunes Store or Amazon? It turns out – paradoxically – that most classical box sets are much cheaper than they are by download. I bought this set from Amazon FR, for €30; on iTunes, it’s €60, and it’s not available by download from Amazon FR. Go figure.
Posted: 11/21/2011 by kirk | Filed under: Apple & Mac OS X, iPod & iTunes | Tags: iTunes, music | 3 Comments »
And not only are the CDs cheaper, they’re better quality too compared to the 256kbps in iTunes. So not just lower cost, better value too.
The Perahia are a great choice. Extremely tasteful and well-balanced, throughout the oeuvre (very impressive, since Mozart’s style and manner, his whole notion of what a piano concerto is, changes so drastically in the course of his lifetime).
I actually bought two sets – I couldn’t decide between the Perahia and the Bilson/Gardiner set with original instruments and fortepiano, so I bought both.