PRESS RELEASE
Linn, the award-winning record label and world-renowned music system manufacturer, continues to spread its message of high quality music to all music lovers this Christmas with the festive gift of free Studio Master music – the highest quality download available.
Each week in December a curated collection of stunning Studio Master tracks will be available to download from Linn Records’ diverse and talented roster of artists.
Each collection has its own theme and offers the perfect introduction to high quality Studio Master downloads, giving everybody the chance to explore and expand their musical tastes with the wide variety of genres on offer throughout the month.
There’s something for everyone to enjoy, including a stunning rendition from Britain’s First Lady of Jazz, Claire Martin, an award-winning performance from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s hugely popular Mozart symphonies and an exclusive track from the beautiful English pianist and vocalist, Liane Carroll, recorded specially for Linn’s 24-bits of Christmas.
You can enjoy a taste of what’s on offer throughout December with Linn’s preview download – The Movie Collection – available at www.linn.co.uk/christmas from Monday 23rd November.
The Movie Collection features iconic tracks from some of the most celebrated moments in movie history, interpreted by Linn Records’ talented artists and delivered in glorious 24-bit Studio Master quality.
24-bit Studio Master downloads can be enjoyed using a network music player or via a laptop or PC. They are the highest quality music files available, allowing the listener to hear music exactly as it was recorded, before it was altered to fit on a CD or squashed down to MP3 size.
With this unique gift from Linn, every music lover can build an extra special playlist this Christmas.
Merry Christmas, with love from Linn.
How it works
- Visit the 24-bits of Christmas site: www.linn.co.uk/christmas
- Sign up for a free Linn Records account
- Return each Monday to download the new Linn Collection*
- Share with family, friends and neighbours, and of course on social media using the hashtag #24bitXmas
Enjoy!
*Each Linn Collection will available to download for free for 1 week only: from Monday at 10am to the following Monday at 9am.
More About 24-bit Studio Masters
Available in a choice of digital music formats, Studio Master music delivers the same quality as the original recording, which means the listener can fully appreciate the artist’s rich, dynamic performance. A Studio Master download is the highest quality music file on the market. It has a bit depth of 24-bit, and a sample rate of up to 192 kHz, giving the listener over six times the musical data available on a CD!
Technical Information
When music entered the digital realm the major driving factor behind new technology was convenience. In order to fit music on a small shiny compact disc, the analogue sound wave, which was once pressed into vinyl, was sliced up and converted in to 1s and 0s – on this journey much of the musical detail was lost. However, CDs were great because they could be played thousands of times without degrading. They were easier to store and cheaper to manufacture, but they were also susceptible to scratches and fingerprints and many concluded that they just didn't sound as good as vinyl.
They were right. CDs were actually the lowest quality music format – even an 8-track tape was capable of holding much more information than this optical media. The dynamic range – the highs and lows in volume and subtleties of the music – of the recordings suffered, but to the average listener this didn't really matter; they were just so convenient.
Fast forward ten to fifteen years and welcome the MP3. Suddenly the prospect of having 10,000 songs in your pocket appealed, and it was even more convenient to be able to buy an album without walking to the record store – or even better, to discover amazing new music through the internet. However, this required music to be chopped up and compressed even more, sacrificing even more dynamic range, squashing the subtleties and adding noise in the holes where there once was music.
24-bit Studio Masters have a higher sample rate (24-bit/up to 192 kHz/up to 9216kbps) and more bits than MP3 (320 kbps) and CDs (16-bit/44.1 kHz/1411 kbps). With more information to play, Studio Master downloads display greater detail and texture of the music, bringing listeners closer to the original performance by the artist.
How to play Studio Master downloads
Studio Masters can be streamed through a network music player including Linn’s own range of award-winning DS players, as well as computers with 24-bit soundcards using applications such as iTunes, Winamp, Foobar 2000 and VLC. For more information see: http://www.linnrecords.com/linn-choosing-a-download.aspx
About Linn
Linn designs and makes the best music systems in the world. Based in Scotland and established in 1973, Linn manufacture everything in-house. The iconic Sondek LP12 turntable continues to set the standard for vinyl playback and the latest digital stream players out-perform any CD or network music player available. Linn systems are sold through a worldwide network of specialist retailers who also share a passion for enriching people’s lives through music. Linn were awarded a Royal Warrant in 2002 as suppliers of entertainment systems to the Royal Household, and received the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Innovation in 2012.
Scottish music label Linn Records was launched in 1982 with groundbreaking recordings by The Blue Nile and Carol Kidd. It is home to many exceptional artists ranging from the finest classical players to highly respected jazz vocalists and inspiring folk singer-songwriters. The result is a catalogue brimming with quality and diversity.
Linn Records was the first label to offer Studio Master downloads DRM-free. Thousands of customers have already downloaded Studio Masters from Linn Records, demonstrating the demand for high quality music at home. This appetite for producing music exactly the way the artist intended it to sound saw Linn Records named as Gramophone’s ‘Label of the Year’ in 2010.
www.linnrecords.com is a multi-format music delivery system that delivers music on vinyl, CD and download.
