tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-3266403333699154452008-01-31T13:01:00.000Z2008-01-31T13:01:00.000Z2008-01-31T13:01:00.000Z<I>Email received</I><BR/><BR/>I have BRILLIANT CLASSICS' complete Mozart box set, which, btw. for 150+ CDs only cost me $95.00 cdn (and is, of course, NOT complete : what happened to L'oca del Cairo, and the Cadenzas to other people's concertos? Include them, and then it'll be complete, buster!). This set also includes a CD-ROM. Admittedly, I've only glanced at it, to check if it was working. I can see the green advantage of a CD-ROM : no trees had to die in the process. It is useful, though somewhat tiring on the eyes, to follow a libretto in this fashion. The trick is to have a laptop, so you can sit in the comfort of your listening chair.<BR/><BR/>Still...ah, for the good ol' days. Remember when TELEFUNKEN DAS ALTE WERK provided miniature scores for each volume of the Bach Cantatas? Ah me....<BR/><BR/>That also reminds me of cover art you just can't duplicate these days. The Germans used to go mad for "Weihnachtsmusik" discs, and some of the issues were quite inventive. POLYDOR issued two that stood out. One was an Adventskalendar--not a good idea to keep the chocolate so as to maintain the integrity of a complete cover! The other was a pop-up nativity scene. <BR/><BR/>The real loss, what with music becoming an almost free commodity, is for the luddities like me, the collector. There is no longer an "impressibility" factor in owning a recording on a disc or tape. The ritual of going to a shop and actually socializng with people is also gone. Record stores will be extinct within the next five or so years. It is difficult to concieve just what a vast amount of music has been recorded when your visual clue for more music than you can hear in a lifetime can be stored in a compartment no bigger than your thumb! Will that lessen the impact of music, or increase it? That's hard to say for now. <BR/><BR/>Cheers<BR/><BR/>David CavlovicPliablehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10616598845886342325noreply@blogger.com