iTunes deal (screwup?) of the century: The 55 CD anthology “111 Years of Deutsche Grammophon” is only $9.99
(Update: The deal is over but you can pick it up at Amazon for a good price.)
My friend Jen posted a link to this deal dubbing it the “Deal of the Century.” I clicked ‘Buy Album’ within seconds.
To re-emphasize, that’s 730 tracks / 2:10:06:35 time / 6GB worth of music for $9.99! It’s almost certainly a pricing error on the Canadian iTunes store. It’s listed at $119.99 in the US store. (Canadians get cheaper healthcare AND classical music!)
Deal or no deal, this is a pretty fantastic collection from probably the best classical recording label in the world. This ain’t no second-tier, discount-bin “Classical Greatest Hits”. Here’s a press release-ey statement:
Deutsche Grammophon’s president Michael Lang said, “Deutsche Grammophon remains the preeminent classical recording company – presenting the finest in recorded music by the best artists – while anticipating and fulfilling the evolving interests of its old and new audiences. Deutsche Grammophon is poised for a vibrant future as remarkable as its storied past.”
http://www.dg-111.com/en_GB/albums/55-cd-box-set
To all my Canadian friends, I’m officially considering you an idiot if you don’t take advantage of this temporary price anomaly.
Update: Someone landed on this post via the Google query “111 years of deutsche grammophon crash itunes” — there’s that much music.
Update (Oct 27, 01:20): Could they be finally changing the price? The front page of iTunes shows the price at $119.99 (if you click and go to the album page, it’s still at $9.99):
Update (Oct 27, 11:26): Christmas is over. The album is now $119.99 (or $148 if you prefer being able to cradle these in your hands). For everyone who’s still arriving at this post, that price is still an excellent deal!
21-13 Suite No. 2 in B Minor, BWV 1067_ VI. Menuet.m4a (2611 KB)
Posted via email from hyfen’s posterous
Enjoyed this post? You should follow me on twitter or subscribe to the site's RSS feed
Posted on Sunday, October 25, 2009 at 5:36 am by Andrew Louis in quickies
15 Comments
thanks for the tip. i got this gem
Thanks so much for posting this – I snapped it up right away. I’ve been meaning to get into classical music more and this was just the push I needed.
It’s pretty clear that iTunes wasn’t designed to handle 730 track albums, because the store page spiked my CPU constantly while I was on the page (and it took a solid 60 seconds for the purchase to go through).
Grant, did you see the update I just posted? Someone googled for ‘[album] crash itunes.’ My CPU was crazy during the whole download too. I guess we’re not alone.
It doesn’t seem to be the download that causes the CPU to spike, it’s actually just being on the iTunes store page for the album (regardless of whether it’s in the foreground). If you navigate away during the download it returns to normal.
Evidently some web designer at Apple forgot to stress test the redesigned album page. I’d love to know what it is about the static page that Webkit is freaking out about.
This is fantastic, even if I feel a little bit guilty. I like to think, however, that enough people take advantage of this, Deutsche Grammophon will actually end up making more money through volume than they would have otherwise — how many people would have bought a $120 collection?
Also getting this; moreover, I hope iTunes doesn’t email me on Monday and ask for the remainder of the $119.99 x USD-CAD exchange quotient
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Lee Dale, iPhone iPod News . iPhone iPod News said: hyfen.net » iTunes deal (screwup?) of the century: The 55 CD …: To re-emphasize, that's 730 tracks / 2:10.. http://bit.ly/2D1LQw […]
And +1 to Helmut Walcha for the epic Hallowe’en vibe of Toccata.
Thanks for this!! Brilliant!
Tim
CRAP. I went for it, and … “Purchasing of this item is not available. It is being modified.”
Thanks again for the tip. It’s currently the #1 album on iTunes (and it’s still listed for $9.99)! Incidentally, the current #3 album is the 103 track “Beethoven: The Piano Sonatas”, also selling for $9.99 (it normally sells for $60). I’m sure iTune’s system is stretched to the max dealing with the traffic surge these two albums are causing.
Who says it’s a screwup..? I’m sure someone at Apple is grinning… with classical music playing in the background
Aaaaaand it’s over. Hope everyone snagged it at $9.99.
This was a great find and thanks for sharing. I did pick this one up myself. Classical music isn’t my top choice, but for this price, it will encourage me to delve a little more often into the genre.
[…] even have to be obnoxious about it (except now, I guess). The only places I added links were here and here. I don’t think anyone could argue that the Amazon suggestions are out of […]
Leave a comment
Get one of those fancy icons next to your name